Wei Wei: On the threshold of the new century

　　魏巍：在新世紀的門檻上

　　魏巍 · 2009-10-01 · 來源：烏有之鄉

　　Wei Wei: On the threshold of the new century

　　Wei Wei · October 1st, 2009 ; Source: Land of Wu You（or Land of the Sun）

　　現在，我們正踏在新世紀的門檻上。伴著我們這一代走了大半生的20世紀，即將與我們告別。新世紀已赫然來到面前。對于即將逝去的世紀，人們已在紛紛議論。且不說，“告別革命”的先生們早就抱怨歷史沒有按照他們的意志行進，即使那些在共產主義旗幟下舉過手，宣過誓，跟著革命隊伍走過來的人，也不乏低頭悔罪之徒，甚至有指責20世紀為“共產主義碰壁的世紀”，馬克思、列寧、毛澤東為“烏托邦”者。這就不能不引起我們的思考了。作為這個世紀戰斗過的人，至少作為這個世紀的見證者，我們必須說出自己的看法。

　　We are now stepping on the threshold of the new century and are about to say goodbye to the 20th century on which the generation of us spent two third of our life. The new century is coming to our face. There is an unusual amount of talk about the passing century. Let alone the gentlemen who "bid farewell to the revolution" have already complained about the history that has not being developed according to their will, even those who have raised their hands under the banner of communism, sworn their oaths and followed the revolutionary ranks have become the peers who betrayed their faith and even accused the 20th century of being ‘the century of communism hitting dead ends’ as well as accused Marx, Lenin and Mao Zedong as "utopians". All of these above can’t not cause us to think carefully. As people who have fought in this century or at least as witnesses of this century, we must speak our minds.

　　一、一個偉大而輝煌的世紀

　　1. A great and glorious century

　　我想說，20世紀是世界無產階級和廣大人民艱苦戰斗的世紀，也是人類歷史上一個偉大而輝煌的世紀。這一評價，不僅出自我們這一代人的感情，也是實實在在的事實。

　　I would like to say that the 20th century was a century of arduous struggle by the World proletariat and the great majority of the people, and also a great and glorious century in the history of humanity. This evaluation is not only based on the feelings of our generation, but also a definitive fact.

　　(一)偉大的十月革命。列寧領導的俄國十月革命，具有無可否認的歷史意義和世界意義。這個革命之所以偉大，在于它為全人類開辟了通向未來的光明道路，并且展示了人類根絕私有制，消滅一切剝削、壓迫，實現理想世界的可能。十月革命不是以往革命的重復，它的炮聲迎來的是人類的黎明。

　　(1) The Great October Revolution. The October Revolution in Russia, led by Lenin, is of undeniable historical and world significance. The reason why this revolution is so great is based on the fact that it opens the bright way to the future for all humanity and demonstrated the possibility to create the ideal world that eradicates private ownership as well as eliminates all exploitation and oppression. The October Revolution was not a repetition of past revolutions, its heavy gunfire but brought with the dawn of humanity.

　　(二)世界反法西斯戰爭的偉大勝利。以蘇聯人民為主力軍的世界人民贏得的勝利，掃除了帝國主義中最丑惡的法西斯瘟疫，避免人類重新陷入中世紀的災難。隨著德、意、日法西斯的覆滅，東歐及朝鮮等一系列國家的解放，大大壯大了世界革命的力量。

　　(2) The great victory of the World Anti-Fascist War. The War depending on the Soviet Union people as the main force, is the victory of the people all around the world. It swept away the ugliest fascist plague in imperialism to prevented humanity from falling back into the calamity of the Middle Ages. With the ruin of the German, Italian, and Japanese fascists and with the liberation of a series of countries such as Eastern Europe and North Korea, the power of the world revolution was greatly strengthened.

