Mao's 11 Types of Liberalism

Even if we achieve gigantic successes in our work, there is no reason whatsoever to feel conceited and arrogant. Modesty helps one to go forward, whereas conceit makes one lag behind. This is a truth we must always bear in mind.

“Opening Address at the Eighth National Congress of the Communist Party of China " (September 15, 1956).

With victory, certain moods may grow within the Party - arrogance, the airs of a self-styled hero, inertia and unwillingness to make progress, love of pleasure and distaste for continued hard living.

With victory, the people will be grateful to us and the bourgeoisie will come forward to flatter us. It has been proved that the enemy cannot conquer us by force of arms.

However, the flattery of the bourgeoisie may conquer the weak-willed in our ranks. There may be some Communists, who were not conquered by enemies with guns and were worthy of the name of heroes for standing up to these enemies, but who cannot withstand sugar-coated bullets; they will be defeated by sugar-coated bullets. We must guard against such a situation.

“Report to the Second Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China " (March 5, 1949), Selected Works, Vol. IV, p. 374.

Many things may become baggage, may become encumbrances if we cling to them blindly and uncritically. Let us take some illustrations.

Having made mistakes, you may feel that, come what may, you are saddled with them and so become dispirited; if you have not made mistakes, you may feel that you are free from error and so become conceited. Lack of achievement in work may breed pessimism and depression, while achievement may breed pride and arrogance.

A comrade with a short record of struggle may shirk responsibility on this account, while a veteran may become opinionated because of his long record of struggle. Worker and peasant comrades, because of pride in their class origin, may look down upon intellectuals, while intellectuals, because they have a certain amount of knowledge, may look down upon worker and peasant comrades.

Any specialized skill may becapitalized on and so may lead to arrogance and contempt of others. Even one’s age may become ground for conceit. The young, because they are bright and capable, may look down upon the old; and the old, because they are rich in experience, may look down upon the young. All such things become encumbrances or baggage if there is no critical awareness.

“Our Study and the Current Situation” (April 12, 1944), Selected Works, Vol. III, p. 173.*

Some comrades in the army have become arrogant and high-handed in their behaviour towards the soldiers, the people, the government and the Party, always blaming the comrades doing local work but never themselves, always seeing their own achievements but never their own shortcomings, and always welcoming flattery but never criticism… the army must endeavour to eradicate these faults.

“Get Organized!” (November 29, 1943), Selected Works, Vol. III, p. 159.*

Hard work is like a load placed before us, challenging us to shoulder it. Some loads are light, some heavy. Some people prefer the light to the heavy; they pick the light and shove the heavy on to others. That is not a good attitude.

Some comrades are different; they leave ease and comfort to others and take the heavy loads themselves; they are the first to bear hardships the last to enjoy comforts. They are good comrades. We should all learn from their communist spirit.

“On the Chungking Negotiations” (October 17, 1945), Selected Works, Vol. IV, p. 58.*

There are not a few people who are irresponsible in their work, preferring the light to the heavy, shoving the heavy loads on to others and choosing the easy ones for themselves. At every turn they think of themselves before others.

When they make some small contribution, they swell with pride and brag about it for fear that others will not know. They feel no warmth towards comrades and the people but are cold, indifferent and apathetic. In fact such people are not Communists, or at least cannot be counted as true Communists.

“In Memory of Norman Bethune” (December 21, 1939), Selected Works, Vol. II, pp. 337-38.*

Those who assert this kind of “independence” are usually wedded to the doctrine of “me first” and are generally wrong on the question of therelationship between the individual and the Party.

Although in words they profess respect for the Party, in practice they put themselves first and the Party second. What are these people after? They are after fame and position and want to be in the limelight.

Whenever they are put in charge of a branch of work, they assert their “independence”. With this aim, they draw some people in, push others out and resort to boasting, flattery and touting among-the comrades, thus importing the vulgar style of the bourgeois political parties into the Communist Party.

It is their dishonesty that causes them to come to grief. I believe we should do things honestly, for without an honest attitude it is absolutely impossible to accomplish anything in this world.

“Rectify the Party’s Style of Work” (February 1, 1942), Selected Works, Vol. III, p. 44.

They [Communists] must grasp the principle of subordinating the needs of the part to the needs of the whole. If a proposal appears feasible for a partial situation but not for the situation as a whole, then the part must give way to the whole.

Conversely, if the proposal is not feasible for the part but is feasible in the light of the situation as a whole, again the part must give way to the whole. This is what is meant by considering the situation as a whole. “The Role of the Chinese Communist Party in the National War” (October 1938), Selected Works, Vol. II, p. 201.

Pleasure-seeking. In the Red Army there are also quite a few people whose individualism finds expression in pleasure-seeking. They always hope that their unit will march into big cities. They want to go there not to work but to enjoy themselves. The last thing they want is to work in the Red areas where life is hard.

