To all fellow members:

For submissions of letter manuscripts to the Correspondence Collection, please send them to the Changsha Culture Book Society for forwarding. We would be obliged.

Xinmin Society

Xinmin Society Urgent Notice

The members of this society are united. With mutual aid and mutual encouragement as the objective, since its establishment in the early summer of the seventh year, it has now been nearly three years. Although its form is not yet complete, its spirit has been consistent. However, individual members may at times fail to understand the spirit of the society. There are those who, constrained by other affairs, cannot devote their attention to this society; there are those who have very congenial feelings in other groups and thus have no feelings for this society; there are those who lack interest in group life; there are those whose conduct is not satisfactory to the majority of the members. This society considers that for people with the aforementioned circumstances, although they were once listed as members, the possibility of mutual aid and mutual encouragement does not in fact exist. In the interest of preserving the spirit of the society, we can only cease to recognize them as members. We also hope that in the future, when introducing new members to the society, we must seek those who are free of the above-mentioned circumstances. The future of this society will be most fortunate.

Xinmin Society

January 2, 1921

Key Points and Publication Date of the Third Volume of the "Xinmin Society Members' Correspondence Collection"

This volume takes the discussion of "Communism" and "Society Affairs" as its two important points. The number of letters is not large, but they contain considerable profundity. It will be sent to print in early January 1921 and published in late January.

Letter to Xiao Xudong, Cai Linbin, and all fellow members in France (December 1, 1920)

※ In favor of "reforming China and the world" as the society's guiding principle.

※ In favor of a Marxist-style revolution.

※ The society's attitude: (1) Mutual aid and mutual encouragement. (2) Sincerity. (3) Uprightness. (4) Upward striving.

※ Joint research and specialized research.

※ The society's four movements.

※ The importance of uniting with comrades.

To Brother Hesen, Brother Zisheng, and for forwarding to all fellow members in France:

Having received both of your letters, my joy and comfort are immeasurable! The society having a concrete plan can be said to have begun with the Montargis conference and these several letters from you two. I hold great hopes for the future of the society, and because of this, I also have a small plan. I have long thought of drafting a plan to present to the fellow members for discussion. Now that I have your letters, my plan need not be written. I only hope that our seventy-odd members will each give careful consideration to the plan in your letters, and subsequently offer a profound critique, to decide whether to approve, oppose, or, in addition to the plans and opinions in your letters, to offer other plans and opinions. I often feel that for our individual development or the society's development, there must always be a clear path. Without a clear path, each individual just advances blindly, and the result, besides ruining each individual, is to ruin this promising society. Is this not a pity? Originally, before we had this society, we also had some plans. The reason this society was established was the result of mutual discussion and study by some people two years ago. After the society was established, it immediately formed a kind of common consciousness, which had a great influence on the reform of individual thought and the upward striving of life. There was also considerable study of common life and common progress. But because no concrete proposal was put forward, and there were no publications to serve as an organ for public discussion, and in the past two years members have dispersed to various places, and the members in Changsha were unable to meet for discussion due to political obstacles, so although there were some plans and opinions, they remained hidden in each person's heart, or expressed from each person's mouth when a few met, or seen in each person's letters in mutual correspondence; in short, they existed only among a portion of the members. Now that you have had the great gathering at Montargis and decided on a common proposition, and you two, based on your own ideals and observations, have expressed your personal opinions, we members who are not in France must naturally conduct a kind of study, critique, and decision regarding what you have proposed. Apart from the members in Changsha, who will soon hold a meeting for common study, critique, and decision, I will first present my personal opinions on your letters as follows.

Now I will speak point by point:

(1) The question of the society's guiding principle. What kind of guiding principle should our society ultimately take as our common goal? Zisheng's letter, describing the Montargis conference, says regarding the guiding principle for the society's progress: "Everyone decided that the guiding principle for the society's affairs is to reform China and the world." Taking "reforming China and the world" as the society's guiding principle is precisely in accord with my usual proposition, and I anticipate it is in accord with the proposition of the majority of members. Based on our contact and observation, the majority of our members are inclined toward cosmopolitanism. One can see this from the fact that the majority of people disdain patriotism, the majority of people disdain seeking the private interests of a part or a nation while forgetting the happiness of all humanity, and the majority of people feel they are members of the human race and are unwilling to be complexly subordinate to a meaningless certain nation, certain family, or certain religion, and be its slave. This cosmopolitanism is the doctrine that all within the four seas are brothers, it is the doctrine of wanting oneself to be well and also wanting others to be well, which is also called socialism. All forms of socialism are international and should not bear the color of patriotism. Hesen said in his letter of August 13: "I will draft a kind of clear proposal, emphasizing the two points of the dictatorship of the proletariat and an international color. Because the more enlightened youth I see mostly carry a bit of a middle-class perspective and an international color, on these two points, one must advocate with stern correctness." Setting aside the point of the dictatorship of the proletariat for discussion in the next section, the point of an international color, it is now indeed necessary to solemnly raise it. Although we who are born in the land of China, for the convenience of doing things, and because China is more naive and more corrupt than other places in the world and should be the first place to start reform, should of course do things in this land of China; but our feelings must always be universal, and we should not love only this piece of land and not love other places. This is one layer. And doing things is not limited to China. I believe that while there should certainly be people doing things in China, there should even more be people doing things in the world, such as helping Russia complete its social revolution; helping Korea gain independence; helping the South Seas gain independence; helping Mongolia, Xinjiang, Tibet, and Qinghai achieve autonomy and self-determination; all are very important.