　　(三)中國革命的偉大勝利。中國革命是人類歷史上艱苦卓絕的最偉大、最壯觀的革命之一，其經歷時間之漫長，動員之廣大與革命之深入，尤其中國工農紅軍史無前例的二萬五千里長征，不愧為人類犧牲精神的典范。由于中國革命的勝利一舉突破了帝國主義的東方戰線，大大改變了社會主義陣營與帝國主義陣營力量的對比，使世界局勢發生了巨大變化。

　　(3) The great victory of China’s revolution. The China’s revolution is one of the greatest and most spectacular revolutions in the history of humanity. Characterized by the very lengthy fighting, the very extensive mobilization and the very depth of revolution, especially including the unprecedented 25,000-mile long march of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, the revolution should absolutely be regarded as the model of the human sacrifice spirit. The victory of the Chinese revolution broke through the Eastern Front of imperialism in one fell swoop, thus greatly changing the balance of forces between the socialist state and the imperialist party and bringing about tremendous changes in the world situation.

　　(四)亞、非、拉殖民地半殖民地的革命。這一革命在世界社會主義陣營的支援下，形成了世界革命的相對優勢。菲德爾·卡斯特羅領導的古巴革命，是本世紀社會主義運動的后起之秀，直到今日仍是傲然屹立的社會主義陣地。

　　(4) Revolutions in the colonies and semi-colonies of Asia, Africa and Latin America. These revolutions, with the support of the world socialist state, formed the relative superiority of the world revolution. The Cuban revolution led by Fidel Castro was the upstart of the socialist movement in this century, and it is still standing proudly on socialist fields today.

　　這就是本世紀人類一幅輝煌壯麗的畫圖。應該說，馬克思列寧主義和毛澤東思想是貫穿這幅畫圖的靈魂。它的實踐是全世界英勇的無產階級和廣大的人民群眾。他們付出的犧牲是巨大的，他們的獻身精神是可歌可泣的，在他們身上，人類的美好品質得到最充分的體現。盡管他們走過的道路血流成河，但革命的巨流終于將資本主義的半邊天沖垮了。世界上三分之一的人口，從資本主義的污泥濁水中沖出來，向著美好的目標邁出了一大步。這是本世紀戰斗過的人永遠引以為自豪的。

　　This is a glorious and magnificent picture of humanity this century. It should be said that Marxism-Leninism and Maoism are the soul discernible throughout this picture. Its practitioners are those heroic proletariat and the great majority of the people all over the world. The sacrifices they have made are great and their dedication should be spoken in loudly laudatory term.  Many good qualities of humanity are fully exemplified. Although the way they have gone are full of so much blood, the billow of revolution has finally broken through “half the sky” of capitalism, because one-third of the world's population has been brought out of the dirty water of capitalism and has taken a huge step forward toward a beautiful goal. This is what to be forever proud of for those who have fought in this century.

　　二、社會主義的優越性無可置疑

　　2. The superiority of socialism is absolutely undeniable

　　自從嶄新的社會主義制度在地球上出現，便與衰亡著的資本主義制度展開了無情的競爭與競賽。如果說人們的社會實踐是檢驗真理的標準，歷史已經宣告社會主義制度具有無可置疑的優越性。

　　Ever since a brand-new socialist regime emerged on the earth, it has competed and contested relentlessly with the dying capitalist system. If people's social practice is the criterion for testing truth, history has declared the unquestioned superiority of the socialist regime.

