The two-line struggle in the Chinese Communist Party has been long and complex. Many times erroneous trends have taken hold and the Party has suffered through many setbacks. It is inevitable that erroneous trends will surface and at times gain favor.
The history of the struggle to defend the proletarian revolutionary line has been one of heroically “going against the tide”. Premier Chou En-lai said while addressing the 10th Party Congress in 1973: “When a wrong tendency surges towards us like a rising tide, we must not fear isolation and must dare to go against the tide and brave it through. (PR #35-36, 1973, p. 21)
Chairman Mao Tse-tung has repeatedly and continuously shown the spirit of going against the tide in leading the Party against 10 major erroneous lines in its history. In 1958, Chairman Mao went against the tide to lead the mass movement of the Great Leap Forward; later he bravely led the masses and Party cadres to rise up in rebellion against the revisionist line of Liu Shao-chi that had gained prominence in the Party. In 1975 he once again called on the masses and the Party cadres to struggle against the Right deviationist trend that was being stirred up by revisionist elements within the Party to reverse the correct verdicts of the Cultural Revolution.
The principle of democratic centralism is the basis for Marxist-Leninist parties. This insures “unity of will and iron discipline as well as freedom and ease of mind and liveliness.” Another principle, that of going against the tide, is absolutely essential to preserving the Party’s correct line. This principle is explained in the book A Basic Understanding of the Communist Party of China, originally published by the Peoples’ Publishing House in Shanghai, 1974:
To persist in implementing the Party’s basic line, we must have the revolutionary spirit of going against the tide. Going against the tide means firmly sticking to Marxism and struggling resolutely against opportunism, revisionism and all erroneous trends. On the international level, this means struggling against imperialist, revisionist and all reactionary counter-currents; internally, it means opposing all opportunist lines, all non-proletarian ideological trends. By persisting in following the Party’s basic line, we will certainly face all kinds of attacks on the part of reactionary trends, both inside and outside the Party and both inside and outside the country. This is why we must in all circumstances remain clear-headed, continuously carry out investigation and analysis of the prevailing situation in the class struggle, and clearly grasp that one tendency covers another, exhibit the proletarian spirit of going against the tide, firmly implement Chairman Mao’s revolutionary line, and struggle against all erroneous lines and tendencies which are opposed to the socialist orientation, and which threaten the revolution. Chairman Mao teaches us that “Going against the tide is a Marxist-Leninist principle.” Marxism-Leninism is, in its essence, critical and revolutionary. The proletariat is the revolutionary class, the greatest class. It wants to put an end to the oppression and the domination of the bourgeoisie, hasten the fall of the old world in order to establish communist society, and this revolution itself is a glorious action which goes against the tide. All teachers of the proletarian revolution served as models in going against the tide. Throughout their lives, Marx and Engels never stopped fighting against those who held up the banners of so-called ’socialism’, and they confronted all reactionary trends of thought and their representatives and, with the heroic attitude of fearless proletarians, waged tit for tat struggle. The struggles of Lenin and Stalin against all brands of opportunism and their representatives is also a model of the spirit of going against the tide. Chairman Mao is the representative and teacher of our Party and he has imbued it with the spirit of daring to go against the tide and persisting in the correct line. Chairman Mao has not only . . in the 10 two-line struggles within the Party. . confronted all the right and “Left” opportunist trends of thought with all the energy and courage of a proletarian revolutionary, and has many times defeated the opportunist lines, but he has also stood up in the international communist movement against the counter-current of modern revisionism represented by the Soviet revisionists. He has defended and developed Marxism-Leninism and given us a brilliant example of what it means to go against the tide. Thus, it is through going against the tide that Marxism-Leninism was born and has developed. It is also through going against the tide that the cause of the revolution, led by the political party of the proletariat, progresses continuously. To go against the tide, one must first of all dare to do so. When the line is in question, when the overall situation is at stake, a real communist must act in the common interest and dare to go against the tide without being afraid of being removed from his positions, expelled from the Party, put into prison, shot or divorced. Communists stand for the interests of the large majority of the people of China and the world. In order to stick to the Party’s basic line, they must dare to persist along the right path, dare to brave storms, to be entirely devoted to the common welfare, and to march heroically forward. Only the complete absence of selfish motivations enables a person to be fearless. When a wrong tendency surges towards us like a rising tide, the only way to be able to stick to the positions of the proletariat and resolutely struggle against this erroneous: trend is with proletarian revolutionary audacity and a mind free from all fear. If a person behaves in a selfish fashion, always thinks of his own personal interests, always weighs what he may lose and what he may gain, if he is afraid of anything and everything, then he will be unable to face up to and oppose the erroneous trend, or to defend the proletarian revolutionary line of Chairman Mao. In order to develop this revolutionary spirit of going against the tide in the struggle, each member of our Party must draw inspiration from the brilliant examples of going against the tide which have been provided by the great revolutionary teachers.
To go against the tide, the question is not only whether or not a person dares to do so, but also whether or not he is capable of detecting the erroneous trend. The class struggle and the two-line struggle in the era of socialism are extremely complex, and when it happens that one tendency covers another, many comrades are not sufficiently careful. At the same time, those who are hatching plots and intrigues deliberately attempt to present false appearances and fish in troubled waters, making it even more difficult for us to detect them. However, the erroneous lines and tendencies have an objective existence, and, according to the viewpoint of dialectical materialism, all that is objective is knowable. If our eyesight is not good enough, we have to make use of the microscope and telescope of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tse-tung thought. If we assiduously study the Marxist-Leninist classics and the works of Chairman Mao, if we take an active part in practical struggle, and if we consciously transform our world view, we can gradually improve our ability to distinguish both true Marxism from sham and the correct line from the incorrect line. Thus armed, when an erroneous trend comes up, we will be able to have clear opinions and ideas, we will not let ourselves be fooled by appearances and we will be able to struggle courageously against it.
To go against the tide, it is not enough simply to be firmly principled, it is also necessary to correctly apply political principles, distinguish between the correct line and the incorrect line, and pay attention to uniting the largest number of people. The class struggle and the two-line struggle in the era of socialism are extremely complex . . it is easy to confuse the contradictions between ourselves and the enemy with the contradictions among the people, and it is not possible to see everything clearly at a glance. To go against the tide requires that we implement a correct policy and that we distinguish between the different types of contradictions. To go against the tide, we must also respect the discipline of the Party. Going against the tide and respecting the discipline of the Party are inseparable. Both are aimed at preserving the correctness of the Party’s line. This is why, when we exhibit the spirit of going against the tide, we must also respect proletarian discipline, in order to guarantee the full implementation of the Party’s correct political line and principles.