Reading, Digesting and Proficient in Application-Mao Zedong's "Four Steps" in Learning Marxism"

"When I encounter problems, I read Marx's Manifesto of the Communist Party. Sometimes I only read one or two paragraphs, sometimes I read the whole article. Every time I read it, I have new inspiration."

"After the war, read him once or look at him for a sentence or two. If there is no taste, put it away. If there is a taste, read a few more sentences. If you look at it seven or eight, you can see the taste."

We study Marxism "not for the good-looking, nor because it has any mystery, but because it is the science that leads the proletarian revolutionary cause to victory", which can provide action for us to correctly study, analyze and solve the practical problems we face. guide.

Mao Zedong is a great pioneer of Marxism in China, and has made outstanding contributions to the enrichment and development of Marxism. In the long-term practice of revolution and construction, he has conducted in-depth thinking and exploration on how to learn Marxism. He believes that learning Marxism can be divided into four steps, namely, reading, digesting, proficient, and applying four gradual steps. It provides valuable experience for the world.
 

"The Marxist Book to Read"

To study Marxism, we must first carefully study the classic works of Marxism, understand and master the basic principles of Marxist theory, which is the basic link of studying Marxism.
 

Mao Zedong advocated the study of Marxist classics. He pointed out that "it is impossible for a political party that guides a great revolutionary movement to win without revolutionary theory, historical knowledge, and a deep understanding of the actual movement." therefore, to study and study Marxism generally and deeply, "for us, it is a big problem that needs to be solved urgently and can only be solved with great efforts". He has repeatedly proposed to party members and cadres that Marxism "is a science that every revolutionary should learn", "Marxist books should be read", and "we should read frequently and focus on it". In different periods of Chinese revolution and construction, he advocated and organized three large-scale Marxist theory study activities within the whole party, calling on the whole party to study the Communist Manifesto, the development of socialism from utopia to science, anti Duhring theory, two strategies of the Social Democratic Party in the democratic revolution, the infantile disease of the left in the communist movement, and the state and revolution.

Some party members and cadres do not read books or learn theories, and there are always so-called reasons of one kind or another. In Mao's view, these reasons are untenable. For example, some people put the rest of their energy into playing poker, going to the theater and dancing. Mao Zedong thought it was a "waste of time. Another example is that some people attribute not reading to "no time". Mao Zedong believes that this cannot be the basis for not studying theory and avoiding laziness. It is wrong for Communist Party members not to study theory. If there are problems, they must find ways to solve them. This is the true spirit of Communist Party members. For this reason, Mao Zedong put forward the method of "squeezing" time to read. He pointed out that in the middle of the busy, we should "squeeze" time to read and use "squeeze" to deal with the busy. If you are busy with your work, use the method of "squeezing". In the middle of working, eating and resting every day, squeeze out two hours to study, and squeeze the work in two directions, one up and one down, and you can definitely squeeze out time. And "squeezing" time to study and study can not only improve our Marxist theoretical literacy, but also make some comrades "don't be like ants on a hot pot, falling into transactional ism all year long and making a lot of bustle, so that they have time to think about problems".

Mao Zedong not only advocated the majority of party members and cadres to study the classic works of Marxism, but also took the lead in setting an example. Just take the "Communist Manifesto" as an example. As early as the end of 1939, Mao Zedong had read it "no less than a hundred times". He said: "When I encounter problems, I read Marx's" Communist Manifesto ". Sometimes I only read one or two paragraphs, sometimes I read the whole article. Every time I read it, I have new inspiration." In the subsequent revolution and construction practice, Mao Zedong continued to study and study the "Communist Manifesto" until his death. At least three versions of the "Communist Manifesto" including the English version were placed beside his bedroom bed.
 

"Read to digest"

Learning Marxism cannot be satisfied with understanding some basic knowledge through reading, but also needs to be digested and absorbed on this basis. Therefore, Mao Zedong put forward: "Marxist books to read, read to digest." If you read it, don't digest it, swallow it, and just remember some of the sentences, and "regard it as a ready-made panacea, it seems that as long as you get it, you can cure all kinds of diseases without effort." it can not be regarded as learning Marxism, or even harming work. As Mao Zedong said: "If you read too much and cannot digest it, you may also go to the opposite side, become a nerd, a dogmatist and revisionist".

How to "digest? In May 1945, at the Seventh National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Mao Zedong said when recommend five required Marxist works such as the Communist Manifesto to the whole party:" We can put these five books in dry grain bags. After the war, read him once or read one or two sentences from him. If there is no taste, put them up. If there is a taste, read a few more sentences. If you read seven or eight, you can see the taste." Here Mao Zedong actually compared reading to eating, and books in dry grain bags are spiritual food. Reading should be regarded as eating, which has become a daily necessity. Moreover, every time you read, you should chew and swallow slowly to boost digestion. If you feel the taste, it is a sign of digestion. In short, there is no shortcut to digest the books you read, but to think diligently and chew constantly.
 

In order to avoid "indigestion" after reading books, and also taking into account the actual situation that the majority of party members and cadres are busy with all kinds of work, Mao Zedong also pointed out, "We don't have so much time, we can read less, and it is important to pay attention to research methods."; "It is unrealistic to ask everyone to read all the selected works of Ma-Leninism. You can choose some, otherwise there are so many books and it is difficult to read". Of course, to choose what books to read, we should "study and see what books to choose", "but not too many, too many will not work". In other words, reading depends not only on how much you read, but also on how much you digest and absorb. No matter how many books you read, it is useless if you don't digest or can't digest them.
 