　　前蘇聯和中國的例子是最明顯的。

　　革命前的俄國，按領土來說在世界各國中占第一位，按人口來說占第三位(僅次于中國和印度)，按工業品總額來說，占世界第五位，占歐洲第四位。它擁有的現代生產工具，等于英國的1/4，德國的1/5，美國的1/10。在國內重工業的部門中，外國資本家主宰著一切。而在十月革命后，從1930年到1937年期間，蘇聯工業產值每年的增長速度平均約為20%，同一時期，資本主義國家每年的增長速度，平均只有0.5%。蘇聯工業的增長速度，比各主要資本主義國家工業在其興旺的時代的增長速度，高過許多倍。例如美國工業產值每年的增長平均如下：19世紀最后30年為5%，1901-1929年期間為4%。美國學者莫里斯·邁斯納在回顧這段歷史時曾說：在那些比較晚出現在工業舞臺上的國家中，德國、日本和蘇聯這s三個國家是成功地實現了工業化的最突出的歷史范例。在1880-1914年期間，德國的經濟每10年的增長速度為33%(人均17%)；日本在1874—1929年期間每10年的增長速度為43%(人均28%)。蘇聯在1928—1958年期間每10年的增長速度為54%(人均44%)；而在毛澤東時代的中國，從1952—1972年，每10年的增長率高達64.50%　(人均34%)；中國的經濟發展并不像許多西方記者錯誤地告訴讀者的，是以“蝸牛速度向前發展”。又據世界銀行統計，1950-1970年，除日本外，一般工業國家增長5倍，中國則增長了15倍。中國40年走完英國100年的路程。

　　The examples of the former Soviet Union and China are the most obvious.

　　Before the October Revolution, Russia placed first globally in terms of territory, the third in terms of population (after China and India), the fifth in the world in terms of total value of industry products which made up the fourth in Europe. Moreover, it had modern production tools equal to that of 1/4 of the United Kingdom, 1/5 of Germany, and 1/10 of the United States. In the domestic heavy industries, foreign capitalists dominated everything. However, after the October Revolution, from 1930 to 1937, the average economic growth of industrial production figures in the Soviet Union was about 20%, while the average annual growth rate in the capitalist countries for that same time period was only 0.5%. The growth rate of Soviet industry was many times higher than that of the industries in the major capitalist countries in their golden age. For example, the average annual growth in industrial output of the United States was as follows: 5 per cent in the last 30 years of the nineteenth century and 4 per cent from 1901 to 1929. Maurice Meisner, the United States researcher, after surveying the history, said: in those countries that appeared relatively late on the industrial stage, Germany, Japan and the Soviet Union were the most outstanding historical examples of successful industrialization. Between 1880 and 1914, Germany's economic growth reached by 33 percent per decade (17% per capita); that of Japan was 43% (28% per capita) between 1874 and 1929. However, the economic growth of the Soviet Union was 54% from 1928 to 1958 (44% per capita); In China of Mao Zedong Era, from 1952 to 1972, the growth rate was up to 64.50% (34% per capita) every 10 years; China's economic development is not, as many Western journalists falsely tell readers, to develop at a ‘snail's pace.’ Furthermore, according to the World Bank, from 1950 to 1970, the industrial countries in general, except for Japan, had grown by 5 times, while China had grown by 15 times. In other words, China had made a 100-year journey of the United Kingdom in 40 years.

　　以上這些本來都是已被歷史證實的確鑿無疑的事實，然而在毛澤東逝世之后這些年硬是被一些人把水攪渾了。

　　The description above should have been supposed to be the unquestioned facts that have been confirmed by history, but in the years after Mao Zedong's death, some people force to have had the waters muddied.

　　何況經濟的發展速度，作為社會主義制度的優越性，不過是其表現之一，它尤其表現在社會的巨大進步和人在精神上的解放。由于新的社會主義制度確立，剝削制度的消滅，人由被迫出賣勞動力的雇傭奴隸，成為自己國家真正的主人。這才是千金難買，人間最可貴的。至于他所享受到的工作權、教育權、休息權以及相應的福利設施，我國人民已有親身體驗，此處就毋庸詳述了。

　　Also, the speed of economic development is merely one manifestation of the superiority of the socialist system, and the superiority is especially manifested in the tremendous progress of society and the liberation of the human mind. Due to the establishment of the new socialist system and the eradication of the system of exploitation, people became the real masters of their countries instead of wage slaves who were forced to sell their labor forces. This is the most precious and expensive thing in the world. As for a person’s rights to work, education, rest and the corresponding well-being facilities that he enjoys, our people have already experienced them themselves, so there is no need to elaborate here.

