Abstract
Contradiction analysis (maodun fenxi) is another key feature of the Reform and Opening-Up. To understand it, we need to begin with Lenin’s study of Hegel (1914–1915) and track the way this thought developed into Soviet dialectical materialism of the 1930s. To this mature Marxist theory Mao Zedong and his comrades turned for a period of intense study in Yan’an in 1936–1937. In Mao’s reading notes to Soviet and Chinese works, we find a creative and active engagement with the material, drawing from it and developing his own unique emphases: non-antagonistic contradictions under socialism; primary and secondary contradictions, along with the primary and secondary aspects of a contradiction; and the importance of qualitative change through self-movement and the qualitative difference of contradictions in distinct contexts. It is especially this final category that enables Mao to develop what he already called in 1937 the ‘sinification of Marxism’: the universal principles of Marxism need to become concrete in a specific situation, enabling analysis and providing a guide to action. The research of this time, resulting in the lectures on dialectical materialism as well as the two foundational essays, ‘On Contradiction’ and ‘On Practice’, provided the core materials that would set in train a consistent concern with philosophical matters in the CPC, the revolutionary path to Liberation in 1949, and the subsequent long and arduous task of constructing socialism. In this way, contradiction analysis—forged from Lenin in 1915 to Mao in 1937—became and remains a centrepiece for the many stages of the Chinese socialist project.
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Notes
- 1.
Where possible, I prefer to cite Knight’s translation in Mao Zedong on dialectical materialism: Writings on philosophy, 1937 (1990b).
- 2.
This is not to say that the Western Marxist tradition is unable to break free from this underlying either-or assumption, for contradiction analysis actually arises from the development of dialectical analysis in the work of Marx and Engels (Haug 2017).
- 3.
- 4.
Citations from Dialektik der Natur are from the textus receptus, which has taken on a life of its own. One may also consult the effort, in MEGA I.26, to publish the manuscripts and notes as they were found in Engels’s archives (Engels 1882c).
- 5.
A good example concerns the assumptions of neoclassical economics concerning the eternity of bourgeois capitalist economic relations, which change only in terms of quantity. Thus, ‘capitalism’ is ‘found’ even in the earliest forms of human society and economic activity (Shirokov and Iankovskii 1932b, 139; 1937, 153–154; see also Boer 2015, 11–18).
- 6.
For an exhaustive philosophical analysis of Engels’s identification and deployment of the three ‘laws’, see Kangal (2020, 121–181).
- 7.
It is beyond my remit to delve into these struggles between the ‘Deborinites’ and the ‘Mechanists’, out of which dialectical materialism arose as a philosophical method.
- 8.
In our time, few in the West study such works, since they are dismissed as a form of Marxist ‘scholasticism’ that is given to ‘historical determinism’. This erroneous attitude is a real shame, since these works are well-researched, philosophically insightful and—for me at least—have enabled a number of insights embodied in this chapter.
- 9.
See also the effort by Li Chongfu (2014) to outline a total system of Marxism, in which its philosophy is dialectical materialism, its method is historical materialism with a focus on political economy, both of which uphold scientific socialism as the core, goal and guidance for the construction socialism and then communism.
- 10.
After a flurry of publications in the 1930s and 1940s, works on dialectical materialism continued to be published until the late 1980s (for example, Pichugun 1933; Mitin 1941; Myslivchenko and Sheptulin 1988). Some were translated into English and others were written in English (Guest 1939; Somerville 1946, 149–228; Yakhot 1965; Boguslavsky et al. 1978).
- 11.
In relation to this work, a little confusion has arisen over the names of the editors and the book title. The Russian text has I. Shirokov and R. Iankovskii as the editors, and then includes a list of names of collaborators, of which the first is A. Aizenberg. The Chinese translation by Li Da simply lists the surnames of Shirokov and Aizenberg, adding ‘et cetera [deng]’ and ‘co-authors [hezhu]’. The English translation, which replaces the first part on the history of philosophy with a rewritten text, lists only ‘M. Shirokov’ as overseeing the project at the Leningrad Institute of Philosophy. It seems that the English translation’s mistake has influenced the use of M. Shirokov instead of I. Shirokov in citations of this text. I have standardised my references based on the Russian source. As for the title, the Russian has Materialist Dialectics, with a later note, ‘A Manual for Colleges and Socioeconomic Universities’—hence the Chinese title, Bianzhengfa weiwulun jiaocheng (A Course on Dialectical Materialism).
