and Marginalia
Annotations on M. Shirokov and A. Aizenberg et al.,
A Course on Dialectical Materialism, translated by Li
Da and Lei Zhongjian (third edition).
[pp. 14-15]
(p. 6)
The essence of dialectics, namely the law (faze) of
the unity of opposites.
[pp. 193-196]
(p. 14)
Materialist dialectics is the determining element of
Marxism.
The objective world develops, and so too does
subjective knowledge.
(pp. 15-16) 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.
Source: Mao Zedong zhexue pizhuji [The philosophical
(p. 17)
To change the world is at the same time to change
oneself.
(p. 20)
Plekhanov ... did not understand the essence of
dialectics (the law of the unity of opposites) ...
(p. 21)
The mechanistic outlook - this perceives only mutual
interconnections, and not mutual interpermeation (shentou).
[pp. 203-213]
(p. 22)
No question regarding knowledge of the world can
be solved except through practice.
The subject of cognition is social class.
(pp. 23-24) The first stage: very shallow, [the proletariat] does
not understand the essence of capitalism, adopts incorrect
methods of struggle, and is still in the stage of a "class-initself".
The second stage: the practice of everyday struggle
and the development of the reality of capitalism, leads the
proletariat to an understanding of the essence of capitalism
(exploitative relationships and the relations of class struggle),
Marxism appeared, and the proletariat achieved the stage of a
"class-for-itself'.
(pp. 24-25) From the perceptual stage move to the rational
stage, and from the rational stage move to revolutionary
practice.
(p. 25)
The purpose of knowledge is to achieve logical
understanding from perceptual data, the two stages are different,
but cannot be separated.
(p. 26)
Perceptual knowledge:
one-sided, superficial,
external connections.
Rational knowledge:
totality, essence, internal
connections.
(pp. 28-29) Perceptual knowledge cannot be separated from
rational knowledge, perceptual knowledge already contains
within it the sprouts of rational knowledge. The general is
already contained in that which is concrete, but what is
contained is only the external and not the internal connection.
From the shallow to the deep, from the outside to the inside,
from the particular to the general, it is only thought with practice
as its basis which succeeds. This is the movement of the
deepening of knowledge, it is sudden change of knowledge. It
"
.
.
.
.
.
· .• ,k~·
' ,•
ANNOTATIONS AND MARGINALIA
is only with this deepening and sudden change that nature can be
reflected relatively correctly and completely.
(p. 29-30) Practice proves: things that are perceived cannot
immediately be comprehended, it is only things that are
comprehended that can be more deeply and correctly perceived.
Perception solves the problem of phenomenon, comprehension
solves the problem of essence and it is only in the process of
practice that the essence of a thing can be revealed and
understood.
(p. 33)
Practice is the proof of truth.
[pp. 213-216]
(pp. 33-34) Theory is produced from practice; if the process of
development of the objective external world is correctly
reflected, and if subsequently this theory is applied in practice,
then this theory can be made manifest in practice, and thus
completes the process of knowledge.
[pp. 253-257]
(p. 44)
It is necessary to indicate all of the particular
characteristics of a process, especially the fundamental
particularity; only then is it possible to know the laws of
development of a process, because the laws (faze) are contained
in the development of the contradictions of the basic
particularity.
(p. 46)
It is necessary not only to know the basic
characteristics of an entire process, it is also necessary to know
the different characteristics of the various stages of the process.
[pp. 258-260]
(pp. 48-49) The process of development has its origin in the
change of intrinsic essence to non-essence, has its origin in the
change of non-essence to essence. This distinction is essential,
otherwise there will be errors.
[pp. 265-267]
(p. 50)
A process has both qualitative and quantitative
aspects.
(p. 52)
Quantitative change promotes qualitative change.
[pp. 272-276]
(p. 59)
The acknowledgement of development through leaps
is one of the central characteristics of dialectical materialism.