　　我所以稱贊社會主義制度比資本主義制度無比優越，是說它從根本上改變了私人占有的生產關系，消滅了剝削，并非說一切都會立刻盡善盡美。一切制度在其發展過程中都是由不完善逐步完善的。共產主義是一個人類嶄新的社會制度，是千百萬群眾的事業，是依據無產階級和人民大眾的意志，按照客觀規律，不斷地創造著和完善著。在其發展過程中出現一些缺點和錯誤、挫折和曲折，幾乎是不可避免的。這才是從整個歷史過程看問題，這才是從歷史唯物主義的觀點看問題。有人咬住一點缺點錯誤不放，喋喋不休，動輒以貶損誣蔑革命為能事，仿佛革命導師反不如他高明，這種人其實不過是“斥鷃每聞欺大鳥，昆雞長笑老鷹非”罷了。

　　I praise the superiority of socialism over capitalism because it fundamentally changes the relations of production in private possession and abolishes exploitation, but not to say that everything will be perfect at once. In the process of development, all systems are gradually improved, from imperfection to perfection. Communism is a brand-new social system of humanity and the career of millions of people, which is constantly created and perfected in accordance with the will of the proletariat and the mass of people and in accordance with objective laws. It is almost inevitable that there will be some shortcomings, mistakes, setbacks and twists and turns in the course of its development. This is the way to look at a problem from the perspective of the entire historical process, and this is the way to look at a problem from the viewpoint of historical materialism. Someone dwells on the slightest mistakes and jumps down other people’s throat, and try his best to frequently disparages and vilify the revolution, as if the revolutionary teacher is not as wise as him, factually, the person like this is only the one to teach a fish to swim.

　　美國學者莫利斯·邁斯納還在他的《毛澤東的中國和后毛澤東的中國》一書中，特意引了偉大的英國歷史學家E.H.卡爾在結束他宏偉的多卷本蘇聯歷史著作時發出的警告：“危險并不在于我們去掩蓋革命歷史中的巨大污點，去掩蓋帶給人類痛苦的代價，去掩蓋在革命的名義下犯下的罪行。危險在于我們企圖完全忘卻并在沉默中無視革命所取得的巨大成就。”邁期納接著說：“卡爾的話不僅適用于蘇聯，也適用于中國。不幸的是革命本身很難有助于使自己獲得公允的評價……正是毛澤東時代的污點，尤其是大躍進和文化大革命，深深地留在當代的政治意識和歷史意識之中，人們不能夠也不應該忘記這些事件的巨大失誤及其造成的巨大的人員損失，但是，未來的歷史學家在看到這些污點和罪行的同時，肯定會把人民共和國歷史上的毛澤東時代(無論他們對此作何評價)作為世界歷史上偉大的時期之一，作為一個取得了社會成就和人類成就的時期。”

　　看，西方的學者尚有如此清醒的看法，我們就更應該客觀和公允了。

　　In ‘The Mao’s China and after’ written by Maurice Meisner, as an United States researcher, he specifically quoted the E.H. Carr's warning, as a great British historian, given at the end of his grand multi-volume work on Soviet history: ‘The dangers are not to cover up those great smudges in the revolutionary history, to cover up the cost that cause human great pain, and to cover up the crimes committed in the name of the revolution. The danger lies in our attempt to completely forget and ignore the great accomplishments the revolution achieved in something of a silent attitude. Meisner continued, ‘Carr's warning can be applied not only to the Soviet Union, but also to China. Unfortunately, the revolution itself can hardly help itself get a fair evaluation...... It is precisely the stains of the Mao era, especially the Great Leap Forward and the Great Cultural Revolution, that remain deeply in the contemporary political and historical consciousness, and people cannot and should not forget the great mistakes these events made and the heavy human losses they caused, but future historians, while seeing these stains and crimes, will definitely regard the Mao Zedong era(no matter how they evaluate it) in the history of the People's Republic of China as one of the great periods in the history of the world, and as a period of social and humanity’s achievements.’

