Air and Steel

On Mao

...if you got a buncha Marxism-Leninism stewin in a pot, sprinklin in a bit of Mao Zedong Thought can never hurt. adds some full-bodied perspective.

Women hold up half the sky.

(see: On Feminism)

Political power grows out of the barrel of the gun.

(see: On Technology)

The people, and the people alone, are the motive force in the making of world history.

(see: On Organizing)

We Communists are like seeds and the people are like the soil. Wherever we go, we must unite with the people, take root and blossom among them.

(see: On Uniting)

Mao Zedong

Mao Zedong (first covered in On Asia) was a Chinese Marxist-Leninist revolutionary who lead the Chinese people to their proletarian revolution in order to found the PRC.

TODO: more of a bio

For now, I'll link some works (in a logical order) and post some of my own notes for quick takeaways:

For physical copies, check out RedPrintsPublishing

Misc quotes

From the Little Red Book, probably seen on twitter.

What is work? Work is struggle. There are difficulties and problems in those places for us to overcome and solve. We go there to work and struggle to overcome these difficulties. A good comrade is one who is more eager to go where the difficulties are greater.

src: "On the Chungking Negotiations" (October 17, 1945), Selected Works, Vol. IV, p. 58.

Communists should set an example in being practical as well as far-sighted. For only by being practical can they fulfil the appointed tasks, and only far-sightedness can prevent them from losing their bearings in the march forward.

src: "The Role of the Communist Party of China in the National War" (October 1938), Selected Works, Vol. II, p. 198.

Conscientious practice of self-criticism is still another hallmark distinguishing our Party from all other political parties. As we say, dust will accumulate if a room is not cleaned regularly, our faces will get dirty if they are not washed regularly. Our comrades' minds and our Party's work may also collect dust, and also need sweeping and washing. The proverb "Running water is never stale and a door-hinge is never worm-eaten" means that constant motion prevents the inroads of germs and other organisms. To check up regularly on our work and in the process develop a democratic style of work, to fear neither criticism nor self-criticism, and to apply such good popular Chinese maxims as "Say all you know and say it without reserve", "Blame not the speaker but be warned by his words" and "Correct mistakes if you have committed them and guard against them if you have not" - this is the only effective way to prevent all kinds of political dust and germs from contaminating the minds of our comrades and the body of our Party.

src: "On Coalition Government" (April 24, 1945), Selected Works, Vol. III, pp. 316-17.

To Be Attacked By The Enemy Is Not A Bad Thing But A Good Thing (1939) notes

I hold that it is bad as far as we are concerned if a person, a political party, an army or a school is not attacked by the enemy, for in that case it would definitely mean that we have sunk to the level of the enemy. It is good if we are attacked by the enemy, since it proves that we have drawn a clear line of demarcation between the enemy and ourselves. It is still better if the enemy attacks us wildly and paints us as utterly black and without a single virtue; it demonstrates that we have not only drawn a clear line of demarcation between the enemy and ourselves but achieved a great deal in our work.

Oppose Book Worship (1930) notes

Lesson: must look at class relationships and intersections to understand how the world works and how to fix it.

  1. No investigation, no right to speak - either know what you're talking about or do not muddy the waters with garbage words.
  2. To investigate a problem is to solve it - don't get lost at large scope; inquire into everything in order to gather the necessary materials to build a solution.
  3. Oppose book worship - do not blindly follow directives or information without questioning whether or not it furthers the circumstances of the struggle.
  4. Without investigating the actual situation, there is bound to be an idealist appraisal of class forces and an idealist guidance in working, resulting either in opportunism or in putschism - wipe out idealism by investigating.
  5. The aim of social and economic investigation is to arrive at a correct appraisal of class forces and then to formulate correct tactics for the struggle - need to find who to ally with and who to overthrow, which is only done via thorough understanding of the situation. Must look at all types of workers/proletariat/bourgeoisie, at all levels (small/middle/rich), in both rural and urban settings.
  6. Victory in China's revolutionary struggle will depend on the Chinese comrades' understanding of Chinese conditions - win the support of the majority and do not be optimistic, complacent, or conservative - get into the struggle, investigate facts, foster progressive and militant communist ideals.
  7. The technique of investigation - hold fact-finding meetings and investigative discussions. Pull in old people for experience and new people for ideas, pull in those from all facets of life, pull in as many people as you're comfortable with. Prepare and follow detailed outlines, participate personally, probe deeply, and make your own notes.