(p. 60)
Nature, society, thought, all undergo leaps (feiyue).
At the moment of the leap, the old quality is eliminated and a
new quality is produced (with the old quality as the basis).
The quality and quantity of the old object are
terminated, and the new quality and quantity begin to emerge.
The old process is the preparation for the new
process, the old stage is the preparation for the new stage.
The new process or stage retains remnants of the old
quality, and while there is furthermore a lengthy period in which
the old and new intermesh in a complex manner, there is
dominance of one over the other.
(p. 62)
Dialectics must pay attention to the specific character
of leaps.
[pp. 277-280]
(pp. 64-66) Two viewpoints.
The first viewpoint, the mechanistic view of
development, sees development resulting from an increase or
decrease in quantity. It sees problems only one-sidedly and
externally rather than completely and internally, and cannot
explain the reasons for the development of a thing.
· The second viewpoint, the dialectical materialist view
of development, reveals the source of movement within a
process. So-called knowledge of a process is the revelation of
the various aspects of the contradictions replete within a
process, the determination of the mutual relations between these
aspects, and the search for the movement of the contradictions
of a process.
If we take cognisance of a process during its
dissociation (fenlie), observe the parts of the contradictions
replete within the process and the mutual relations of these parts,
we can then know the development of a process from emergence
to elimination. As Lenin has therefore stated: The essence of
dialectics is knowledge of the dissociation of a unified entity and
the parts of the contradictions replete within it.
It is necessary but not sufficient to have knowledge
of the mutual distinctions of a process, of the many aspects and
attributes of the mutual opposites of a process, including a
knowledge of the mutual connections of these aspects and
attributes;
it is necessary also to know the fundamental
ANNOTATIONS AND MARGINALIA
contradiction which allows development of the process, for that
is the source of movement of the process.
[pp. 281-286]
(p. 67)
In the contradiction between the social character of
production and the private character of ownership can be seen
the contradiction between the forces and relations of production,
and this is the fundamental contradiction.
From this
fundamental contradiction emerges all other contradictions,
because this fundamental contradiction determines the
development of capitalism.
(p. 69)
The principal contradiction in the transitional stage in
the Soviet Union is the contradiction between socialism and
capitalism, and the basis for the continual emergence of this
contradiction is the existence of a rich peasantry. All other
contradictions are determined by this principal contradiction. It
will only be with industrialisation and the socialisation of
agriculture that this principal contradiction will be resolved; but
there is the possibility that this contradiction can be resolved
through the use of internal force.
(p. 71)
The unity of contradictions and their dissociation is
also a law (faze) of thought.
Knowledge is determined by practice and the history
of society.
(p. 72)
The so-called unity of opposites is the dissociation of
a unified entity to become mutually exclusive opposites, and
includes the mutual connections between these opposites. This
is the source of the so-called principal contradiction, of so-called
self-movement.
The particularity of contradictions is different as the
contradictions of each different process are different.
(p. 73)
Qualitatively different contradictions require different
methods for their resolution.
[pp. 287-292]
(pp. 73-74) The national contradiction between China and Japan
requires for its resolution a united front with the bourgeoisie.
The internal (guonei) contradiction after 1927, however, was
resolved through a united front with the peasantry and petty
bourgeoisie. During normal times, the contradiction between
labour and capital will be resolved through a united front of the

workers. In the contradiction between the correct line and
incorrect tendencies within the Party and revolutionary ranks,
use the method of ideological struggle for its resolution.
Internationally, revolution is to be employed to resolve the
contradiction between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie.
Industrialisation and the collectivisation of agriculture are to be
used in resolving the contradiction between the proletariat and
the peasantry in the Soviet Union. Develop the productive
forces to resolve the contradiction between society and nature.
As the contradictions of processes are different, so too are the
methods for their resolution.
(p. 74)
In looking at a problem from a dialectical materialist
perspective, it is necessary to expose the particularity of
contradictions within any process, and at the same time it is
necessary to know the particularity of contradictions of the
various aspects of a process.