　　Look at that. If western scholars can have such a reasonable view, then shouldn’t we have more objective and fairer attitude?

　　三、世紀末的悲劇

　　III. The tragedy of the end of the century

　　發生于80年代末和90年代初的東歐變質和蘇聯解體是本世紀的最大悲劇。其性質是資本主義在已經建立起社會主義制度的國家內重新復辟，這是毫無疑問的。尤其蘇聯是世界上第一個社會主義國家，且已經建國70余年，一夜之間土崩瓦解，不能不格外震撼人心。這場大悲劇使一切共產黨人和進步人士痛心疾首，使帝國主義陣營和其他反動派興高采烈，也使許多中間人士更加動搖，本世紀曾經一度風起云涌的革命高潮，頃刻陷入共運的低谷。有一本名叫《圍城》的小說，有一句臺詞是“城里的人都想沖到城外，而城外的人卻想沖進城內”。本世紀末也竟出現了這樣一幅迷離錯綜的圖畫：處于資本主義困境中的勞動者總想沖出“城”外，尋找新的世界；而社會主義國家的一些人卻想沖進“城”里，把資本主義視為夢中的天堂。結果“城”里的人還沒有沖出來，而“城”外的人已經深深陷入護城河中去了。

　　The regime changes in Eastern Europe and the collapse of the Soviet Union, which took place in the late 80s and early 90s, were the greatest tragedies of this century. There is no doubt that the essence of the tragedies is that capitalism is restored in countries where socialist regime has been established. In particular, the Soviet Union as the world's first socialist country which has been founded for more than 70 years collapsed overnight, which cannot but be extraordinarily shocking. This great tragedy has made all communists and progressives searing, the imperialist group and other reactionaries elated and many centrists even more shakable. In the end, the once magnificent climax of revolution in this century fell suddenly into the slump of communist movement. In a novel called ‘Fortress Besieged’, there is a line that says, "People in the fortress want to rush outside but people outside want to rush inside it." At the end of this century, there also emerged such maze intricacy picture: the labors being in the distress of capitalism were always trying to break out of the ‘fortress’ to find a new world，whereas some people in socialist countries want to rush into the ‘fortress’ with a conception of capitalism as a their ideas of paradise. As a result, the people in the ‘fortress’ have yet failed to rushed out, while the people outside it have fallen deep into the moat.

　　一個建立起社會主義數十年的國家，竟然會遭逢資本主義復辟的命運，這是出人意外的，甚至是一般人想也沒有想到的。能夠清醒地看到這種危險的，只有極少數人，他們的代表人物就是毛澤東。他遠在1956年就預見到了這種危險的萌芽，并起而抗爭，這就是為期十年的中蘇論戰，也就是那場著名的反對現代修正主義的斗爭。今天回頭看來，這場斗爭的意義是何等重大何等深遠啊！也許只有列寧當年反對第二國際老修正主義者的斗爭才能與之相比。可惜這場斗爭未能取得當時蘇共隊伍內部更廣泛的響應，以致蘇共的修正主義勢力坐大，積重難返，形成了今天的悲劇。這不能不引為共運歷史上的沉痛教訓。

　　It is surprising and even unconceivable for an average person that a country that has been building socialism for decades unexpectedly suffered the fate of capitalist restoration. However, only very few people can clearly recognize this sort of danger, the representative of whom is Mao Zedong. As early as 1956, he foresaw the bud of the danger and rose up to fight，which was called as the ten-year Sino-Soviet debate that is a famous fight against modern revisionism. Looking back today, we can see how significant and profound the meaning of this fight is! Perhaps, only Lenin's fight against the old revisionists of the Second International can be compared with it. Unfortunately, the Lenin’s fight failed to achieve response so more extensively within the CPSU at that time that the revisionist power of the CPSU grew stronger and become hard to be get rid of, finally which resulting in today's tragedy. This cannot but be regarded as a hard lesson from the history of the communist movement.