On Practice (1937) notes

  • First, while practicing, the external relations (phenomenal side; separate aspects) are observed.
  • These give rise to perceptions and impressions until a leap into understanding where concepts are formed. Concepts are no longer phenomena; by means of judgement and inference, one is able to draw meaningful conclusions.
  • The real task of knowing is, through perception, to arrive at thought, to arrive step by step at the comprehension of the internal contradictions of objective things, of their laws and of the internal relations between one process and another, that is, to arrive at logical knowledge... logical knowledge differs from perceptual knowledge in that perceptual knowledge pertains to the separate aspects, the phenomena and the external relations of things, whereas logical knowledge takes a big stride forward to reach the totality, the essence and the internal relations of things and discloses the inner contradictions in the surrounding world. Therefore, logical knowledge is capable of grasping the development of the surrounding world in its totality, in the internal relations of all its aspects.
  • If you want to know the theory and methods of revolution, you must take part in revolution. All genuine knowledge originates in direct experience.
  • There can be no knowledge apart from practice. What is indirect experience for me is direct experience for other people. Consequently, considered as a whole, knowledge of any kind is inseparable from direct experience.
  • But generally speaking, whether in the practice of changing nature or of changing society, men's original ideas, theories, plans or programmes are seldom realized without any alteration.
  • In a revolutionary period the situation changes very rapidly; if the knowledge of revolutionaries does not change rapidly in accordance with the changed situation, they will be unable to lead the revolution to victory.
  • The thinking of "Leftists" outstrips a given stage of development of the objective process; some regard their fantasies as truth, while others strain to realize in the present an ideal which can only be realized in the future. They alienate themselves from the current practice of the majority of the people and from the realities of the day, and show themselves adventurist in their actions.
  • Idealism and mechanical materialism, opportunism and adventurism, are all characterized by the breach between the subjective and the objective, by the separation of knowledge from practice. The Marxist-Leninist theory of knowledge, characterized as it is by scientific social practice, cannot but resolutely oppose these wrong ideologies. Marxists recognize that in the absolute and general process of development of the universe, the development of each particular process is relative, and that hence, in the endless flow of absolute truth, man's knowledge of a particular process at any given stage of development is only relative truth. The sum total of innumerable relative truths constitutes absolute truth. [9] The development of an objective process is full of contradictions and struggles, and so is the development of the movement of human knowledge. All the dialectical movements of the objective world can sooner or later be reflected in human knowledge. In social practice, the process of coming into being, developing and passing away is infinite, and so is the process of coming into being, developing and passing away in human knowledge. As man's practice which changes objective reality in accordance with given ideas, theories, plans or programmes, advances further and further, his knowledge of objective reality likewise becomes deeper and deeper. The movement of change in the world of objective reality is never-ending and so is man's cognition of truth through practice. Marxism-Leninism has in no way exhausted truth but ceaselessly opens up roads to the knowledge of truth in the course of practice. Our conclusion is the concrete, historical unity of the subjective and the objective, of theory and practice, of knowing ant doing, and we are opposed to all erroneous ideologies, whether "Left" or Right, which depart from concrete history.
  • Discover the truth through practice, and again through practice verify and develop the truth. Start from perceptual knowledge and actively develop it into rational knowledge; then start from rational knowledge and actively guide revolutionary practice to change both the subjective and the objective world. Practice, knowledge, again practice, and again knowledge. This form repeats itself in endless cycles, and with each cycle the content of practice and knowledge rises to a higher level. Such is the whole of the dialectical-materialist theory of knowledge, and such is the dialectical-materialist theory of the unity of knowing and doing.