Below I will speak of the question of method.

(2) The question of method. The objective—reforming China and the world—is set. What follows is the question of method. What method shall we ultimately use to achieve the objective of "reforming China and the world"? Hesen's letter says: "I now recognize that socialism is a reflection of capitalism, its important mission is to smash the capitalist economic system, and its method is the dictatorship of the proletariat." Hesen also says: "I believe that anarchism cannot be practiced in the present world, because in the present world there clearly exist two opposing classes. To overthrow the dictatorship of the propertied class, one cannot suppress the reaction without the dictatorship of the proletariat. Russia is a clear proof. Therefore, regarding the future reform of China, I believe it is entirely applicable to use the principles and methods of socialism. ... I will first organize a Communist Party, because it is the initiator, propagandist, vanguard, and operational department of the revolutionary movement." According to Hesen's opinion, he believes in using the Russian-style method to achieve the reform of China and the world, and is in favor of Marx's method. But Zisheng says: "The evolution of the world is endless, and revolution is also endless. We do not recognize that the sacrifice of a part can be exchanged for the welfare of the majority. We advocate a moderate revolution, a revolution that uses education as a tool, a revolution that seeks the welfare of the entire people. We take trade unions and cooperatives as the method for implementing reform. We rather do not recognize the Russian-style—Marxist-style—revolution as proper, and lean toward the new-style revolution of anarchism—the Proudhon-style—which is comparatively peaceful and slow. Though slow, it is peaceful." At the same time, a letter from Brother Li Hesheng came, whose proposition is the same as Zisheng's. Li says: "For social improvement, I do not approve of wholesale reform. Using the method of division of labor and cooperation to reform from within society, I feel is very good. The illness of a society has its own particular background. That one prescription can cure the illnesses of all people in the world, I am very skeptical. The Russian-style revolution, I fundamentally have points I dare not approve of." Regarding the opinions of Zisheng and Hesheng (using peaceful means to seek the happiness of the whole), I approve of them in terms of truth, but in terms of fact, I believe they cannot be done. Russell, in his speech in Changsha, had the same idea as Zisheng and Hesheng. He advocated communism but opposed the dictatorship of the workers and peasants, saying that the method of education should be used to make the propertied class awaken, so as not to obstruct freedom, start wars, and shed blood in revolution. But after Russell's speech, I had a very detailed debate with Yinbo, Lirong, and others. I have a two-sentence comment on Russell's proposition: "Theoretically it makes sense, but in fact it cannot be done." The main point of the proposition of Russell, Zisheng, and Hesheng is "using the method of education." But education requires one, money; two, people; and three, institutions. In the world today, all the money is in the hands of the capitalists. The people who run education are all capitalists or slaves of capitalists. In short, the two most important educational institutions in the world today, schools and newspapers, are all in the grasp of the capitalists. The education of the world today is a capitalist education. Children are educated with capitalism, and when these children grow up, they in turn use capitalism to teach the second generation of children. The reason education falls into the hands of the capitalists is because the capitalists have "parliaments" to enact laws that protect capitalists and suppress the proletariat; they have "governments" to execute these laws, to actively implement what they protect and what they prohibit. They have "armies" and "police" to passively safeguard the comfort of the capitalists and prohibit the demands of the proletarians. They have "banks" as the treasuries for the circulation of their goods. They have factories as the institutions for monopolizing their products. Thus, if the communists do not seize political power, they cannot even rest peacefully under its rule, let alone be able to grasp its educational power. Thus, the capitalists have long held the power of education, greatly promoting their capitalism, causing the believers in the communists' propaganda of communism to diminish daily. Therefore, I feel that the method of education is not feasible. I see the Russian-style revolution as a last resort when one is at the end of one's rope and all other roads are blocked. It is not that there is a better method that is abandoned in favor of this method of terror. The above is the first layer of reasoning. Second, according to the principle of psychological habit and observations