(p. 75)
Opposed aspects are a condition for the existence of
each other, only if one aspect exists can the other exist.
(p. 79)
The central task of dialectics is to study the mutual
permeation (shentou) of opposites, namely the identity of
opposites.
(p. 81)
If there is no concrete study of a process, there is no
way that the identity of opposites, that is their mutual
permeation, can be understood.
[pp. 293-299]
(pp. 83-85) Although contradiction exists universally,
antagonism only emerges when the contradictions of certain
processes have developed to a definite stage. The contradictions
between oppressing and oppressed classes, between oppressing
and oppressed nations, between state and state, between party
and party, etc., all have circumstances in which antagonism is
developed. Antagonisms within the social process adopt the
form of oppression and war; those within the process of nature
adopt the form of clash and conflict; and scuffles and plotting
between individuals are of the same order. Many contradictions
do not develop to an antagonistic form: within the Communist
Party, the contradiction between correct and incorrect; in the
realm of culture, the contradiction between advanced and
backward; in the realm of the economy, contradictions between
/
/
'
ANNOTATIONS AND MARGINALIA
town and countryside, between value and use value, between
mental and manual labour, between production and
consumption; in class relations, the contradiction between
workers and peasants; under socialism, the contradiction
between the forces and relations of production; in the natural
world, between life and death, positive and negative, inheritance
and variation, attraction and repulsion, cold and warm, and
between ocean and continent. None of these has yet achieved a
condition under which it bursts asunder, none of these
contradictions contains antagonism.
The method for the
resolution of contradictions and that for the resolution of
antagonism are different.
This is the particularity of
contradiction and the particularity of the method for the
resolution of contradiction, a question which requires
distinctions to be made.
(pp. 87-90) A complex process has many contradictions, and
amongst these one is the principal contradiction and the others
are secondary contradictions. Because the development of the
principal contradiction determines the development of the
various secondary contradictions, if one cannot distinguish
between the principal and secondary contradictions, between the
determining contradiction and those that are determined, one
cannot seek out the most essential thing of a process (provide
examples). However, within a contradiction, regardless of
whether it is principal or secondary, the two aspects of the
opposites are not only in opposition and struggle, but are
moreover in mutual reliance on the opposing aspect with which
it carries on opposition and struggle. The result of the struggle
of the two aspects is the emergence of the change of mutual
interpermeation, namely a transformation to achieve identity, a
transformation to its opposing aspect, and this is the indivisible
interconnection of the two opposed aspects. However, it is a
big mistake to look at the two aspects of any contradiction as
though they are equal. Of the two aspects, one is inevitably the
principal and the other the secondary aspect, and the former is
the aspect which plays the contradiction's so-called guiding role.
This book has already provided the four examples of value and
use value in which value is the principal aspect, of forces and
relations of production in which the forces of production are the

principal aspect, of theory and practice in which practice is the
determining aspect, and of socialism and capitalism in the Soviet
Union of which socialism is the principal aspect; all prove the
determining function of the principal aspect in relation to the
other aspect. It is not, as Plekhanov's mistaken explanation has
it, simple mutual combination;
neither is it, as Luppol's
explanation has it, a case of alternating mutual determination; it
is rather one aspect performing the principal and determining
function. In actuality which aspect is principal? It is necessary
to observe the situation of the development of a process, and it
will be determined under definite conditions. For a long period
in capitalist society, the bourgeoisie were the principal aspect,
but on the eve of the revolution and during its aftermath, the
proletariat changes to become the principal aspect. In a capitalist
~
state, capitalism is the principal aspect while feudal forces are
~
the secondary aspect. Feudal forces were the principal aspect in
pre-revolutionary Russia, as they are in present-day Japan, with
capitalism playing a secondary role.
In Chinese society,
dominance belongs to imperialism and the feudal forces, such
that they exercise a determining effect on all else. The invasion
by Japanese imperialism determines all manner of changes.
