Li De (1890-1966), a founding member of the Chinese Communist Party, was, in
1951, chairperson of the China Philosophical Society and president of Hunan University. For more biographical information on Li, see Zionggong reaming ti, appendix,
pp. 36-37. He is not to be confused with another CPC member of that name.

With the exception of the last note here, the annotations and clarifications in the text
itself can be found in the HQ original source, The reference to “On Practice” is, of
course. 10 Mao's article “Shijian lun” (On Practice): see Xuanji, /, pp. 259-273, and
SW, |, pp. 295-309.

Dear Haoming:'

Your two letters and the attached “Explanation of “On Practice,’ Part 2,"
have all been received. Thank you. I have also seen Part | of “Explanation” in
the journal.’ This explanation is excellent and will play a great role in disseminating materialism via popular language. When you finish writing Part 3
and have published it, you should put them into a single pamphlet so that it
can be widely circulated. There are some [suggestions for} minor revisions on
the two pages dealing with imperialism and dogmatic empiricism in Part 2,’
please give them some consideration. If Part 2 has already been published,
then revisions can be made when the pamphlet version is printed,

In the past, little has been done in disseminating dialectical materialism in
Popular language, and this is what the broad masses of working cadres and
Young students urgently need. I hope you will write more articles. My

Mao Zedong
March 27

P " .
ae On Practice,” the Taiping tianguo’ was listed under the category of
ere {struggles}. This is inappropriate. I plan to revise it when Selected
1S published. Here [ keep it as it was for the time being.”

Notes

i»
te he ete is Li Das +f, or scholarly hononfic name — not a name a person is born with, but
bain Lees aopts, of is given, usually in a scholurly contest (¢.g., when he accomplished a cer
Aline schooling, or ts considered to have reached adulthood). It is customury in China to
Trends by their x/ rather than by thet natural name. Ut js considered a sign of respeet but

KAA BE
2. This refers to Xin jianshe (New Construction), vol. 3, no, 6, 1951.
3. According to the Simurin source, Mao made the following three revisions/additions jp
Da’s “Explanation”: (
1) Mao added « paragraph of some five lines length to the part where Li Da descritey,
Chinese people's spontaneous antiforcign struggles;
2) Mao added a comment to the part where Li Da discussed the absence of anti-imperal
in the 1911 Revolutionary Movement and in the proposals of Sun Yat-sen, is leader, My
comment was to the effect that although the 1911 Revolution carried within itself the eff
opposing the imperialists ~ in that i.overthrew “the imperialists’ punning dogs,” — (he re
tionaries of the time did not consciously recognize it as a principle of anti-imperiall
3) Mao amended a sentence that described the substance and sigiificance of rationalisay
empiricism within maicrialism.

For more details on these amendments, see Shixin, p. 408.
4. Commonly known a the Taiping Rebellion, the Taiping Hangue (Heavenly
Universal Peace) was a popular, largely but pot exclusively peasant insurrection movement |
opposed the Qing government; occupied the provinces of Hunan, Hubei, Anhui, and Jiangsu;
set up its oWn government in Jinling [Nanjing], From 1850 to 1864, the Taipings ruled big
part of central and southern China. It was 2 nationalistic, anti-Manchu, and to a certain ext
anti-imperialist uprising. It was eventually suppressed by the Qing government with nose
assistance from the foreign interests in China, particularly embodied in the formation of the “E

Victorious Army" led by Charles George Gordon.
5. The Shuxin sourc