( August 15, 1959 )
Comrades:
I suggest reading two books. One, A Small Dictionary of Philosophy (Third Edition). The other, A Textbook of Political Economy (Third Edition). Both should be finished within half a year. I am referring here to the third edition of A Small Dictionary of Philosophy. The first and second editions contained quite a few errors; the third edition is much better. In my view, the third edition still has some shortcomings and errors. It does not matter; we can analyze and differentiate them as we read. Like the Textbook of Political Economy, it is basically a good book. In order to criticize empiricism theoretically, we must study philosophy. Theoretically, we criticized dogmatism in the past, but we did not criticize empiricism. Now, the main danger is empiricism. A section from A Small Dictionary of Philosophy is printed here, entitled "Empiricism, or Marxism-Leninism," in the hope of arousing everyone’s interest in studying philosophy. Afterwards, you may proceed to read the whole book. As for reading the history of philosophy, that can be left for a slightly later step. We must now go into battle. Defeat the anti-Party, anti-Marxist ideological trend on three fronts: the ideological front, the political front, and the economic front. The ideological front, that is, the theoretical front. I suggest starting with the two disciplines of philosophy and economics, and then extending to other fields by analogy.

Mao Zedong
August 15, 1959