The Correct Handling Of Contradictions Among The People

We are confronted by 2 types of social contradictions:

• those between ourselves and the enemy
• those among the people themselves.

These two are totally different in their nature.

To understand these two different types of contradictions correctly, we must first be clear on what is meant by:

• “the people” and
• “the enemy”

At the present stage of the building of socialism:

• the people are the classes, strata and social groups which support the cause of socialist construction
• the enemies of the people are the social forces and groups which resist the socialist revolution

In the conditions prevailing in China today, the contradictions among the people are the contradictions:

• within:
  • the working class
  • the peasantry
  • the intelligentsia
  • the national bourgeoisie
• between:
  • the working class versus the peasantry
  • the workers and peasants versus the intellectuals
  • the working class versus the national bourgeoisie
  • and so on.

Our People’s Government is one that genuinely represents the people’s interests, it is a government that serves the people.

Nevertheless, there are still certain contradictions between the government and the people.

These include contradictions:

• among the interests of:
  • the state
  • the collective
  • the individual
• between the interests of:
  • democracy and centralism
  • the leadership and the led
  • the bureaucratic style of work of certain government workers in their relations with the masses.

All these are also contradictions among the people. Generally, the people’s basic identity of interests underlies the contradictions among the people.

The contradictions between ourselves and the enemy are antagonistic contradictions.

Within the ranks of the people, the contradictions:

• among the working people are non-antagonistic
• between the exploited and the exploiting classes have both:
  • a non-antagonistic aspect
  • an antagonistic aspect

In the political life of our people, how should right be distinguished from wrong in one’s words and actions?

Based on our Constitution’s principles, the criteria should be as follows:

1. Words and actions should help to unite, and not divide, the people of our various nationalities.
2. They should be beneficial, and not harmful, to socialist transformation and socialist construction.
3. They should help to consolidate, and not undermine or weaken, the people’s democratic dictatorship.
4. They should help to consolidate, and not undermine or weaken, democratic centralism.
5. They should help to strengthen, and not discard or weaken, the leadership of the Communist Party.
6. They should be beneficial, and not harmful, to international socialist unity and the unity of the peace-loving people of the world.

Of these 6 criteria, the most important are:

• the socialist path
• Party leadership

The question of suppressing counter-revolutionaries is one of a struggle between ourselves and the enemy, a contradiction between ourselves and the enemy.

Some people see this question in a different light.

The Rightists make no distinction between ourselves and the enemy.

The Leftists magnify contradictions between ourselves and the enemy. They:

• take certain contradictions among the people for contradictions with the enemy
• regard as counter-revolutionaries as not counter-revolutionaries.

Both these views are wrong.

Qualitatively different contradictions can only be resolved by qualitatively different methods. For instance:

• the contradiction between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie is resolved by socialist revolution
• the contradiction between the great masses of the people and the feudal system is resolved by democratic revolution
• the contradiction between the colonies and imperialism is resolved by national revolutionary war
• the contradiction between the working class and the peasant class in socialist society is resolved by the method of collectivization and mechanization in agriculture
• the contradiction within the Communist Party is resolved by criticism and self-criticism
• the contradiction between society and nature is resolved by developing the productive forces

The principle of using different methods to resolve different contradictions is one which Marxist-Leninists must strictly observe.

Since they are different in nature, the following contradictions must be resolved by different methods:

• those between ourselves and the enemy
  • We have to draw a clear distinction between ourselves and the enemy.
• those among the people
  • We have to draw a clear distinction between right and wrong.

The distinction between ourselves and the enemy is also a matter of right and wrong. Examples are the question of which of the following are right:

• us
• the domestic and foreign reactionaries
• the imperialists
• the feudalists and bureaucrat-capitalists

But it is in a different category from questions of right and wrong among the people.*

The only way to settle questions of an ideological nature or controversial issues among the people is by the democratic method:

• discussion
• criticism
• persuasion
• education

It is not by the method of coercion or repression.

The people want their government and those in charge of production, culture, and education to issue appropriate obligatory orders. This is for them to:

• carry on their production and studies effectively
• arrange their lives properly

It is common sense that the maintenance of public order would be impossible without such administrative regulations.

Administrative orders and the method of persuasion and education complement each other in resolving contradictions among the people.

Even administrative regulations for the maintenance of public order must be accompanied by persuasion and education, for in many cases regulations alone will not work.

Inevitably, the bourgeoisie and petty bourgeoisie will give expression to their own ideologies. They will stubbornly express themselves on political and ideological questions by every possible means.

We should allow them to express themselves and at the same time:

• argue with them and
• direct appropriate criticism at them.

We must criticize wrong ideas. Mistakes must be criticized. Poisonous weeds must be fought wherever they crop up. However, such criticism should not be dogmatic.

The dialectical method should be used, not the metaphysical method.

What is needed is scientific analysis and convincing argument.

It is necessary to criticize the people’s shortcomings.

But we must truly take the stand of the people and speak out of whole-hearted eagerness to protect and educate them.

• To treat comrades like enemies is to go over to the stand of the enemy.

Contradiction and struggle are universal and absolute.

But the methods of resolving contradictions, that is, the forms of struggle, differ according to the differences in the nature of the contradictions.

Some contradictions are characterized by open antagonism, others are not.

In accordance with the concrete development of things, some contradictions which were originally non-antagonistic develop into antagonistic ones, while others which were originally antagonistic develop into non-antagonistic ones.

Ordinarily, contradictions among the people are not antagonistic. But if they are not handled properly, or if we relax our vigilance and lower our guard, antagonism may arise.

In a socialist country, such antagonism is usually only localized and temporary because:

• the system of exploitation of man by man has been abolished and
• the interests of the people are basically the same.

In our country, the contradiction between the working class and the national bourgeoisie belongs to the category of contradictions among the people.

The class struggle between the two is a class struggle within the ranks of the people, because the Chinese national bourgeoisie has a dual character.

In the period of the bourgeois-democratic revolution, it had both a revolutionary and a conciliationist side.

In the period of the socialist revolution, exploitation of the working class for profit constitutes one side of the character of the national bourgeoisie, while its support of the Constitution and its willingness to accept socialist transformation constitute the other.

The national bourgeoisie differs from:

• the imperialists
• the landlords
• the bureaucrat-capitalists.

The contradiction between the national bourgeoisie and the working class is one between the exploiter and the exploited, and is by nature antagonistic.

But in the concrete conditions of China, this antagonistic class contradiction can, if properly handled, be transformed into a non-antagonistic one and be resolved by peaceful methods.

However, it will change into a contradiction between ourselves and the enemy if we do not handle it properly and do not follow the policy of uniting with, criticizing and educating the national bourgeoisie, or if thenational bourgeoisie does not accept this policy of ours.

The counter-revolutionary rebellion in Hungary in 1956 was a case of reactionaries inside a socialist country, in league with the imperialists. They tried to achieve their conspiratorial aims by taking advantage of contradictions among the people to stir up disorder.

This lesson of the Hungarian events merits attention.