A Summary of Views on the Problem of the Inner-Party Bourgeoisie

This material is a summary of the views sorted out from theoretical discussion groups conducted in several provinces and cities (including the Guangzhou area) as well as from relevant university journal articles. It is provided to comrades simply to allow them to further discuss and study the question of the inner-party bourgeoisie.

—Editor

(From the last page): Reprinted by the: Propaganda Department

Zhongshan County Party Committee

Communist Party of China

July 8, 1976

These sections compose the fifth of a five part collection of material for presentation on the subject “How to Understand the Bourgeoisie is Right Inside the Party.” Compiled at the third discussion forum in Beijing. This forum was held from April 6-15, 1976. The material was edited by the Beijing Municipality Party Committee’s Propaganda Group before April 20, 1976, and it was then published by the Beijing People’s Press (Ed. of translation).

Table of Contents

1. Chairman Mao’s scientific thesis on the bourgeoisie in the Communist Party is a significant development of Marxism Leninism [So far this is the only section that has been translated]
2. On how to understand the problem of the bourgeoisie being right inside the Communist Party
3. On the question of changes in class relations during the socialist period
4. On the root causes of the emergence of the bourgeoisie within the party
5. On the characteristics of the bourgeoisie within the party and the contradictory nature of the relationship between the bourgeoisie within the party and the proletariat
6. On the question of recognizing and struggling against the bourgeoisie within the party

Section 1 of 6: Chairman Mao’s scientific thesis on the bourgeoisie in the Communist Party is a significant development of Marxism Leninism.

This subject is elaborated on by several articles and discussion materials according to the following three aspects:

(1) (Chairman Mao) was this first throughout the historical development of Marxism Leninism to put forward the scientific thesis that the bourgeoisie is right inside the Communist Party. He pointed out where the main sources of danger for capitalist restoration reside during the historical period of socialism.

In capitalist society, through infiltration, corruption and bribery by the bourgeoisie, the bourgeoisie’s ranks are found within the workers' moment and within the Communist Party. However, the bourgeoisie’s core, its primary force, and its primary ranks are found outside the workers' movement and outside the Communist Party. At this time [before the establishment of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat—Ed. of translation], the bourgeois headquarters was a bourgeois state machine controlled and manipulated by a small group of the big bourgeoisie. When analyzing the relationship between right opportunist factions and the bourgeoisie, the authors of the classics of Marxism-Leninism always pointed out their common class essence while also heavily emphasizing the dependence and subordination of these factions within the working class movement and within the Communist Party to the bourgeoisie in society. Marx and Engels said opportunists are vassals, tails, and children of the non-monopoly bourgeoisie. Lenin said that revisionists are tools, lackeys, and agents of the monopoly bourgeoisie. In capitalist society, if the proletariat is to defeat the bourgeoisie, it must firstly destroy the bourgeois headquarters, immediately smash the bourgeois state machine and replace the bourgeois dictatorship with the dictatorship of the proletariat.

After the proletariat seized power, the new transformation in class relations produced class struggle with new characteristics. The bourgeoisie’s attempts at early armed restoration were defeated. The socialist transformation of the system of ownership achieved a basic victory, and the bourgeoisie was repeatedly routed in its attacks on the political and ideological fronts. The class was isolated and disgraced. Under these circumstances, the opportunist faction within the party played an increasingly important role in the attempt at restoration of the entire bourgeois class. After the October Revolution, in the midst of the struggle against the Trotsky and Bukharin anti-Party cliques, Lenin was keenly aware of this new tendency of class struggle.

Chairman Mao led the great struggle of our people against modern revisionism and in carrying out socialist revolution and socialist construction. While doing so, he summed up the historical lessons provided by the restoration of capitalism within the Soviet Union and of the line struggles that followed our country’s liberation. According to the new change in class relationships he continuously theoretically summarized the laws of the struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, and profoundly revealed the bourgeoisie’s new trends. Chairman Mao raised the issue of opposing the capitalist roaders who are in power in the party before the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution.

In the early days of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, Chairman Mao also pointed out that there existed a bourgeois headquarters within the party, and issued a great call to bombard the headquarters. In his recent important instructions, Chairman Mao said: “You are making the socialist revolution, and yet don’t know where the bourgeoisie is. It is right in the Communist Party—those in power taking the capitalist road. The capitalist-roaders are still on the capitalist road.” The capitalist roaders in the party who are in power, the bourgeois headquarters within the party, and the bourgeoisie are right in the Communist Party—these are all new scientific concepts and new scientific theses in Marxist-Leninist theory. These scientific theses further reveal the objective laws of class struggle during the historical stage of socialism. They point out where the main sources of danger for capitalist restoration reside during the historical period of socialism. This is a great advance in the development of Marxism.

