Oppose Bookism¹
(May 1930)

I. Without Investigation, There Is No Right to Speak

If you have not investigated a certain problem, you will lose your right to speak
on it. Isn't this too brutal? Not in the least. Since you have investigated neither
the actual situation nor the historical circumstances of this problem, and have no
detailed knowledge of it, anything you said about it could only be nonsense.
Talking nonsense can solve no problems, as everyone knows, so is there anything unjust about depriving you of your right to speak? Many of our comrades
keep their eyes shut all day long and go around talking nonsense. This is disgraceful for a Communist. How can someone be a Communist, and yet go
around with his eyes shut talking nonsense?

This won't do!
This won't do!
Stress investigation!
Oppose talking nonsense!

II. To Investigate Is to Solve Problems

You can't solve that problem? Well, go and investigate its present situation and
its history! When you have really investigated it thoroughly so that you understand it, you will have a way of solving that problem. All conclusions emerge at
the end of an investigation of the circumstances, not before it. Only a dolt, alone

This essay was originally entitled "On the Work of Investigation"; "Oppose Bookism" was
the title of an earlier and shorter piece on the same theme. After circulating the present
version within the Party in 1961, Mao revised it for publication in 1964 in Mao Zedong
zhuzuo xuandu (jiazhongben) (Selected Readings from the Works of Mao Zedong), Vol. 1,
pp. 17-28. At the same time, he reverted to the title of the earlier article. Since this
authorized version, which constitutes the source for our translation, is the only Chinese
text available, it seems logical to give it the title which Mao bestowed on it in 1964. The
text can also be found in the 1991 second edition of Mao Zedong xuanji, Vol. 1, pp.
109-18, and in Mao Zedong nongcun diaocha wenji.
or with a small group of people, cudgels his brains to "find a way," or "come up
with an idea," without making any investigation. We must know that in this way
it is quite impossible to think of a good method, or devise a good idea. In other
words, such persons will certainly produce wrong methods and wrong ideas.
Many of those doing inspection work, many leaders of guerrilla units, and
many newly assigned cadres delight in proclaiming their political views the
moment they arrive. After seeing only a little bit of the surface of things, or one
minor detail, they begin to gesticulate and to say that this is not right, and that is
wrong. Such purely subjective "talking nonsense" is truly detestable. Such people will assuredly mess things up, lose the support of the masses, and be unable
to solve problems.
Many people in leading positions, when they encounter difficult problems,
merely heave a sigh and are unable to solve them. They become annoyed and ask
for a transfer, on the grounds that "their abilities are too slight, and they cannot
do the job." These are the words of a coward. Just get moving on your own two
legs, go to every section and locality within your area of responsibility, learn
from Confucius to "ask about everything,"2 and then, however limited your
abilities, you will be able to solve problems. For when you have not left your
gate, your brain is empty, but when you return it is already empty no longer, it
has already brought back all sorts of material necessary for solving problems,
and thus problems are solved. Must you go out? Not necessarily—you can summon those people who do know about the situation to an investigation meeting,
grasp the "source" of your so-called difficult problem, clarify the "present situation," and thus this difficult problem of yours will easily be solved.
Investigation is like the "ten months³ of pregnancy," and solving problems is
like the "moment of birth." Investigation is solving problems.

III. Against Bookism

The idea that whatever is written in a book is correct persists even today among
the culturally backward Chinese peasantry. Surprisingly, when problems are
discussed within the Communist Party, there are also people who say, whenever
they open their mouths, "Show me where it's written in the book." If we say that
the directives of leading organs at higher levels are correct, it is absolutely not
simply because they emanate from "leading organs at higher levels," but because
their content is in accord with the objective and subjective circumstances of the
struggle and corresponds to the requirements of the struggle. To carry out directives blindly without discussing and examining them in the light of the real
conditions, simply because they come from "higher levels," is a formalistic
attitude which is quite wrong. If the tactics and line of the Party do not penetrate
deeply into the masses, the reason lies in the mischief caused by such formalism.
To carry out the directives of the higher levels blindly, and without any apparent
disagreement, is not really to carry them out, it is in fact the most artful way of
opposing or sabotaging such directives.
The bookist method of conducting research in the social sciences is equally
dangerous and may even lead to taking the path of counterrevolution. This is
clearly demonstrated by the fact that in China there are many Communist Party
members who carry out social science research exclusively by studying life as
described in books, and no small number of them have turned into counterrevolutionaries. When we say that Marxism is correct, it is absolutely not
because Marx was some kind of "sage," but because his theories have been
proved correct in our practice, and in our struggles. We need Marxism in our
struggle. If we welcome this theory, it has nothing whatsoever to do with any
formalistic or even mystical notions of a "sage." Many people who have read
Marxist "books" have become renegades to the revolution, while illiterate workers have often been able to grasp Marxism very well. We must study the Marxist
"books," but they must be integrated with our actual situation. We need "books,"
but we must definitely correct the bookism which departs from reality.
How can we correct this bookism? Only by investigating the actual situation.