　　至于說到前蘇聯、東歐等國資本主義復辟的原因，曾流行過一種極其淺薄的平庸之見，即認為蘇聯之所以垮臺，是由于經濟沒有搞上去才造成的。以蘇聯的國力與經濟力而論，蘇聯是當時世界上唯一能與美國并肩的國家，怎么能說成是經濟沒有搞上去呢？從人均收人來說，蘇聯當時的人均收入是一年5000美元，中國的人均收入一年不過300美元，以300美元來嘲笑人均收入5000美元的國家經濟沒有搞上去，豈不是太可笑也太缺乏常識了嗎？

　　As for the reason why capitalism restored in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe countries, a popular but extremely shallow and banal view is that the reason for the collapse of the Soviet Union was because the economy did not improve. In terms of the national power and economy, the Soviet Union was then the only country in the world along with United States. In terms of per capita income, the Soviet Union was $5,000 a year at that time, compared to China's per capita income of only $300 a year. Thus, based on the figure of $300 income, it is how ridiculous and lack of common sense to laugh at that the Soviet Union’s economy with $5,000 a year did not improve.

　　前蘇聯等國資本主義復辟的教訓，是一個重大嚴肅的課題，是值得我們幾代共產黨人認真研究、深長思之的。

　　The lesson from capitalist restoration of the former Soviet Union countries is a significant and serious project, which deserves to be seriously studied and pondered by the generations of our communists.

　　近年來已有不少文章進行了探討，復辟的原因已經越來越清楚了。一般認為，劇變發生的外因和內因都是不可忽視的。外因主要是帝國主義的和平演變戰略加強了。自從美帝國主義的武裝侵略在東方遭受挫折之后，便開始采取對社會主義國家的和平演變戰略。尼克松的《1999：不戰而勝》就是最明顯的例子。但是僅有外因，沒有內因是不能成功的。外因是通過內因起作用的。前蘇聯和平演變的內因，主要是黨內的修正主義集團篡奪了黨的最高領導權，并與內部一切反社會主義的勢力結合起來，以政策開路，有計劃地一步一步地改變社會主義國家的性質。應當說，在蘇聯這一過程是從斯大林逝世、赫魯曉夫上臺開始的。盡管赫魯曉夫表面上還打著共產主義的旗號，但實際執行的卻是一條修正主義的路線以及一系列修正主義的政策。毛澤東說，量變就包含著部分質變。于是由量變而質變，終于在三十年后由赫魯曉夫的徒子徒孫戈爾巴喬夫等人來完成了這場劇變，使希特勒的數百萬大軍沒有攻破的共產主義壁壘在一夜之間崩塌了。“衛星上天，紅旗落地”成了被不幸言中的現實。現在的蘇聯人民已陷入深深的苦難之中，生產下降了一半，比當初打了四年的蘇德戰爭，其損失和破壞還要巨大。蘇聯、東歐等國提供的教訓是何等慘痛啊！