- 12.
- 13.
- 14.
Here they echo Lenin’s observations, made in regard to the role of trade unions during the transition period. Lenin identifies a number of contradictions: between persuasion-education and coercion; protecting the interests of workers and wielding state power—in terms of the dictatorship of proletariat—for the construction of socialism; adapting to the masses and seeking to lift the masses out of prejudice and backwardness. Are these contradictions a passing phase, especially in the context of the New Economic Policy? They are no accident, observes Lenin, for they ‘will persist for several decades … as long as survivals of capitalism and small production remain, contradictions between them and the young shoots of socialism are inevitable throughout the social system’ (Lenin 1921b, 349–350; 1921a, 382–383). This assumption was of course due to Marx’s brief reflections concerning what he called an initial stage of communism, in which ‘bourgeois right’ would continue for some time, and Lenin’s detailed exegesis of this text in terms of the stages of socialism and communism (Marx 1875b, 13–15; 1875a, 85–87; Lenin 1917a, 86–102; 1917b, 464–179).
- 15.
The example may be specific to the Soviet Union, but the theoretical point is obvious, for the transition period can indeed last a long time indeed, so much so that a new mode of production will not completely abolish those that have gone before but continue to embody some elements in a transformed manner within the new (Losurdo 2017; Boer 2017b).
- 16.
Each of the texts discusses the question of the ‘leap’ in quality, stressed by Lenin in his notes on Hegel. But they point out that such a leap—as Lenin recognised elsewhere—is rarely sudden and is more often long and drawn out. In the main text I do not discuss the third law of dialectics, the negation of negation, although it is worth noting that the texts use the NEP as a key example, as well as the following insight: ‘Primitive communism is negated by class society, and the subsequent communist formation negates class society. But modern communism is not a simple return to primitive communism. It represents the highest step in social development, incomparably superior to primitive communism in terms of productive forces, the organisation of labour, ideology, etc’ (Mitin et al. 1935, 163).
- 17.
Usually, they are content to quote Lenin and elaborate, but Mitin elsewhere offers the following gloss: ‘Ulianov pointed out to Bukarin that it was wrong to treat contradiction and antagonism as the same thing. In socialism, for instance, the conflict between classes will be eliminated, yet the contradictions between nature and society, between the forces of production and the means of production, will remain’ (Mitin 1931, 211).
- 18.
This is where the Trotskyite misunderstanding arises (all these texts often contrast dialectical materialism with Trotskyism). Not only does a Trotskyite approach take the elimination of kulaks as a class as the primary form of struggle (which they see as being of the same form as worker-bourgeois struggle under capitalism), but it also sees all contradictions as antagonistic, thereby not recognising the qualitative difference entailed with socialist construction (Weston 2008). Further, such an approach is monolithic rather than dialectical, for it sees a capitalist system as monolithic and determinative on a global level. This approach may be described as a type of Marxist fundamentalism, according to which it is all-or-nothing, either-or: either you have global capitalism or global socialism.
- 19.
Or as Stalin observed already in 1927: ‘After all, our development does not proceed in the form of a smooth, all-round ascent. No, comrades, we have classes, we have contradictions within the country … Our advance takes place in the process of struggle, in the process of the development of contradictions, in the process of overcoming these contradictions, in the process of bringing these contradictions to light and eliminating them’ (Stalin 1927b, 330–331; 1927a, 339).
- 20.
For a broader context, see Joseph Liu (1971, 72–75).
- 21.
- 22.
Ai Siqi’s knowledge of Russian, German, Japanese, and English also placed him in a unique position as translator of key works, while Li Da’s translations relied on Japanese versions.
- 23.