“On Correcting Mistaken Ideas in the Party” (December 1929), Selected Works, Vol. I, p. 113.

We must oppose the tendency towards selfish departmentalism by which the interests of one’s own unit are looked after to the exclusion of those of others.

Whoever is indifferent to the difficulties of others, refuses to transfer cadres to other units on request, or releases only the inferior ones, “using the neighbour’s field as an outlet for his overflow”, and does not give the slightest consideration to other departments, localities or people - such a person is a selfish departmentalist who has entirely lost the spirit of communism.

Lack of consideration for the whole and complete indifference to other departments, localities and people are characteristics of a selfishdepartmentalist. We must intensify our efforts to educate such persons and to make them understand that selfish departmentalism is a sectarian tendency which will become very dangerous, if allowed to develop.

“Rectify the Party’s Style of Work” (February 1, 1942), Selected Works, Vol. III, p. 46.

Types of Liberalism

Liberalism manifests in various ways.

Type 1

This:

• lets things slide for the sake of peace and friendship when a person has gone wrong.
• refrains from principled argument because he is an old acquaintance, fellow townsman, schoolmate, close friend, etc.
• touches the matter lightly instead of going into it thoroughly, so as to keep on good terms.

This harms both the organization and the individual.

Type 2

This:

• indulges in irresponsible criticism in private instead of actively putting forward one’s suggestions to the organization.
• says nothing to people to their faces but to gossip behind their backs, or to say nothing at a meeting but to gossip afterwards.
• shows no regard at all for the principles of collective life but to follow one’s own inclination.

Type 3

To let things drift if they do not affect one personally;

to say as little as possible while knowing perfectly well what is wrong, to be worldly wise and play safe and seek only to avoid blame.

Type 4

Not to obey orders but to give pride of place to one’s own opinions. To demand special consideration from the organization but to reject its discipline.

Type 5

To indulge in personal attacks, pick quarrels, vent personal spite or seek revenge instead of entering into an argument and struggling against incorrect views for the sake of unity or progress or getting the work done properly.

Type 6

To hear incorrect views without rebutting them and even to hear counter-revolutionary remarks without reporting them, but instead to take them calmly as if nothing had happened.

Type 7

To be among the masses and fail to conduct propaganda and agitation or speak at meetings or conduct investigations and inquiries among them, and instead to be indifferent to them and show no concern for their well-being, forgetting that one is a Communist and behaving as if one were an ordinary non-Communist.

Type 8

To see someone harming the interests of the masses and yet not feelindignant, or dissuade or stop him or reason with him, but to allow him to continue.

Type 9

To work half-heartedly without a definite plan or direction; to work perfunctorily and muddle along - “So long as one remains a monk, one goes on tolling the bell.”

Type 10

To regard oneself as having rendered great service to the revolution, to pride oneself on being a veteran, to disdain minor assignments while being quite unequal to major tasks, to be slipshod in work and slack in study.

Type 11

To be aware of one’s own mistakes and yet make no attempt to correct them, taking a liberal attitude towards oneself.

“Combat Liberalism” (September 7, 1937), Selected Works, Vol. II, pp. 31-32.

Liberalism is extreme]y harmful in a revolutionary collective. It is a corrosive which eats away unity, undermines cohesion, causes apathy and creates dissension. It robs the revolutionary ranks of compact organization and strict discipline, prevents policies from being carried through and alienates the Party organizations from the masses which the Party leads. It is an extremely bad tendency.

Ibid., p. 32.

Liberals look on the principles of Marxism as abstract dogma. They:

• approve of Marxism, but are not prepared to practise it or to practise it in full.
• are not prepared to replace their liberalism by Marxism.
• have their Marxism, but they have their liberalism as well - they talk Marxism but practise liberalism
• apply Marxism to others but liberalism to themselves
• keep both kinds of goods in stock and find a use for each. This is how the minds of certain people work.

Ibid., pp. 32-33

The people’s state protects the people. Only when the people have such a state can they educate and remould themselves by democratic methods on a country-wide scale, with everyone taking part, and shake off the influence of domestic and foreign reactionaries (which is still very strong, will survive for a long time and cannot be quickly destroyed), rid themselves of the bad habits and ideas acquired in the old society, not allow themselves to be led astray by the reactionaries, and continue to advance - to advance towards a socialist and communist society.”

On the People’s Democratic Dictatorship” (June 30, 1949). Selected Works, Vol. IV, p. 418.*

It is not hard for one to do a bit of good. What is hard is to do good all one’s life and never do anything bad, to act consistently in the interests of the broad masses, the young people and the revolution, and to engage in arduous struggle for decades on end. That is the hardest thing of all!

“Message of Greetings on the 60th Birthday of Comrade Wu Yu-chang” (January 15, 1940).