Comments on the Report from the Embassy in the Soviet Union Regarding Certain Philosophical Views of Yovchuk[1]
(January 1959)

Forwarded to Comrades Lin Tie, Tao Lujia, Zhang Zhongliang, Zhang Desheng, Wu Zhifu, Shu Tong, Zeng Xisheng, Wang Renzhong, Zhou Xiaozhou, and Chen Boda[3] for reading. Return to Mao after reading.

[1] Yovchuk was then a corresponding member of the Soviet Academy of Sciences and director of the Department of the History of Philosophy at Moscow University.

[2] The report from the Chinese Embassy in the Soviet Union to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, dated December 25, 1958, stated that on December 23, Yovchuk delivered a lecture to fourth- and fifth-year students of the Philosophy Faculty at Moscow University on philosophical issues in the Seven-Year Plan, in which he touched upon certain issues concerning China. Yovchuk stated that social development has both universal and particular laws, which should not be mechanically applied, and that China’s experience cannot be mechanically transplanted to the Soviet Union.

The Chinese believe that contradictions exist among the people, whereas the Soviet Union is different. If there are contradictions among the Soviet people, they exist only between some bureaucratic elements and those they lead. He emphasized Lenin’s statement that without the principle of material interest, it is impossible to advance to communism, pointing out that some foreigners believe this principle generates bourgeois ideology and serves as the basis for the existence and development of capitalist remnants—this, he argued, is incorrect. The distribution of products cannot be carried out according to egalitarian methods. He said that some people stress subjective initiative and advocate working with desperate effort, but in fact, the subjective includes the Party, leadership, policies, lines, and correct plans, etc.

Volume 41 of the Complete Works of Mao Zedong

While these cannot be ignored, they also cannot be divorced from the laws and principles of material production. In his lecture, Yovchuk also stated: Some foreigners believe that the state should wither away immediately—this is a revisionist viewpoint; Malenkov and others’ emphasis on centralization is also erroneous; on the issue of education, persuasion is not the only method, and coercion is not solely directed against enemies.

[3] Lin Tie was then First Secretary of the CPC Hebei Provincial Committee. Tao Lujia was then First Secretary of the CPC Shanxi Provincial Committee. Zhang Zhongliang was then First Secretary of the CPC Gansu Provincial Committee. Zhang Desheng was then First Secretary of the CPC Shaanxi Provincial Committee. Wu Zhifu was then First Secretary of the CPC Henan Provincial Committee. Shu Tong was then First Secretary of the CPC Shandong Provincial Committee. Zeng Xisheng was then First Secretary of the CPC Anhui Provincial Committee. Wang Renzhong was then First Secretary of the CPC Hubei Provincial Committee. Zhou Xiaozhou was then First Secretary of the CPC Hunan Provincial Committee. Chen Boda was then Alternate Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Director of the Central Political Research Office.