Comments and Revisions on Zhou Yang’s Speech Manuscript “The Combat Mission of Philosophical and Social Science Workers” [1]
{[2] Comments and revisions on the speech manuscript “The Combat Mission of Philosophical and Social Science Workers” [3]
(November 1963)
To Comrade Zhou Yang:
Well said; I fully agree.
[1]
Zhou Yang was then Deputy Minister of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee.
Mao Zedong
November 8
[2]
“The Combat Mission of Philosophical and Social Science Workers” was a speech delivered by Zhou Yang on October 26, 1963, at the Fourth Enlarged Meeting of the Committee of the Department of Philosophy and Social Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. It was later published in the People’s Daily on December 27, 1963.
[3]
This document consists of two parts: First, Mao Zedong’s comments written on Zhou Yang’s report dated October 31, 1963, submitted for review along with the speech manuscript “The Combat Mission of Philosophical and Social Science Workers.” The report stated that approximately 500 social science scholars from both within and outside the Party, together with leading officials from Party committees’ propaganda departments, attended the meeting. At the meeting, Chairman Mao’s “Rectifying Our Study” and Comrade Liu Shaoqi’s speech at the Vietnamese Party School were distributed as the main study materials, alongside several other documents and materials presenting both positive and negative viewpoints. There was also a plan to invite Comrade Liu Shaoqi to address the gathering. This was described as an academic conference aimed at combating revisionism through study and mobilization, with participants displaying high morale. Parts two through twenty-one contain Mao Zedong’s revisions to the speech manuscript, with text printed in Song typeface representing additions and rewrites made by Mao.

As an ideology and one of the superstructures of society, philosophy and the social sciences, together with natural sciences in our country, serve the socialist economic base and the revolutionary political struggle. They cannot fail to serve the economic base or the current political struggle. Politics, after all, is the concentrated expression of economics.
In November 1963, Mao Zedong met with all attendees of the Fourth Enlarged Meeting of the Committee of the Department of Philosophy and Social Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the National Financial Work Conference of Industrial and Transportation Enterprises, and the Summary Conference of the PLA’s Campaign to Eliminate Pests and Prevent Diseases.
Based on their scientific analysis of capitalist society and a synthesis of the experiences of the workers’ revolutionary movement, the founders of Marxism laid the theoretical foundations of dialectical materialism and historical materialism through debates against hostile ideologies, established the theory of surplus value, revealed that class struggle has been the driving force behind human history since the dawn of civilization, and demonstrated that class struggle inevitably leads to the dictatorship of the proletariat, thereby transforming socialism from utopia into a science.
Four
Even during the lifetimes of Marx and Engels, attempts to distort and abandon the theories of dialectical materialism, historical materialism, and the doctrine of class struggle they had established had already emerged among German Social Democrats.
In 1963, Mao Zedong warmly met with the renowned philosopher Feng Youlan.
Five
This situation may seem somewhat strange: how could those who once championed revolutionary, scientific socialist doctrines fall into the path of counter-revolutionary, anti-scientific revisionism? In fact, there is nothing surprising about it. Everything in the world is inherently dualistic. Doctrines are no exception—they always tend to bifurcate. Where there is a revolutionary, scientific doctrine, its internal development will inevitably give rise to its opposite—a counter-revolutionary, anti-scientific doctrine. Because today’s society is divided into classes, and so too will societies ten thousand years hence be marked by distinctions between advanced groups and backward ones, opposites will continually arise. This principle has long been illustrated by the history of Marxist philosophy, the histories of various social sciences, and even the history of natural sciences. Science itself, and the very history of science, demonstrate this unity of opposites, their mutual struggle, and thus their development.
/\
You see, a unified entity splits into two opposing parts, locked in conflict.
Seven
What is so strange about that? The massive revisionist leadership clique of the Second International, having become lackeys of the bourgeoisie—counter-revolutionary, anti-scientific, anti-communist, and hostile to the people—was bound to be toppled from its pedestal. Lenin’s “anonymous foot soldiers” would rise up to replace them.
Eight
In China, Comrade Mao Zedong engaged in fierce ideological struggles against various opportunist lines within the Party. Disregarding the mockery of “narrow empiricism” leveled against him, as well as political persecution and isolation, he integrated the universal truths of Marxism with the concrete realities of the Chinese revolution, creatively developing Marxism-Leninism through new revolutionary experiences under new conditions.
In November 1963, Mao Zedong met with historian Qian Bozan.
Nine
In China, everyone has witnessed firsthand that, with truth firmly in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party and leftist revolutionaries, the broad masses have rallied behind them. The colossal forces of imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucratic capitalism were overthrown, and previously despised people—the leaders of the vast majority of workers, peasants, and intellectuals, who constitute more than ninety percent of the population—seized power and established the People’s Republic. A complete and dramatic transformation had taken place.
In 1963, Mao Zedong met with agricultural and medical scientists.
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Ten
Revolutionary peoples and parties around the world are increasingly placing their hopes in genuine Marxist-Leninist parties, factions, groups, and individuals across nations, including the Communist Party of China. Their ideas are increasingly becoming the banner of revolutionary Marxism-Leninism and the standard for contemporary global revolutionary movements.