from human history, I feel that it is impossible to make capitalists believe in communism. Human life has a kind of habit, which is a force in psychology, just like the physical force that makes an object on an incline tend to move downward. To make an object not tend downward, according to the principles of mechanics, a force equal to it is needed to resist it. To change a person's mind, a force of equal intensity to this mental force is also needed to oppose it. Using the force of education to change it, since one cannot get all or a large part of the two educational institutions, schools and newspapers, into one's hands, one may have speeches, printed materials, or one or two schools and newspapers as tools for propaganda. This is just as Zhu Xi said, "Teaching is like supporting a drunkard; you prop him up on the east, and he falls to the west." It is "simply not enough to move the psychology of the capitalists in the slightest, so what hope is there of them joining in the good cause?" The above is from a psychological perspective. Looking again from a historical perspective, all of human life is an expansion of realistic desires. This realistic desire only goes in the direction of expansion, and never in the direction of contraction. A small capitalist will surely want to become a big capitalist, and a big capitalist will surely want to become the biggest capitalist; this is a definite psychology. Historically, all despots, or imperialists, or militarists, never willingly step down until someone comes to overthrow them. There was Napoleon I who failed in his attempt to be emperor, and then there was Napoleon III who attempted to be emperor. There was Yuan Shikai who failed, and yet there was Duan Qirui. Zhang Taiyan, in his speech in Changsha, advised everyone to read history, saying that the failures of Yuan, Duan, and others were all due to not reading history. I say that reading history is a matter of wisdom, while pursuing one's desires is a matter of impulse. Wisdom guiding impulse can only be effective within a certain range. Once outside that range, impulse will overwhelm wisdom and advance bravely. It is necessary to encounter a force greater than the force of the impulse's advance before it can be beaten back. There are a few common sayings: "A person's heart won't die until they reach the Yellow River," "The mountain over there looks higher than this one," "A person's heart is never content; having gained Long, they look to Shu." All can prove this principle. Looking from the psychological and historical perspectives above, it can be seen that capitalism cannot be overthrown by a small force of education. This is the second layer of reasoning. Let me add a third layer of reasoning. Ideals are certainly important, but reality is even more important. If we use peaceful methods to achieve the goal of communism, when will it ever succeed? If it takes a hundred years, in this hundred years, how shall we deal with the groaning proletariat (that is, us)? The proletariat is truly many times more numerous than the propertied class. Assuming the proletarians make up two-thirds, then among the 1.5 billion people, there are 1 billion proletarians (perhaps even more than this number). In this hundred years, to let them be exploited by the one-third of capitalists, how can they bear it? Moreover, the proletarians have already awakened to the fact that they should have property, and that the suffering of being propertyless now is unjust. Due to the unease of being propertyless, the demand for communism has arisen; this has already become a fact. A fact is present, it cannot be eliminated, and once known, it must be acted upon. Therefore, I feel that the Russian revolution, and the daily increase in the number of radical communists in various countries, and the daily tightening of their organizations, are just natural results. The above is the third layer of reasoning. There is one more layer, which is my doubt about anarchism. My reason is not just the impossibility of a social state without authority and organization. I only worry that once such a social state is realized, it will be difficult to see it through to the end. Because this social state is bound to cause a decrease in the human death rate and an increase in the birth rate, its outcome will inevitably be a crisis of overpopulation. If it cannot be achieved that (1) one does not eat; (2) one does not wear clothes; (3) one does not live in a house; (4) the climate, cold and warm, and the fertility of the land are uniform everywhere on earth; or (5) countless new lands habitable by humans are invented, then the difficult pass of overpopulation is ultimately unavoidable. For the various reasons above, my current view on absolute liberalism, anarchism, and the doctrine of democracy is that they all only sound good in theory but are impossible to practice in fact. Therefore, I do not express agreement with the propositions of Brothers Zisheng and Hesheng. But I express deep approval for the proposition of Hesen.