Thus, during the vigorous development of the great revolution
between 1925 and 1927, in the confrontation between the
Southern revolutionary forces and the Northern warlords, the
Southern forces changed from secondary status to being
dominant, while the power of the Northern warlords changed in
the opposite direction. In the example of the contradiction
between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, because the
bourgeoisie still has a firm grasp on the economic arteries, to
this day it still occupies a dominant position; however, in terms
of revolutionary leadership, because of the level of
consciousness and the thoroughness of the proletariat and the
vacillation of the bourgeoisie, the proletariat occupies the
dominant position. This particular point has an influence on the
future of the Chinese Revolution. If the proletariat is politically
and materially to occupy the dominant position, it must unite
with the peasantry and petty bourgeoisie. If the majority of the
workers, peasants, and petty bourgeoisie can become conscious
and get organized, then the proletariat will assume the
ANNOTATIONS AND MARGINALIA
determining and dominant role of the revolution. In the situation
of hostility between China and Japan, the Chinese elements are
currently changing from a secondary to a principal position, and
that is because if the national united front is established broadly
and is consolidated, and with the addition of international factors
(the Soviet Union, the Japanese masses, and other peaceful
states), there will be created a superiority over the Japanese
aspect. In the contradiction between the peasantry and the
proletariat, the proletariat is dominant. In the contradiction
between industrial workers and handicraft workers, industrial
workers are dominant. In the contradiction between skilled and
unskilled workers, skilled workers are dominant.
In the
contradiction between town and countryside, the town is
dominant. In the contradiction between economic base and
superstructure, the economic base is dominant.
In the
contradiction between perceptual knowledge and rational
knowledge, perceptions are dominant. In the contradiction
between the main force of the Red Army and the guerilla units,
the main force of the Red Army is dominant.
In the
contradiction between the military tactics of offence and defence,
offence is dominant. In the contradiction between strategy and
tactics, strategy is dominant. In the contradiction between
mobile and positional warfare, mobile warfare is dominant. Of
the various arms of the services, the infantry is dominant. In the
contradiction between mental and manual labour, manual labour
is dominant. And who is to decide? When the development of a
process reaches a definite stage, the strength of the two sides in
the struggle will determine it. The dominant and the nondominant change from one to the other.
[pp. 303-308]
(pp. 92-93) In the motion of contradiction in all processes,
identity is relative while struggle is absolute; all processes are
thus. However, because the nature of the contradiction is
different in each process, and the internal structure of each
process is different, it is very apparent that the method by which
absoluteness and unity are made manifest will also be different
(pp. 93-94) It is correct but insufficient to recognise that
contradiction gives rise to motion; it is also necessary to
understand under what kind of conditions contradiction gives

rise to motion. In a condition of unity, although contradiction is
in motion it is a particular state of motion, namely a relative
state; this is commonly called rest, invariability, immobility,
death, static, standstill, deadlock, stalemate, peace, gentleness,
and is relative, temporary, and conditional. It is necessary to
recognise the general condition of motion, namely the
dissociation of a unified entity, its struggle, conflict, movement
inconstancy, life, action, dynamism, warfare, mutual
disputation, and this is absolute. Identity, unity, rest, death,
peace, and so on, which are the relative condition of
contradiction, are contained within the absolute condition of
contradiction.
It is metaphysical and mechanistic not to
understand this truth, and in fact is a rejection of dialectics.
(p. 99)
It is not the unity of opposites which is the essence,
it is the struggle of opposites.
[pp. 316-324]
(pp. 105-106) The contradiction between the forces and
relations of production, namely society's internal contradiction,
has a determining influence on the contradiction between society
and nature; in other words, humanity can triumph over nature.
It has been thus ever since the production of instruments of
labour.
