Chapter 78 Mao Establish Party Culture 1942

Journalist: “Some people say that you prefer using subtle methods to kill, unlike Hitler and Stalin, as it’s bloodless?”

Mao: “Yes. On May 2, 1942, the Yan’an Forum on Literature and Art officially began with over 100 participants. I delivered a speech and made a concluding statement, which later underwent modifications and additions. On October 19, 1943, it was officially published in the Liberation Daily, forming my famous view on ‘Party Culture.’ In fact, Party Culture is Mao Culture, something I invented.”

Journalist: “What does your ‘Party Culture’ entail?”

Mao: “My ‘Party Culture’ comprises five core concepts: Art and literature are tools of political struggle, and revolutionary art serves the political goals of the Party. The fundamental direction of art and literature is the ‘direction of the workers, peasants, and soldiers.’ Artists can only create within this direction as their guiding principle and content. ‘Freedom of creation’ is a slogan of the bourgeoisie. Revolutionary artists should willingly become revolutionary ‘cogs and screws.’ Intellectuals are the most ignorant and dirtiest individuals. The subjective consciousness of artists should not be bourgeois individualism. Intellectuals must undergo perpetual proletarian transformation.

Humanitarianism and theories of human nature are bourgeois artistic views. Revolutionary artists must completely break with them. They are not allowed to depict any non-proletarian consciousness outside the struggles of the workers, peasants, and soldiers.

The era of Lu Xun’s essays is over. The exposure of the dark side of the revolutionary ranks is strictly prohibited.

Opposition to the Eurocentric tendencies left by the May Fourth New Culture Movement.”

Journalist: “How did you arrange the cultural figures then?”

Mao: “After the Forum on Literature and Art, all writers and cultural figures were integrated into various administrative organizations, and only official literary publications existed. Only Xiao Jun resisted. He refused to enter the Communist bureaucratic system and exiled himself in December 1943. He took his wife and children to a village in Yan’an County to engage in agricultural work, living a primitive life akin to living in a cave. However, he couldn’t endure it for more than half a year, and his whole family returned to Yan’an. He was still incorporated into an administrative organization; otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to survive.”

Journalist: “Haha, Xiao Jun couldn’t survive without surrendering?”

Mao: “That’s right. After the Forum on Literature and Art, Ding Ling, in order to escape a fate like Wang Shiwei’s, made a U-turn and criticized Wang Shiwei. She also distanced herself from Xiao Jun. At the same time, she was self-tormented and self-blamed, saying that her ‘Thoughts on March 8th’ were the worst article and that she should follow my ‘Party Culture’ and be a ‘cultural warrior of Chairman Mao.’”

Journalist: “Haha, Ding Ling was forced to surrender too?”

Mao: “Yes, without surrendering, one couldn’t survive. In February 1942, I appointed Lu Dingyi to take charge of the Liberation Daily. On March 31, I personally presided over the forum for the newspaper’s revision, with over 70 participants. From then on, the principles of Party news were established. Party news is completely different from newspapers in society. As a Party newspaper, the Liberation Daily must embody the following principles:

The first principle is ‘Party Comes First’

I told Lu Dingyi and Hu Qiaomu that the newspaper is a tool for class struggle and should never engage in class-neutral objective reporting. Party newspapers should reflect the Party’s political line. Party newspapers should be the ‘textbooks of the Party’ and the ‘textbooks of the people.’ Hu Qiaomu said, ‘The people are reading textbooks,’ and he said it well. Every article, every news report, and every piece of information in the Party newspaper should embody the Party’s viewpoint. All comments, news, and photographs must be arranged according to the Party’s interests. The Party newspaper is not merely a newspaper that reports news as it happens, but a propaganda tool to fulfill the Party’s tasks. The Party newspaper must be under the absolute leadership of the Party’s leading organs.

Secondly, the principle of ‘Revolutionary Position Comes First’

Lu Dingyi proposed a famous slogan: ‘Combine respect for facts with a revolutionary position.’ He also emphasized that news must be completely truthful, but this ‘truth’ must be subject to the command of the ‘revolutionary position’ that takes precedence. We must not commit the error of ‘objectivism.’ The proletarian ‘truth’ and ‘objectivism’ are fundamentally opposed. Emphasizing truthfulness without considering the revolutionary position results in a “false truth.”

Thirdly, the ‘speed of news’ must be based on the interests of the Party

Scooping ‘news’ is ‘bourgeois journalism’ The correct ‘proletarian view of news’ means that the speed of publishing news should entirely serve the needs of the Party. ‘Publish quickly when necessary, delay publication when necessary.’ Some news should be withheld or not published at all. In short, everything must obey the Party’s leadership and the supreme leader. Newspapers and journalists must not have any trace of ‘independence’ or ‘liberalism.’

Fourthly, the principle of ‘Using Newspapers to Guide Movements’

Party leadership must be adept at ‘utilizing’ newspapers and using them to guide political movements. During the initial stages and peak periods of a movement, concentrated reporting should be carried out to form a scale of propaganda, educate cadres and the masses, and intimidate and strike at the enemy.

Fifthly, the principle of ‘News Secrecy and Hierarchical Reading’

After the revision of the Liberation Daily, news that is not suitable for public release is published as the ‘Reference News’ for leaders to read, with restricted access. Publishing the ‘Reference News’ clearly establishes the principles of news secrecy and hierarchical reading. In terms of the right to ‘know,’ we oppose ‘absolute egalitarianism.’ The political consciousness of lower-and middle-level Party members and cadres is insufficient to withstand the ‘toxins’ spread by domestic and foreign news. Only a small number of senior cadres are qualified to receive certain important news and information. The higher the cadre’s rank, the fewer reading restrictions there are. For ordinary people, in order to ensure the purity of their thoughts, there is no need for them to know about news outside of the Party newspaper. Ordinary Party members are given more information than ordinary citizens, which is reflected through reading Party publications and listening to reports conveyed by superiors.”

Journalist: “You’re truly brilliant! The system you created is still 100% applied by Xi Jinping today!”