Eleven
The CPSU leadership violated the correct principles enshrined in the Moscow Declaration and related statements by first making internal disputes public before their enemies. At one of its own congresses, it unilaterally declared another fraternal party—the Albanian Labor Party—as allegedly “anti-Marxist-Leninist,” subsequently employing various malicious tactics against the Chinese Communist Party and all communist parties worldwide that disagreed with their erroneous line. They fancied this a clever strategy and persisted in it for several years. In reality, however, it was a highly unwise move that only served to tarnish their own reputation and make their lives increasingly difficult. If they do not soon reverse course and correct their mistakes, their situation will undoubtedly worsen. Those who doubt this need only observe closely.
Twelve
Modern revisionists have three fears: first, fear of imperialism; second, fear of genuine Marxism-Leninism (which they derisively call “dogmatism”); and third, fear of the revolutionary masses. As timid as mice, they dare not allow their own people to see the rebuttals made by those they label “dogmatists” to their criticisms, sealing such responses off as if they were containing a plague. From this alone, one can conclude what kind of future awaits modern revisionists.
Thirteen
True revolutionaries, genuine proletarian revolutionary fighters, and dedicated Marxist-Leninists—those who are resolute materialists—are fearless, unafraid of isolation, and undaunted by the insults hurled at them by reactionaries and revisionists. For they know that it is not the intimidating behemoths that represent the future, but rather themselves—the little people. All great figures were once small. Those who initially appear isolated, as long as they hold onto the truth, will ultimately prevail—this was the lesson taught by Lenin and the Third International. Conversely, when one loses the truth and the support of the masses, even famous figures and large organizations are destined to decline, shrink, and decay—such was the case with Bernstein and the Second International. Things invariably transform into their opposite under certain conditions.
Fourteen
In Europe, North America, and Australia, some communist party leaders, in order to safeguard the interests of imperialism and capitalism, are increasingly aligning themselves with social democrats, to the point where they have become virtually indistinguishable from them in both form and substance. Moreover, they resort to methods such as expelling members from the party to sow division among genuine Marxist-Leninists. Under these circumstances, parties capable of representing the proletarian revolutionary camp are bound to emerge. Similar processes are also unfolding among certain communist parties in Latin America and Asia. Some individuals, momentarily misguided and blinded by revisionism, will eventually be brought back to reason by facts, breaking away from revisionism and returning to the path of Marxism-Leninism.
In short, wherever oppression exists in the world, regardless of country or location, resistance is sure to follow; wherever revisionism takes root, Marxism-Leninism will inevitably stand against it. And wherever divisive tactics such as expulsion from the party are used to target Marxist-Leninists, new outstanding Marxist-Leninists will inevitably arise, giving birth to powerful revolutionary parties. Changes are occurring that catch modern revisionists and dogmatists completely off guard. They are creating their own opposites, which will ultimately bury them. This is an inexorable law.
Fifteen
In this great era, the revolutionary vanguard of the proletariat, leading more than ninety percent of the world’s revolutionary people, will overcome all sorts of difficulties on the road to revolution and advance toward the complete victory of the global revolutionary cause.
Sixteen
Old revisionists once enthusiastically embraced the fashionable slogan of “returning to Kant.” Bernstein openly claimed that dialectics was a “trap” hindering correct understanding.
Selling sexual factors. Represented by figures such as Bogdanov and Lunacharsky [2], Russian philosophers
[1]
Kant, a German philosopher and founder of classical German idealist philosophy.
[2]
Bogdanov, a Russian philosopher and economist. Lunacharsky, a Soviet politician, art critic, and philosopher.

Complete Works of Mao Zedong
Volume 46
Revisionism arose after the failure of the 1905 Revolution, giving rise to pessimistic and disillusioned sentiments about the future of the revolution. They believed that turning to subjective idealism and theology was the only viable way forward, openly advocating for combining Marxist materialism with Machism and merging socialism with religion, effectively transforming revolutionaries into “god-makers.”
At that time, this reactionary tendency within the Second International and the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party was thoroughly criticized by Lenin. His major work, “Materialism and Empirio-Criticism,” was specifically written to refute the god-making faction.
Seventeen
The leading figures of modern revisionism are all pro-American in their politics, and American-style pragmatism essentially guides all aspects of their policies.
Eighteen
Whether one dares to face and acknowledge the contradiction between imperialists led by the United States and the people of the world, whether one dares to recognize the class contradictions and class struggles existing in every country globally, and whether one dares to admit the two types of contradictions within socialist societies—namely, antagonistic and non-antagonistic contradictions—is the litmus test for truly adhering to the revolutionary dialectics of Marxism-Leninism.
Nineteen
They believe that the contradictions between imperialism and socialism, between imperialism and oppressed peoples, between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, between different imperialist countries, and between monopolistic capital groups within a single imperialist nation, should all be reconciled and integrated.
Twenty
We fully appreciate the positive enlightening role played throughout history by bourgeois humanitarian thought—from the Renaissance movement that originated in Italy during the 14th–16th centuries to the mid-19th century—and we are willing to establish cooperative relations with contemporary bourgeois humanitarians in our joint struggle against imperialism and for the preservation of world peace.
Ten
Comrade Mao Zedong repeatedly emphasized in “Rectifying Our Study” the principle of integrating theory with practice, a principle consistently stressed by Marxist-Leninists.
In 1963, at the National Medical Work Conference, Mao Zedong warmly received Professor Zhang Xiaodu, the second president of Xiangya Medical College.