(pp. 112-113) The Left and the Right are linked, and this is
because they both are divorced from a correct understanding of a
process; they arrive at a vacuous understanding which is
abstract and general, which pays no heed to the content of a
process, and which does not analyse concrete stages,
conditions, possibilities, and so on.
(p. 113)
The so-called dialectical process of the development
of reality and knowledge is a process of mutual transformation
of quality and quantity, of the unity of contradictions, and the
negation of the negation.
[pp. 324-327]
(p. 115)
Engels' words on the three laws are correct.
[pp. 329-334]
(pp. 119-121) The error of formal logic is in its perception of
negation as an external negation between one process and
ANNOTATIONS AND MARGINALIA
another, which is moreover regarded as an absolute negation;
this approach completely misunderstands reality. The opposite
of this approach is dialectical materialism, that is, scientific
observation and study. Material reality is self-motion, and
moreover this self-motion is interconnected. Any process itself
moves forward because of the struggle of contradictions, and
through a sudden transformation it changes to move in an
opposite direction. The entire history of development of any
process is constructed of a thesis, an antithesis which negates
the thesis, and a synthesis which is a negation of the negation of
the antithesis. The thesis already contains contradiction or
antithesis within it, the antithesis also contains the thesis within
it, and the synthesis incorporates both the thesis and antithesis.
So-called negation, as Lenin has stated, ”is neither random nor
complete negation, is neither sceptical nor vacillating negation;
it is rather negation as an element which preserves connection,
an element of affirmation, i.e., without any vacillations, without
scepticism".! Negation does not destroy everything and make a
clean break with the past, it is not absolute; things that are in
front contain things that come later, and things that come later
contain things that are in front. Without the motion of negation,
there can be no motion of affirmation. All processes are like
this.
(pp. 124-125) Negation is the ever-higher development of a
process.
A dialectical negation does not constitute a complete
break with the past or its complete elimination.
The first negation creates the possibility of the
second negation.
A dialectical negation is the cause of movement of a
process of development, and this negation manifests itself as
two aspects: one aspect manifests itself as sublation, namely the
overcoming of the principal things of the old entity which are
incompatible with preservation; the other aspect manifests itself
as affirmation, namely the provision of status to and the
preservation of the various things of the old entity which are still
temporarily compatible with existence.

Annotations on M.B.
Milin et al., Dialectical
Materialism and Historical Materialism, translated by
Shen Zhiyuan (Volume I).
[pp. 179-180]
(p. 142)
Practice is the criterion of truth.
[pp. 181-185]
(p. 143)
Correct theory actively guides practice.
(p. 144)
Practice develops, theory too should develop.
(pp. 145-146) Perceptions and thought are a product of social
life. As social life changes, so too do perceptions and thought.
Material production is the foundation of the
variegated life of humanity.
All knowledge is the result of the struggle of
production and the class struggle.
Before Marx, all materialism examined the problem
of knowledge apart from the social nature of humankind and
apart from its historical development, and was therefore
incapable of understanding the dependence of knowledge on
social practice.
[pp. 187-188]
(p. 152)
The purpose of the study of philosophy is not to
satisfy one's curiosity, but to transform the world.
Know the laws of the world, find correct theory in
order to guide practice effectively, and transform the world.
[pp. 194-201]
(p. 161)
The fundamental theme of the view of development
of materialist dialectics is that it is the contradictory nature of any
phenomenon which leads to the development of that thing.
(p. 165)
Different processes have different contradictions.
(p. 166)
It is because there are different characteristics and
different contradictions that there are all sorts of different forms
of motion.
Knowledge of matter is knowledge of the form of
motion of matter.
(p. 169)
[The law of the unity of opposites] is the universal
law (faze) of the objective world and knowledge, and all
ANNOTATIONS AND MARGINALIA
processes fall within its ambit.
[p. 207]
(p. 175)
Every difference contains contradiction.
Mutual dependence is a manifestation of the struggle
of opposites, the absolute exists in the relative.
[pp. 216-222]
.
.