(2) The emergence and existence of the bourgeoisie inside the party during the socialist period has been revealed, as well the class’s existing economic foundation and political and ideological roots. This is the first time in the historical development of Marxism that this has happened. It is is a new development in Marxist theory on the bourgeoisie’s emergence and conditions of existence.

In capitalist society, the economic foundation for the bourgeoisie is the capitalist possession of the means of production. After the proletariat seizes power and basically completes the socialist transformation of the system of ownership, does the bourgeoisie still exist? Marx, Engels and Lenin have clearly pointed out that the existence of bourgeois right is a condition for the existence of class differences. As long as bourgeois right exists, there will be classes and class struggle. At the same time, the brilliant idea was also put forward that bourgeois right serves as the soil and condition for the emergence of a new bourgeoisie. Under new historical conditions, Chairman Mao defended and developed these brilliant thoughts. Chairman Mao said: “With the socialist revolution they themselves [i.e. the capitalist roaders—Ed. of translation] come under fire. At the time of the co-operative transformation of agriculture there were people in the Party opposed, and when it came to criticizing bourgeois right, they were resentful.” Here Chairman Mao’s instruction profoundly clarifies the relationship between the bourgeoisie and bourgeois right. It explains the economic interests and political outlook of the inner-party bourgeoisie.

An unavoidable inequality exists between the living standards of high party officials on the one hand and the workers and poor and lower-middle peasants on the other. If they do not have a communist worldview, such high officials will degenerate into the bourgeoisie within the party; regard the victory of the revolution as an opportunity for themselves to profit; regard bourgeoisie right as their just dessert; do everything possible to protect the interests of high officials; oppose the continuing revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat; or oppose restrictions on, or even strive to expand, bourgeoisie right. Clearly, the existence of bourgeois right provides an important economic basis for the formation of the bourgeoisie in the Party.

Chairman Mao also teaches us that due to the existence of bourgeois right, what we are now building is a bourgeois state without capitalists not so different from the old society [It should be remembered that socialism is the transitional stage between capitalism and communism, and therefore elements of capitalism still exist in socialist society—Ed. of Translation]. Therefore, if people like Lin Biao come to power, it will be quite easy for them to rig up the capitalist system. This thus fundamentally answers the important question of why capitalism cannot peacefully grow into socialism, but socialism may peacefully evolve into capitalism.¹

Analyzing the origin of the bourgeoisie in the Party, Chairman Mao for the first time in the history of Marxism-Leninism pointed out the problem of the development of the bourgeois democrats into capitalist roaders.

On the bourgeois democrats, Marx, Engels and Lenin have pointed out for a long time, “These gentlemen … are chock-full of bourgeois and petty-bourgeois ideas.” and “within a workers' party they are an adulterating element” (Circular Letter from Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, September 17-18, 1879).

Lenin said:

In the course of the bourgeois-democratic revolution a number of elements joined our Party, attracted not by its purely proletarian programme, but chiefly by its gallant and energetic fight for democracy; these elements adopted the revolutionary-democratic slogans of the proletarian party, but without connecting them with the entire struggle of the socialist proletariat as a whole.

(Lenin’s complete works vol. 15, p. 444.)

When such elements thought to foist their “theories”, their world outlook, i.e., their short-sighted views, on the workers' party, a split with them became inevitable.

(Lenin’s complete works vol. 16, p. 60)

Under new historical conditions, Chairman Mao has elaborated on these brilliant ideas. He points out that after the proletariat gained political power, the proletarian party became the ruling party. At this stage if there are those in the bourgeois democratic camp who persist in maintaining a bourgeois worldview with their thoughts remaining in the stage of democratic revolution, they will transform from fellow travelers of the democratic revolution into the opposition of the socialist revolution. They will do this in order to protect the interests of high officials and oppose the socialist revolution. They will degenerate, turning into the target of the revolution and becoming capitalist roaders. This brilliant thought of Chairman Mao’s constitutes a great development of Marxism-Leninism. It has great practical significance and far-reaching historical significance.

(3) Chairman Mao’s wise assertion that the bourgeoisie is right inside the Party is a major development of the theory of the dictatorship of the proletariat.