(3) The question of attitude. This is divided into the attitude of the society and the attitude of the members. The attitude of the society, I think, first is "latent." This was discussed at Bansongyuan in Shanghai, and now it is approved by the members in France, so it can be considered settled. Second is "not relying on old forces." Our society is new, it is creative, and we must absolutely not allow old forces to mix in. I ask everyone to pay attention to this point. As for the attitude of members toward each other and the individual attitude of members, I think the first is "mutual aid and mutual encouragement" (mutual aid such as mutual aid in times of urgent need, mutual aid in scholarship, mutual aid in undertakings; mutual encouragement such as actively encouraging good and passively encouraging the elimination of evil). The second is sincerity (not being slick). The third is uprightness (uprightness of character). The fourth is upward striving (being able to change one's temperament and having a desire to improve). The first is what should exist "among members," and the second, third, and fourth are what "individuals" should possess. The above two items for the society's attitude and four items for the members' attitude are where the spirit of the members lies, and they are extremely important.

(4) The question of study. I extremely approve of your two methods of joint research and specialized research. You feel the inconvenience of being scattered and plan to live together in one place, working on one hand, and having opportunities for assembly on the other, so that you can often hold joint research meetings. This is excellent. The members in Changsha are already together, and your method must be emulated here. As for the method of specialized research, with doctrines as the framework and books and newspapers as the items, reading them separately and exchanging them with each other, there is no better method. I think that wherever there are two or more members, they should organize according to this. Zisheng mentioned the necessity of mechanics, saying that our common knowledge is still insufficient, that among our comrades there is not yet anyone who has specialized in academic research, and that China currently has no scholars to speak of. This is truly correct! The progress of thought is the foundation for the progress of life and undertakings. The only method to make thought progress is to study academics. I am very uneasy about my neglect of studies, and in the future, I must follow your method and strive to study.

(5) The question of the progress of society affairs. On this section, Zisheng and Hesen have the most opinions. I approve of all eighteen items of Zisheng's "My Views on the Society." Among them, the three items in the "fundamental plan"—"determine the guiding principle for the progress of society affairs," "prepare talented people," and "prepare finances"—are particularly insightful. To take the period before the 25th year of the Republic of China as a purely preparatory period, I think it should be extended by five years, to the 30th year of the Republic of China as the purely preparatory period. Of the items listed by Zisheng for the Changsha side, "summarize the main outline of society affairs and establish a stable foundation," "plan and establish primary schools," and "seek out core members" are the three most important. In addition, the item "create several new undertakings of value" should be added. Of the overseas departments listed by Zisheng, the three sides of France, Russia, and the South Seas are the most important. I think the society's movements can for the time being be summarized into four: 1. The Hunan movement; 2. The South Seas movement; 3. The study-in-France movement; 4. The study-in-Russia movement. For the time being, we need not aim for breadth, but take developing these four and making them achieve definite results as the objective. This is clearer and more focused. What do you all think? As for the points Hesen wants me to carry out—"primary school education," "labor education," "cooperative movement," "pamphlets," "relatives living together," "helping various groups"—I am willing to carry them all out. However, I do not understand the item "affixing postage stamps," please explain it to me again. Now that the Culture Book Society is established, its foundation can be expected to be stable, and its business can also be expected to develop. There is currently a plan to set up a branch in every county, intended to be completed within two years. If it is completed, the effect will naturally not be small.

(6) The question of uniting with comrades. This item is extremely important. I think that our seventy-odd members must, with the most sincere and earnest hearts, in our various aspects, at all times, unite with the comrades close to each of us, to join hands and advance on the road of world reform. Regardless of man, woman, old, young, scholar, farmer, worker, or merchant, as long as their heart and mind are sincere, their character is upright, their thought is upward-striving, and they can benefit from mutual aid and mutual encouragement, there is no one with whom we cannot unite and form a common heart. This section is detailed in Hesen's letter, and Zisheng also mentioned it. I feel that the great cause of creating a special environment and reforming China and the world is definitely not something that a small number of people can monopolize. I hope that our seventy-odd people will all pay attention to this.

My opinions have been roughly stated. I hear that Zisheng has returned to the country and is in Beijing, so we can talk face to face soon. I ask all friends in France to criticize my opinions, in order to seek a common decision. It would be most fortunate for me personally, and most fortunate for the society.

Your younger brother, Mao Zedong

December 1, Ninth Year

Culture Book Society, twelve o'clock at night

Letter to Hesen (January 21, 1921)

Brother Hesen:

Your letter was forwarded by Zisheng and only arrived at the end of the year. Historical materialism is the philosophical basis of our party; this is a fact. It is not like idealism, which cannot be verified and is easily shaken by people. I certainly have not studied it, but I do not now admit that the principles of anarchism are verifiable principles, for very strong reasons. The political organization of a factory (factory distribution, management, etc.) and the political organization of a country, and the political organization of the world, differ only in size, not in nature. Syndicalism treats the political organization of a country and the political organization of a factory as different in nature, considering them to be separate matters and assigning them to another kind of person. This is either because of specious reasoning in the hope of a temporary peace, or it is due to ignorance and a lack of understanding of the truth of matters. What's more, there is the very necessary reason in terms of means that without seizing political power, one cannot launch a revolution, cannot protect a revolution, and cannot complete a revolution. Your views in this letter are extremely sound; I do not disagree with a single word. On the matter of the party, Mr. Chen Zhongfu and others are already in the process of organizing. On the matter of publications, the "Communist" published in Shanghai, you can probably get it there. It is quite worthy of the four words "banner clear and bright" (the declaration was written by Zhongfu). Details to follow.

Your younger brother, Zedong

January 21, Tenth Year, in the south of the city