(p. 178)
With regard to the Chinese Revolution, we should
emulate Lenin's analysis of the Russian Revolution.
(p. 181)
Scientific research must commence. from a
knowledge of the distinguishing characteristics of quality ..
The various and different forms of the motion of
matter. Each entity has a definite form of motion, and there are
a wide variety of forms of motion; however, there is of
necessity one form of motion which manifests ~ny one ~arncular
quality of matter. Different forms. of motion manifest the
different qualities of matter or composition of substances.
.
(p. 185)
Quantity too is objective, and the concept of quantity
is a reflection in human consciousness of those quantitative
relations within phenomena themselves. Scientific research
should come to know [objective reality] not only on the basis of
qualitative difference, but also on the basis of quantitative
complexity.
.
.
(pp. 185-186) Within an entity, quality and quantity constitute
an indivisible identity, an identity of different substances,
namely an identity of opposites.
.
However, the quantitative change of an entity can
only emerge on the basis of a certain quality compatible with it,
and within a definite period, quality restricts the development of
quantity. Feudalism, imperialism, and socialism are three
examples.
(pp. 186-187) Quantitative change is restricted by the nature of
quality, but at the same time quantitative change also has an
influence on quality.
That is to say, an entity which is
determined by a definite quality will remain thus up to the
moment at which quantitative change reaches a definite
qualitative limit; quantity will then demand a change of quality.
At the same time, this change is a change from quality to

quantity. Once the old quality has passed away, a new quantity
can then develop in a forward direction.
Only through quantitative change can qualitative
change emerge.
Note
1 .
The quote is from Lenin's "Conspectus of Hegel's Science of Logic",
in Collected Works (London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1963), Vol. XXXVIII, p.
226. The Chinese translation used by Mao does not, however, reflect very
faithfully the original. See also Mao 'ledong zhexue pizhuji, pp. 516-517, note
84.
\
\.
COMPILED BY NICK KNIGHT
AND JEFF RUSSELL
On Mao, Philosophy and
Ideology: A Select
Bibliography of English
Language Sources
Philosophy
Arndt, Andreas, ”The synthesis of Chinese and Western
philosophy in Mao Tse-tung's theory of dialectic",
Studies in Soviet Thought, 22:3 (1981), pp. 196-205.
Borsa, Georgio, "On Mao's contribution to a theory of
dialectics", Politico, 42:3 (September 1977),
pp. 503-514.
Bulkeley, Rip, "On 'On Practice'", Radical Philosophy, 18
(Autumn 1977), pp. 3-9, 15.
Chin, Steve S.K., The Thought of Mao Tse-tung: Form and
Content, translated by Alfred H.Y. Lin (Hong Kong:
Centre for Asian Studies Papers and Monographs,
1979).
Chu, Theresa, "Some reflections on Mao Zedong's thought", in
Adelmann, F.J. (ed.), Contemporary
Chinese
Philosophy (The Hague, Boston, and London: Martinus
Nijhoff Publishers, 1982), pp. 97-116.
Creel, H.G., Chinese Thought from Confucius to Mao Tse-tung
(Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1953).
Creel, H.G., ”Comments on harmony and conflict", Journal of
Chinese Philosophy, 4 (October 1977), pp. 271-277.
Doolin, D. and Golas, P., "On Contradiction in the light of Mao
Tse-tung's essay on 'Dialectical Materialism'", China
Quarterly, 19 (July-September 1964), pp. 38-46.

annotations of Mao Zedong] (Beijing: Zhongyang wenxian
chubanshe, 1988), pp. 1-189. The translation is of a selection
only of the most significant and coherent of Mao's annotations
on two Soviet texts on philosophy. The annotations date from
November 1936 to July 1937. Page numbers in round brackets
refer to Mao Zedong zhexue pizhuji; those in square brackets
refer to the Chinese translations of the Soviet texts which Mao
was annotating. Translated by Nick Knight.