At the same time as the economic basis for their existence remains unchanged, the forms of the non-monopoly, monopoly, and socialist period inner-party bourgeoisie are in fact constantly changing. Although the class opposition between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat has not changed, the specific form of this opposition is constantly changing. Opportunists and revisionists take advantage of these non-intrinsic changes to engage in political opportunism. They constantly concoct falsehoods claiming that the bourgeoisie is disappearing on its own, or that it has already been eliminated. They thus endeavor to prevent the proletariat and the laboring people from seeing clearly where the bourgeoisie is, and provide cover for the bourgeoisie in its attacks on the proletariat.

In the course of leading the struggle of the proletariat and the laboring people against the bourgeoisie, the guides of the proletarian revolution constantly smash all kinds of strange theories put forward by opportunists and revisionists that provide cover for the bourgeoisie. They constantly resolve questions on how to identify the bourgeoisie, and where to find the bourgeoisie. They do so in every important historical stage, according to new changes in class relations, and according to the new characteristics of the class struggle. They formulate a theory, line and strategy for the proletariat’s victory over the bourgeoisie.

The epoch contributions of Marx and Engels primarily reside in the following. They used the world outlook of dialectical materialism to study the capitalist mode of production. They created the theory of surplus value, revealing the secrets of capitalist exploitation. They exposed the non-monopoly bourgeoisie within the third estate and within the palace’s so-called “kingdom of human nature.” They organized and led the struggle of the proletariat against the bourgeoisie, putting forth the conclusion that class struggle will inevitably lead to the dictatorship of the proletariat. They pointed out that the elimination of classes is a path through which history must travel.

Lenin’s achievements mainly lie in the following. He analyzed the basic characteristics of imperialism, pointing out that imperialism is the highest stage of capitalism, that state monopolies are nothing but collective capitalism, and that the monopoly bourgeoisie oppresses and exploits the proletariat and the working people more insanely and cruelly than the non-monopoly bourgeoisie. He exposed the monopoly bourgeoisie within the so-called “community of nations,” and “community of nationalities.” He pointed out the unprecedented sharpening of the three major contradictions inherent under imperialism, [the contradiction between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie; the contradiction between the oppressed nations and imperialism; and the contradictions among imperialist countries—Ed. of translation] and concluded that imperialism constitutes the eve of the socialist revolution, and that the socialist revolution may first achieve victory in one or several countries. He transformed the theory of the dictatorship of the proletariat into a question of direct practice. He obtained the great victory of the October Revolution, and ushered in a new era of the dictatorship of the proletariat over the bourgeoisie. He also demonstrated that the dictatorship of the proletariat is not the end of the class struggle but the continuation of the class struggle in a new form. He pointed out the necessity of guarding against the danger of capitalist restoration. Lenin advanced Marxism to a new stage under the era of imperialism and proletarian revolution.

The great leader Chairman Mao defended and developed Marxism-Leninism in the era of imperialism and proletarian revolution.

Chairman Mao’s wise assertion that the bourgeoisie is right inside the Communist Party has contributed extremely important new material to the theoretical treasure house of Marxism-Leninism, providing communist fighters with a very sharp new weapon. It further revealed the secret of revisionism within the Soviet Union, letting people all over the world more clearly see the likes of Khrushchev and Brezhnev hidden within the “Party of the whole people,” “State of the whole people,” or the “jeweled palace in fairy mountain” [this is a Chinese analogy for a non-existent fantasy or wonder—Ed. of Translation]. They turned out to be the bourgeoisie in the Bolshevik Party in the past, and now are the bureaucratic monopoly bourgeoisie of social imperialism. Chairman Mao’s assertion ripped off the guise of Marxism-Leninism worn by Liu Shaoqi, Lin Biao and the unrepentant capitalist Deng Xiaoping. It tore away their masks of being “old party members,” “old cadres,” and “revolutionary veterans.” In place it showed their true colors—that of the inner-party bourgeoisie. The assertion guides us in more deeply understanding the party’s basic line, and in more thoroughly grasping that the main contradiction throughout the whole historical stage of socialism is the contradiction between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, the main danger is revisionism, the target of the revolution is the bourgeoisie, and the great truth that the focal point is the capitalist roaders in the Party who are in power.

The theory of the dictatorship of the proletariat established by Marx and Engels is the essence of Marxism, and summarizes their entire revolutionary doctrine. Lenin’s brilliant thesis on the possibility of socialist revolution achieving victory first in one or several countries, and Chairman Mao’s brilliant thesis that the bourgeoisie is right within the Communist Party successively developed the great theory of the dictatorship of the proletariat and made indelible contributions towards mankind’s cause of eliminating class on earth. They are of great significance, and have a far-reaching influence.