From late 1936 to the middle of 1937, Mao made often extensive notes on Chinese translations of the works by Shirokov and Iankovskii (1932a), and Mitin (1936a). Or at least these notes survive, unlike the ones he made on the Chinese translation of the major entry in the Great Soviet Encyclopaedia overseen by Mitin (1936b). Soon after writing the lecture notes on dialectical materialism in July-August 1937, he also made notes on works by Li Da and Ai Siqi, especially the former’s Elements of Sociology (Li Da 1937) and the latter’s Philosophy and Life (Ai 1937). These notes and annotations are gathered in the core Chinese source, Mao Zedong zhexue pizhuji (1988), which includes notes made through to the 1960s. Translations of the relevant sections can be found in Knight and volume six of Mao’s Road to Power (Mao 1937k, 1937l, 1937d, 1937a, 1937h, 1937b). Mao also studied, among other works, Ai Siqi’s Philosophy for the Masses (1936a), but Mao’s copy of the book has not survived, so we are unable to determine any notes he may have made. For a full list of the works on Marxist philosophy studied by Mao, see Li Ji (1987), as well as the insightful study by Li Yongtai (1985).
- 24.
By far the best study in English of Mao’s engagement with these texts and others is by Nick Knight (2005, 149–196; see also Gong, Pang, and Shi 1986; Tian S. 1986; Wang J. 1998). For the complex relations between the reading notes, the lectures on dialectical materialism, and the essays ‘On Contradiction’ and ‘On Practice’, see Knight’s introduction (1990a) to the first and still best translation of Mao’s philosophical works from the 1930s (Knight 1990b). To be avoided is the culturally arrogant and orientalist dismissal by Werner Meissner (1990), as also a number of other non-Chinese works (Glaberman 1968; Gray 1973, 32–69; Wakeman 1973; Schram 1969; 1989; Lee 2002).
- 25.
‘Mao’s annotations indicate that he was an active reader, one who interrogated the texts in a critical manner, seeking to understand the general principles of dialectical materialism, their appropriate formulation, and how these might be applied to an understanding of China’s particular problems’ (Knight 2005, 100).
- 26.
- 27.
Beyond my remit are both the criticisms of formal logic (especially in the notes to Ai Siqi’s Philsophy and Life) and the fascinating treatment of dialectical epistemology based on social practice, which would come to fruition with ‘On Practice’ and later with ‘Where Do Correct Ideas Come From?’ (Mao 1988, 22–33; 1963a, 1963b; see also Knight 2005, 157–158). Note, however, his observation: ‘Reflection is not a passive absorption of the object, but an active process. In production and class struggle, knowledge is an active element which leads to the transformation of the world’ (Mao 1988, 15–16; 1937k, 267).
- 28.
While this is also Lenin’s emphasis (see above), the notes make it very clear that Mao saw the value of all three laws (Mao 1988, 113–136; 1937h, 752–764; see also Knight 1990a, 15–24). This reality belies the suggestions by some that Mao dismissed the other laws and focused only on the unity and struggle of opposites (Wang N. 2011; Schram 1989, 65, 140).
- 29.
With few exceptions, I use the translations of Knight from Mao Zedong on Dialectical Materialism (1990b).
- 30.
The reality of the non-antagonistic contradiction between forces and relations of production would be emphasised in Stalin’s ‘Economic Problems of Socialism in the U.S.S.R’ (1952b, 196–204; 1952a, 266–274). Stalin points out that there may be periods when the relations of production conform to productive means—periods that lead to the rapid growth of production and living conditions—but one should expect that at different periods either the productive relations or productive forces may lag behind and act as a brake on the other. In these situations, the task becomes one of reforming the laggard and bring it into conformity with the one leaping ahead. At times, it may be the productive relations that take the lead, while at other times it may the productive forces, which in turn requires a reshaping of the productive relations. Importantly, this constant adjustment is not merely an objective process that would happen anyway, for it also entails specific policies to correct the imbalance: ‘Given a correct policy on the part of the directing bodies, these contradictions cannot grow into antagonisms, and there is no chance of matters coming to a conflict between the relations of production and the productive forces of society’ (Stalin 1952b, 203; 1952a, 273). Mao and a reading circle, which met from December 1959 to February 1960, studied intensely this text and other works of political economy, leading to a collection of annotations and talks (Mao 1998; see also Zhou X. 2016).
- 31.
- 32.
Initially, such contradictions may not be antagonistic, but they risk and can indeed become so. Mao gives examples from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Lenin and Stalin versus Trotsky) and then the Communist Party of China, in which incorrect thinking can avoid antagonism if those guilty of such positions correct themselves. Obviously, the Party should enable such a process, but if those comrades insist on errors, the situation may lead to antagonism.
- 33.