On Contradiction (1937) notes

  • The universality or absoluteness of contradiction has a twofold meaning. One is that contradiction exists in the process of development of all things, and the other is that in the process of development of each thing a movement of opposites exists from beginning to end.
  • Every difference in men's concepts should be regarded as reflecting an objective contradiction. Objective contradictions are reflected in subjective thinking, and this process constitutes the contradictory movement of concepts, pushes forward the development of thought, and ceaselessly solves problems in man's thinking.
  • To be one-sided and superficial is at the same time to be subjective. For all objective things are actually interconnected and are governed by inner laws, but instead of undertaking the task of reflecting things as they really are some people only look at things one-sidedly or superficially and who know neither their interconnections nor their inner laws, and so their method is subjectivist.
  • When Marx applied this law to the study of the economic structure of capitalist society, he discovered that the basic contradiction of this society is the contradiction between the social character of production and the private character of ownership. This contradiction manifests itself in the contradiction between the organized character of production in individual enterprises and the anarchic character of production in society as a whole. In terms of class relations, it manifests itself in the contradiction between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat.
  • But whatever happens, there is no doubt at all that at every stage in the development of a process, there is only one principal contradiction which plays the leading role.
  • Of the two contradictory aspects, one must be principal and the other secondary. The principal aspect is the one playing the leading role in the contradiction. The nature of a thing is determined mainly by the principal aspect of a contradiction, the aspect which has gained the dominant position.
  • This is what Lenin means when he says that dialectics studies "how opposites can be ... identical". How then can they be identical? Because each is the condition for the other's existence. This is the first meaning of identity. (eg. Without the bourgeoisie, there would be no proletariat; without the proletariat, there would be no bourgeoisie.)
  • All contradictory things are interconnected; not only do they coexist in a single entity in given conditions, but in other given conditions, they also transform themselves into each other. This is the full meaning of the identity of opposites. (eg. war and peace)
  • There are two states of motion in all things, that of relative rest and that of conspicuous change. Both are caused by the struggle between the two contradictory elements contained in a thing. When the thing is in the first state of motion, it is undergoing only quantitative and not qualitative change and consequently presents the outward appearance of being at rest. When the thing is in the second state of motion, the quantitative change of the first state has already reached a culminating point and gives rise to the dissolution of the thing as an entity and thereupon a qualitative change ensues, hence the appearance of a conspicuous change.
  • We may now say a few words to sum up. The law of contradiction in things, that is, the law of the unity of opposites, is the fundamental law of nature and of society and therefore also the fundamental law of thought. It stands opposed to the metaphysical world outlook. It represents a great revolution in the history of human knowledge. According to dialectical materialism, contradiction is present in all processes of objectively existing things and of subjective thought and permeates all these processes from beginning to end; this is the universality and absoluteness of contradiction. Each contradiction and each of its aspects have their respective characteristics; this is the particularity and relativity of contradiction. In given conditions, opposites possess identity, and consequently can coexist in a single entity and can transform themselves into each other; this again is the particularity and relativity of contradiction. But the struggle of opposites is ceaseless, it goes on both when the opposites are coexisting and when they are transforming themselves into each other, and becomes especially conspicuous when they are transforming themselves into one another; this again is the universality and absoluteness of contradiction. In studying the particularity and relativity of contradiction, we must give attention to the distinction between the principal contradiction and the non-principal contradictions and to the distinction between the principal aspect and the non-principal aspect of a contradiction; in studying the universality of contradiction and the struggle of opposites in contradiction, we must give attention to the distinction between the different forms of struggle. Otherwise we shall make mistakes. If, through study, we achieve a real understanding of the essentials explained above, we shall be able to demolish dogmatist ideas which are contrary to the basic principles of Marxism-Leninism and detrimental to our revolutionary cause, and our comrades with practical experience will be able to organize their experience into principles and avoid repeating empiricist errors. These are a few simple conclusions from our study of the law of contradiction.
  • Every system has internal forces at play. Some work together and some oppose each other (eg. API contract violation would be a contradiction; force diagram in physics shows how forces work together/against each other to determine the sum and understand its circumstances). These contradictions determine how the system moves at any time on any level.

Talks at the Yan’an Forum on Literature and Art (1942) notes

Purpose: to exchange ideas and examine the relationship between work in the literary and artistic fields and revolutionary work in general

  • simultaneous military and cultural fronts for the struggle for liberation.

index tags: Philosophy, Communists, Reading List, Reading Notes, Marxism, Marxism-Leninism, Mao-Zedong-Thought, ML-MZT, Dialectics, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, Mao, Zedong, RedSails, RedPrintsPublishing, We Must Unite All The Forces That Can Be United, To Be Attacked By The Enemy Is Not A Bad Thing But A Good Thing, Where Do Correct Ideas Come From?, Oppose Book Worship, On Practice, On Contradiction, On Guerilla Warfare, On Correcting Mistaken Ideas in the Party, Combat Liberalism, Talks at the Yan’an Forum on Literature and Art, In Memory of Norman Bethune, Serve the People, The Foolish Old Man Who Removed the Mountains, Some Questions Concerning Methods of Leadership, ARAK, Five Golden Rays, Mass Line, Guerilla Warfare, Liberalism, Contradiction, Practice, Dogmatism, Art, Leadership, Feminism, Technology, Organizing, Uniting

category tags: Famous Communists

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Hi! Aaron, nice to meet ya. This site is where I'm documenting as I go, in order to keep my learnings and thoughts in an easily accessible digital notebook. My purpose in life is organizing (engineering, if you will) and building the change I want to see in the world; to help as much as possible, while I've got the chance to do it.