 
"To be able to master it"

Mao Zedong said that studying Marxism is "to be able to master it". The so-called mastery, is a thorough understanding and mastery.

In Mao Zedong's view, the outstanding manifestation of being proficient in Marxism is to study Marxism as a "revolutionary science". It is not only necessary to thoroughly understand the "general laws drawn by the extensive real life and revolutionary experience of Marxist classic writers." The conclusion "must also learn and master their positions, viewpoints and methods for observing, analyzing, and solving various problems, and must also understand the spiritual essence of Marxism, to achieve a comprehensive, draw inferences from one another.

To this end, Mao Zedong paid special attention to two points:
 

One is not complacent, adhere to the spirit of learning to the end. Mao Zedong believed that in order to learn Marxism well, we must never start with complacency; if we understand a little, we think we are satisfied and do not need to study any more. Such complacency is the biggest enemy of our study. Therefore, learning must be learned to the end. The "bottom" here is a thorough bottom, that is, a thorough understanding, knowing both what it is and why, knowing both one and the other.

The second is not afraid of difficulties, do not understand to "drill". Marxism is a systematic and huge scientific theoretical system, and it is impossible for anyone to understand and understand it at the beginning. Even "Marx himself, the creator of Marxism, did not get through all at once". Do not understand how to do? is "drill"! Don't be afraid of what we don't understand, just use "drill" to deal with it. Mao Zedong borrowed the example of the ancients comparing reading to "attacking books" to explain in detail: in China, reading is originally called attacking books. The word "attack" has a great reason, that is, to study sentence by sentence. Marxist theory is certainly difficult, but if we spare no effort to attack it, we will certainly be able to attack it. If we persist in this way, we will certainly be able to understand and make sense of Marxism.
 

 
"Mastery is all about application"

What is the ultimate purpose of study, digestion and mastery? Mao Zedong pointed out: "The purpose of mastery is all about application." The so-called application is to "treat Marxism as a tool", combine the basic principles of Marxism with the objective reality and concrete practice of the Chinese revolution and construction, and analyze and solve the practical problems faced by the Communist Party of China and the Chinese people.

The unity of theory and practice is one of the most basic principles of Marxism. The vitality of theory lies in its application, and the power of truth can only be fully manifested in the concrete practice of people mastering and using it to understand and transform the world. there is no end to practice and no end to theoretical innovation. The truth of this, Mao Zedong once summed it up: "When Marx was alive, he could not see all the problems that came later, and he could not solve all these problems at that time. The Russian problems can only be solved by Lenin, and the Chinese problems can only be solved by the Chinese." Therefore, in the face of different actual situations and new practical explorations, we must adhere to specific issues and analyze this living soul of Marxism, and maintain the most distinctive theoretical character of Marxism that keeps pace with the times. Persisting in integrating theory with practice, persisting in applying the basic principles of Marxism to the concrete practice of solving practical problems, and enriching and developing ourselves in practice is the key to maintaining the vitality and vitality of Marxism. In March 1957, Mao Zedong stressed at the national propaganda work conference: "Marxism must move forward and develop with the development of practice. It cannot stop moving forward. If it stops, it will have no life."

Adhering to the integration of theory with practice, the application of the basic principles of Marxism in combination with practice, and the solution of specific local problems at that time will inevitably require the opposition to bookishness and dogmatism. Lenin once said in "On Strategy": "Marx and Engels always said, 'Our doctrine is not a dogma, but a guide to action '." Mao Zedong believes that this sentence is the "most important and important word" that people cannot forget when studying Marxism ". Marx and the others "are not talking about dogma. After we read it, it becomes dogma. This is because we have not read through and cannot read". We study Marxism "not for good-looking, nor because it has any mystery, but because it is the science that leads the proletarian revolutionary cause to victory", which can provide action for us to correctly study, analyze and solve the practical problems we face. guide. In order to give full play to the role of Marxism as a guide to action, there is a basic premise, that is, to treat Marxism scientifically and regard it as a scientific theory that is constantly enriched and developed, rather than a panacea that solidifies mystery and cures all kinds of diseases. as a guide to action to guide our practice rather than a dogmatic frame that restricts our practice and exploration. And practice has fully proved this truth: when we can combine the basic principles of Marxism with the specific reality of China, our cause will go smoothly; on the contrary, when we make dogmatism and bookishness mistakes, the cause will suffer setbacks.

It should be noted that from the perspective of Marxist theory of practice and epistemology, the step of applying it to practice is not the end of the process of learning Marxism, but the beginning of the process of learning Marxism in the next step. Because in the process of applying Marxism to specific practice, new understandings based on practice will be produced, and after summary and sublimation, these new understandings will be upgraded to theories, enriching and developing existing Marxism; and learning These enriched and developed Marxism need to start a new process of reading, digestion, mastery, and application.

In short, the above four steps are progressive and interlocking. Without any of them, the process of learning Marxism is incomplete, and the significance and effect of learning will be greatly reduced or even adversely affected. These four steps of studying Marxism expounded by Mao Zedong provide valuable reference and important reference for us to correctly study, adhere to and develop Marxism.

Source: Party Building Network