Sobre el tratamiento correcto de las contradicciones en el seno del pueblo

by Mao Zedong

Book by Tse-Tung, Mao

Genres: Theory, Politics, Nonfiction, Philosophy, China, History

75 pages, Unknown Binding

First published September 1, 1969

About the author

Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung, and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, statesman and leader of the Chinese Revolution. He was the architect and founding father of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from its establishment in 1949, and held control over the nation until his death in 1976. His theoretical contribution to Marxism–Leninism, along with his military strategies and brand of policies, are collectively known as Maoism.

Mao rose to power by commanding the Long March, forming a Second United Front with Kuomintang (KMT) during the Second Sino-Japanese War to repel a Japanese invasion, and later led the Communist Party of China (CPC) to victory against Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek's KMT in the Chinese Civil War. Mao established political and military control over most of the territory formerly contained within the Chinese Empire and launched a campaign to suppress counterrevolutionaries. He sent the Communist People's Liberation Army into Xinjiang and Tibet but was unable to oust the remnants of the Nationalist Party from Taiwan. He enacted sweeping land reform by using violence and terror to overthrow landlords before seizing their large estates and dividing the land into people's communes. The Communist Party's final victory came after decades of turmoil in China, which included the Great Depression, a brutal invasion by Japan and a protracted civil war. Mao's Communist Party ultimately achieved a measure of stability in China, though Mao's efforts to close China to trade and market commerce, and eradicate traditional Chinese culture, have been largely rejected by his successors.

Mao styled himself "The Great Helmsman" and supporters continue to contend that he was responsible for some positive changes which came to China during his three decade rule. These included doubling the school population, providing universal housing, abolishing unemployment and inflation, increasing health care access, and dramatically raising life expectancy. A cult of personality grew up around Mao, and community dissent was not permitted. His Communist Party still rules in mainland China, retains control of media and education there and officially celebrates his legacy. As a result, Mao is still officially held in high regard by many Chinese as a great political strategist, military mastermind, and savior of the nation. Maoists promote his role as a theorist, statesman, poet, and visionary, and anti-revisionists continue to defend most of his policies.

Reviews

[Hungry Rye · Rating 5 out of 5]

May be the best one I’ve read yet. Bro is spitting bars with every speech.

[P.H. Wilson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Real rating: 3.5/10
Repetitive and overly wordy. This speech would be considered a pass if it was not for the fact that it defines the word people, and in a country that calls itself The People's Republic of China that is a significant definition.
The people are defined as:

At the present stage, the period of building socialism, the classes, strata and social groups which favour, support and work for the cause of socialist construction all come within the category of the people, while the social forces and groups which resist the socialist revolution and are hostile to or sabotage socialist construction are all enemies of the people.

This means the country's name should read as The People Who Support the Communist Party's Republic of China. or better said The Communist Party's Republic of China
That is a huge but subtle difference. The moment you redefine something as simple as people, it changes everything. The average person will take people to mean everyone rather than what you have altered it to mean.
This becomes an even bigger issue later on in the speech.

Our state is a people's democratic dictatorship led by the working class and based on the worker-peasant alliance. What is this dictatorship for? Its first function is internal, namely, to suppress the reactionary classes and elements and those exploiters who resist the socialist revolution, to suppress those who try to wreck our socialist construction, or in other words, to resolve the contradictions between ourselves and the internal enemy. For instance, to arrest, try and sentence certain counter-revolutionaries, and to deprive landlords and bureaucrat-capitalists of their right to vote and their freedom of speech for a certain period of time -- all this comes within the scope of our dictatorship.

So now we declare the state as a dictatorship but a people's dictatorship, but now that we have redefined the word people, that means it is The People Who Support the Communist Party's Democratic Dictatorship or better said The Communist Party's Dictatorship. It is interesting to see them redefine people to essentially mean the Party and if you live in China and see the term 人民 (which is on a lot of things) and then you alter the word people to mean the Party it makes far more sense than the original people version did. Such as 人民大会堂, which now means the Great Hall of the Communist Party, which is precisely what it is. 人民政府, 人民民主专政, 人民日报 (This one especially makes sense when we use the altered version of people.)
He later goes on to state:

Our Constitution lays it down that citizens of the People's Republic of China enjoy freedom of speech, the press, assembly, association, procession, demonstration, religious belief, and so on.

This mindset is the mindset that has prevailed in China to this very day. As long as you love the Party, have positive energy and promote socialism, you have those rights. But the moment you disagree with the Party, you lose them. Thus creating a system where the moment you find a flaw you are an enemy of the state and thus no longer a person.
In the section on minorities, he comes across all Trump and basically says there are bad people amongst the Han majority but the minorities are also at fault.
He also says

Although they constitute only 6 per cent of the total population, they inhabit extensive regions which comprise 50 to 60 per cent of China's total area. It is thus imperative to foster good relations between the Han people and the minority nationalities.

Essentially, the minorities in China own most of China so the Han better deal with them well so they can get the land.
And lastly he goes on to say.

Democrat reforms have not yet been carried out in Tibet because conditions are not ripe. According to the seventeen-article agreement reached between the Central People's Government and the local government of Tibet the reform of the social system must be carried out, but the timing can only be decided when the great majority of the people of Tibet and the local leading public figures consider it opportune, and one should not be impatient. It has now been decided not to proceed with democratic reforms in Tibet during the period of the Second Five-Year Plan. Whether to proceed with them in the period of the Third Five-Year Plan can only be decided in the light of the situation at the time.