IV. If You Do Not Investigate the Actual Situation, You Will
Be Idealist in Your Estimate of Class Forces, and in Your
Leadership of the Work, and the Result Will Be Either
Opportunism or Adventurism

Do you not believe in this conclusion? Facts will force you to believe in it. Just
try to make an estimate of the political situation, and guide the struggle, without
reference to concrete investigations. Will this not be empty idealism? Will not
such empty idealism in your political estimate and leadership of the work give
rise to opportunist or adventurist errors? Most certainly it will cause errors. This
is not at all because the person in question has not made careful plans before
acting, but because he has not taken care before making plans to understand the
real conditions of society. We encounter this constantly in the guerrilla units of
the Red Army. Those officers of the Li Kui type, when they observe that their
brother soldiers have committed offenses, hand out punishments right and left at
random. The result is that the offenders are not convinced they have been fairly
treated and stir up all kinds of disputes, so that the leaders lose prestige. Do we
not encounter this frequently in the Red Army?

We must completely rid ourselves of the idealist spirit and prevent the emergence of every kind of opportunist and adventurist error. Only thus can we
fulfill the task of winning over the masses and defeating the enemy. We must
strive to make real investigations, for only thus can we rid ourselves of the
idealist spirit.
V. The Aim of Social and Economic Investigations Is to
Obtain a Correct Estimate of Class [Forces], and Following on
from That to Decide on Correct Tactics for the Struggle
This is our answer to the question: "Why should we carry out social and economic investigations?" Consequently, the object of our social and economic
investigation is the various classes of society, but not all sorts of fragmentary
social phenomena. Recently, the comrades of the Fourth Army have, on the
whole, all been paying attention to the work of investigation, but many people's
methods of investigation are wrong. Consequently the results of their investigations are like posting a bill for dog meat, like a person from the country listening
to the many strange tales told in the street, like standing on a high mountaintop
and observing the people in a walled city. This kind of investigation is of little
use and cannot enable us to attain our principal objective. Our principal objective
is to understand the political and economic situation of the various social classes.
The conclusion which should result from our investigation consists in a picture
of the present circumstances of each class, as well as the history of its ups and
downs. For example, when we investigate the composition of the peasantry, we
must know not only the number of owner-peasants, semiowner peasants, and
tenant peasants, which are distinguished from one another by rent and sharecropping relations, but also, and more particularly, the number of rich peasants,
middle peasants, and poor peasants, who are distinguished from one another by
class or stratum. When we investigate the composition of the merchants, we
must know not only the number in each trade, such as grain, clothing, medicinal
herbs, and so on; we must, in particular, investigate the number of small merchants, middle merchants, and big merchants. We must investigate not only the
situation of each trade, but more particularly the class relations within it. We
must investigate not only the relations among various trades, but above all
the relations among various classes. Our principal method of investigation is
to dissect the various social classes. Our ultimate goal is to understand the
reciprocal relations among the various classes, and arrive at a correct estimate of class forces, so that we can establish correct tactics for the struggle,
determine which classes constitute the main force in the revolutionary struggle, which classes constitute allies we must win over, and which classes must
be overthrown. This is our sole purpose.
What are the social classes to which we should pay attention when carrying
out investigations? They are listed below:
The industrial proletariat
The handicraft workers
The farm laborers
The poor peasants
The urban poor
The vagrants
The master handicraftsmen
The small merchants
The middle peasants
The rich peasants
The landlord class
The commercial bourgeoisie
The industrial bourgeoisie
When we carry out our investigations, we should pay attention to the situation
of all these classes (some of them are strata). In the areas where we are working
for the time being, only the industrial proletariat and the industrial bourgeoisie
are absent; we constantly encounter all the others. Our tactics for the struggle are
tactics toward all these numerous classes and strata. Our previous investigations
have also had another very great defect: we have concentrated on the villages
and not paid attention to the cities, with the result that, from beginning to end,
many comrades have been confused about tactics toward the urban poor and the
commercial bourgeoisie. The development of the struggle has caused us to leave
the mountains for the plains, but though our bodies have long since left the
mountains, our thinking is still up there. We must understand the villages, but we
must also understand the cities; otherwise, we will be unable to adapt to the
demands of the revolutionary struggle.
VI. Victory in China's Revolutionary Struggle Will Depend on
the Chinese Comrades' Understanding of Chinese Conditions
The goal of our struggle is the transition from democracy⁵ to socialism. The first
step in this task is to win over the majority of the working class, rouse the masses
of the peasantry and of the urban poor, overthrow the landlord class, overthrow
imperialism, overthrow the political power of the Guomindang, and complete the
democratic revolution. The development of this struggle will give rise in turn the
task of carrying out the socialist revolution. The fulfillment of these great revolutionary tasks is neither simple nor easy. It will depend entirely on whether the
tactics of the proletarian party in this struggle are correct and resolute. If the
party's tactics are wrong, or wavering and irresolute, the revolution will inevitably suffer a temporary defeat. We must be aware that the bourgeois parties, too,

--- Notes

1. In a note accompanying the draft when it was circulated in 1961, Mao explained
that "bookism" or "book worship" (benbenzhuyi) was simply the term he had used in 1930
for "dogmatism" (jiaotiaozhuyi).


2. See the Analects, III, XV: "The Master, when he entered the grand temple, asked
about everything." (Legge, Vol. I, p. 160.)

3. I.e., ten lunar months, approximately equivalent to nine months of the Western
calendar.

4. Li Kui was one of the heroes of Shuihu zhuan (Water Margin), the novel of rebellion in late Song China. He was good-hearted, but notoriously short-tempered and violent.


5. Once again, Mao uses minquan zhuyi, Sun Yatsen's term for democracy.