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Chairman Mao Zedong Oppose Book Worship - Page 5 Section V. The Aim of Social and Economic Investigation is to Arrive at a Correct Appraisal of Class Forces and then to Formulate Correct Tactics for the Struggle |
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This is our answer to the question: Why do we have to investigate social and
economic conditions? Accordingly, the object of our investigation is all the
social classes and not fragmentary social phenomena. Of late, the comrades in
the Fourth Army of the Red Army have generally given attention to the work of
investigation, but the method many of them employ is wrong. The results of their
investigation are therefore as trivial as a grocer's accounts, or resemble the
many strange tales a country bumpkin hears when he comes to town, or are like a
distant view of a populous city from a mountain top. This kind of investigation
is of little use and cannot achieve our main purpose. Our main purpose is to
learn the political and economic situation of the various social classes. The
outcome of our investigation should be a picture of the present situation of
each class and the ups and downs of its development. For example, when we
investigate the composition of the peasantry, not only must we know the number
of owner-peasants, semi-owner peasants and tenant-peasants, who are
differentiated according to tenancy relationships, but also more especially we
must
know the number of rich peasants, middle peasants and poor peasants, who are
differentiated according to class or stratum. When we investigate the
composition of the merchants, not only must we know the number of each trade,
such as grain, clothing, medicinal herbs, etc., but also more especially we must
know the number of small merchants, middle merchants and big merchants. We
should investigate not only the state of each trade, but more especially the
class relationships within it. We should investigate the relationships not only
between the different trades but more especially between different classes. Our
chief method of investigation must be to dissect the difference social classes,
the ultimate purpose being to understand their interrelations, to arrive at a
correct appraisal of class forces and then to formulate the correct tactics for
the struggle, defining which classes constitute the main force in the
revolutionary struggle, which classes are to be won over as allies and which
classes are to be overthrown. This is our sole purpose.
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