Essentially Tibet is too backwards to undertake democratic reforms so we will just wait it out until they are ready. So all Chinese deserve democracy but not the Tibetans. Do they count as people then?

Ultimately this is a terrible speech that only highlights the issues that still plagues modern China. An economic powerhouse in the east and abject poverty in the western provinces. A state that is still run like a dictatorship 65 years later. That willing plays with terms to support its narrative. The only difference is Mao was not scared to admit what he was doing. I cannot say that for those who came after him.

[Sinan Öner]

Chinese Communist Leader Mao Zedong's famous book "On the Correct Handling of Condradictions Among the People" was published a lot of times in the world! Mao Zedong thought on all the things about Chinese society in his age. Mao Zedong saw "the contradictions" of Chinese people before Japanese Occupation, before the Chinese Socialist Revolution, and after, in the age of socialist reforms in the beginning of the People's Republics of China, Mao Zedong's approach to "the contradictions" of Chinese people changed, but mostly changed for understanding more exactly- Mao Zedong's Marxism developed with the relation to Chinese social changes, with his methodological relations with social changes. For Mao Zedong, there are "mainly ten contradictions among the people" in China, he writes his descriptions of these contradictions, Mao Zedong writes his notes to China Communist Party mostly! Because, for Mao Zedong, only China Communist Party can rule "the contradictions" of Chinese people, only China Communist Party can be the leader of Chinese people to solve these contradictions, only China Communist Party can help to Chinese people for producing the new social unities, the stability in production and consumption, the modern social structures, the new peaceful society which form a secure future, the new social democracy in China.

[Oscar Gómez · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short and interesting text that takes a snapshot of the socialist state of China in its time, speaks on their ongoing contradictions, the methodology Mao recommends resolving and evaluating such contradictions and what failures China experienced after their revolution. Overall, it's an interesting read, dragging just a bit but with a handful of quotables.

[Zhou Enlai · Rating 4 out of 5]

Otro texto de dialéctica de Mao muy entretenido de leer. El contexto en el que lo escribe es el de la Campaña de las Cien Flores, un año después de la fallida contrarrevolución húngara, de la que también habla.

[nephew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a good read

[Aaron Schuschu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actually not as psychotic as I anticipated. Actually kind of moderate compared to what would come from his camp shortly after.

[Trystan W · Rating 1 out of 5]

Aanndd, we can see how the Cultural Revolution happened. Oh no! Mao is advocating "solving contradictions by force"! Guess 50-60mil people will just have to be prepared to die.

[Real Betis Balompie · Rating 3 out of 5]

mid

[Joe Tessy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Way more straightforward and accessible than I had expected. Time to read more Mao.

[Animesh Mitra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book on how to deal with contradiction in a socialist society.

[Peter Carr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting read from a wild era

[Samantha Sanchez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bars

[Aryan CA · Rating 4 out of 5]

interesting. really interesting.

[Ammar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mao Zedong’s On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People is an important work in the development of Maoist thought. Mao Zedong addresses how socialist societies should address internal conflicts. He distinguishes between "antagonistic contradictions" (between the people and enemies of socialism) and "non-antagonistic contradictions" (internal debates within the socialist system). Mao argues that if handled properly, the latter can be resolved through criticism, self-criticism, and democratic discussion rather than coercion.

However, reality does not align with the theory presented in this book. In theory, a mass campaign such as the Hundred Flowers Movement—where intellectuals were encouraged to express dissent—would be something that would align perfectly with what Mao Zedong is presenting in this work, but history shows us that he met it with the Anti-Rightist Campaign.

As a theoretical piece, it is an intriguing attempt of illustrating how to correctly handle contradictions in a socialist state. However, it is difficult to decouple it with events such as the Hundred Flowers Movement or the Cultural Revolution, where self-criticism was used as a means to publicly chastise others and where there was no discernment between antagonistic and non-antagonistic contradictions.

[Bread · Rating 3 out of 5]

a social application of the ideas in maos "on contradictions", he discusses the nonantagonistic contradictions between different groups (eg. the peasantry, national bourgeoisie, national minorities) that together constitute the people & antagonistic contradictions between the people & the enemy. in the former, he advocates free discussion, education, & debate w/ proponents of even bourgeois ideas, coexistence with democratic parties, etc - "let a hundred flowers bloom", alongside some interesting remarks about chinese economic plans. however, the kicker is in the latter contradiction, in the broad identification of the counter-revolutionary who gets not democracy, but dictatorship in the colloquial sense. mao makes quite a few comments denouncing the hungarian revolution, which is pretty revealing of how far tolerance can actually go, made more sickening by his own involvement in soviet intervention. & of course, the hundred flower campaign that would follow this speech would soon be followed by the anti-rightist campaign he does say there are bound to be mistakes & excesses when identifying counterrevolutionaries, that annual comprehensive reviews, exonerations, etc should be made to correct them, & in a revolutionary situation i dont disagree counterrevolutionaries do exists ofc, but come on lol

[Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

re-re-read.

bars.