So long did the revisions take him that the essay’s initial publication appeared in the second volume of his Selected Works (subsequent editions would place the essay in the first volume). For a comprehensive presentation of the similarities and differences between the lecture notes from 1937 and the final publication of ‘On Contradiction’, see Knight’s translation (Mao 1937e). Other philosophical texts appeared during the 1960s, but our only source is the unverified and therefore unreliable Mao Zedong sixiang wansui, published by some Red Guards (Mao 1964b, 1964a).
- 34.
The CPC Central Committee’s resolution of 1981 expands further: ‘Having eliminated the exploiting classes as classes, class struggle is no longer the principal contradiction. Owing to domestic factors and international influences, class struggle will continue to exist within a certain scope for a long time and may intensify under certain conditions. We must oppose both the idea of enlarging class struggle and the idea that it has been extinguished. We must be on high alert and wage effective struggle against all kinds of destructive activities carried out politically, economically, ideologically, culturally and socially by elements hostile to socialism. We must have a correct understanding of a large number of social contradictions in our society that do not fall within the scope of class struggle and adopt methods different from class struggle to solve them correctly’ (CPC Central Committee 1981, 17).
- 35.
Within a couple of years, Mao would elaborate: ‘The contradiction between imperialism and the Chinese nation and the contradiction between feudalism and the great masses of the people are the basic contradictions in modern Chinese society. Of course, there are others, such as the contradiction between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat and the contradictions within the reactionary ruling classes themselves. But the contradiction between imperialism and the Chinese nation is the principal one’ (Mao 1939b, 631; 1939a, 313).
- 36.
- 37.
Later in the notes, in the discussion of the relativity of unity and the absoluteness of struggle, Mao further emphasises the primacy of the internal process of contradictions. In this light, he offers a series of examples, mainly drawn from the revolutionary struggle in China along with some Chinese sayings, such as—from Lu shi chunqiu—‘a door hinge is never worm eaten, but a piece of wood from a door hinge will be’ (Mao 1988, 107–109; 1937h, 748–750).
- 38.
We may find a precursor to this philosophical argument, albeit with less detail, in relation to the development of socialism in one country (Shirokov and Iankovskii 1932b, 166–167; 1937, 203–205). At the same time, this was by no means a new idea propagated suddenly in the Soviet Union in the 1930s, for it has a much longer history in the socialist tradition (Van Ree 1998; 2015).
- 39.
- 40.
- 41.
This was a recurring theme in Ai Siqi’s thought, already appearing in Sixiang fangfalun (Ai 1936b, 160), but always with the warning: ‘Sinification does not mean abandoning the Marxist position’ (Ai 1940, 481; see also Ni 2016, 28–29). Further, Ai’s formidable organisational and editorial ability ensured, after his arrival in Yan’an, that Mao would entrust him with establishing the institutional structures to ensure the widespread dissemination of these philosophical developments (Knight 2005, 197–214).
- 42.
- 43.
One may ask: what about Mao’s emphasis on class struggle as the principal contradiction during the Cultural Revolution? For Chinese scholars, this was clearly an incorrect assessment of the situation and thus of the principal contradiction (Xiao 2004, 63; see also CPC Central Committee 1981, 10–11). We may go further: Mao had seemingly forgotten or pushed aside his earlier emphases on both the necessity of managing contradictions among the people in a socialist system so that they do not become antagonistic, and on the core need for liberating the forces of production (Zhou Y. 1997, 123, 126). This deviation was rectified by the late 1970s and early 1980s.
- 44.
This final agreement had a lengthy gestation, since it was first proposed at the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee in December, 1978, as—in Deng Xiaoping’s words—the ‘level of our productive forces is very low and is far from meeting the needs of our people and country’ (Deng 1979a, 182; 1979b, 189). Discussion, debate, and refinement eventually came up with the wording of the Sixth Plenary Session in 1981.
- 45.
For a full overview of the principal contradictions from Mao Zedong to Xi Jinping, see Jin Zhenglian (2017).
- 46.
They also echo the definitions of socialism and indeed communism: from each according to ability, to each according to work (socialism) or according to need (communism).
- 47.
Evidence for such imbalance and inequality in production is abundant, although it has improved already since the 1990s and early 2000s: eastern and western development, urban and rural income gaps, and indeed differences between regions in incomes and provision of services such as education and health.
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Boer, R. (2021). Contradiction Analysis: History, Meaning, and Application. In: Socialism with Chinese Characteristics. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1622-8_3
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