　　In recent years, the reasons for the restoration have become clearer in the discussion in many articles. It is generally believed that external and internal causes of the drastic change cannot be ignored both. The external causes are mainly the strengthening of the imperialist strategy of the peaceful evolution (the material trappings). Ever since the armed aggression of American imperialism suffered setbacks in the East, it began to adopt a strategy of peaceful evolution towards the socialist countries. Nixon's book- ‘1999: Victory Without War’ is the clearest example. But it cannot succeed only due to external causes without internal causes, because external causes are at work through internal ones. The internal cause of the peaceful evolution occurred in the former Soviet Union was mainly that the revisionist clique in the party usurped the supreme leadership of the party and combined with all the anti-socialist forces within the party to methodically change the Union’s socialist character step by step. It shall be said that in the USSR, this process began with the death of Stalin and the coming to power of Khrushchev. Although Khrushchev still bore the banner of communism on the surface, he actually carried out a revisionist route and a series of revisionist policies. Mao Zedong said that quantitative change includes partial qualitative change. Thirty years later, the change occurred finally because the change accumulated enough from the quantitative to the qualitative, in other words, Gorbachev, as Khrushchev's protégé, along with his fellows, completed this massive change, who collapsed overnight the barrier of communism that was not breached by Hitler's millions of armies. The famous prophecy that ‘satellites enter into orbit, but the red flag falls to the ground’ has become an unfortunate reality. The Soviet people are now reduced into deep misery, because their national production has fallen by half and they have to face the reality that the loss and damage brought by the political collapse is even greater than that caused by the four-year Soviet-German war. What a painful lesson provided by the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe countries!

　　令人憤慨的是，一些人為了把水攪渾，反而把前蘇聯的垮臺說成是“蘇聯模式”、“斯大林模式”的失敗，這不是故意顛倒黑白、張冠李戴嗎？這種手法豈不是太可恥了嗎？

　　綜觀20世紀末的悲劇，足見現代修正主義影響之深，泛濫之廣，欺騙性之大，為害之烈，使歷史至少倒退了數十年，使億萬革命群眾和無產階級英雄兒女的鮮血付諸東流了！這個教訓實在太深刻、太慘痛了！因此，在反對帝國主義的同時，徹底進行反對現代修正主義的斗爭不能不是世界共運具有關鍵性的重大任務。列寧說：“反對帝國主義的斗爭，如果不同反對機會主義的斗爭密切聯系起來，就是空話和謊言。”(《列寧選集》第2卷，第686頁)可見反對帝國主義的斗爭同反對機會主義的斗爭是不可分割的。

　　What is outrageous is that in order to play spoiler, some people instead describe the collapse of the former Soviet Union as the failure of the "Soviet model" and the "Stalin model". Aren’t they lying and misattribution deliberately? Isn't that the way is so shameful?

　　Throughout the tragedy in the late 20th century, it does show that the influence of modern revisionism is so profound, its rampant is so extensive, its deception is so great and its harm is so heavy that socialism history is set back decades and the spilled blood of billions of revolutionary masses and proletarian heroes go in vain! This lesson is too profound and too painful! Therefore, while opposing imperialism, it cannot but be a critical and great task for the world communist movement that the overwhelming and thorough struggle against modern revisionism shall have been. Lenin said: ‘The struggle against imperialism is merely empty words and lies, if not closely connecting with the struggle against opportunism.’ (Lenin's Selected Works, vol. 2, p. 686). It is obvious that the struggle against imperialism is inseparable from the struggle against opportunism.

　　四、現代修正主義的若干特征

　　4. Some characteristics of modern revisionism

　　根據對蘇聯、東歐等國復辟資本主義的觀察，現代修正主義具有如下的特征：

　　According to the observation about the restoration of capitalism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe countries, the characteristics of modern revisionism or revisionists are as follows:

　　(一)打的是社會主義的旗子，走的是資本主義的路子。他們一般都依然打著馬克思主義或種種社會主義的旗號，但卻以實用主義的手法閹割其革命的靈魂。他們口頭上掛著人民群眾，實質上卻代表著新舊資產階級的利益，是以復辟資本主義制度為目的的。他們共同的手法是欺騙。因為他們深深懂得，在社會主義國家內以反社會主義的面貌出現，是不得人心的，是無法得逞的。因此，他們往往以改革社會主義社會的弊端為名，干的卻是改變社會主義制度之實。他們有時甚至只做不說，或者做成再說。他們是從來不說出自己真實的動機和目的的，僅僅以實用主義的口號和眼前的利益吸引群眾，實際上卻天天都在改變著社會主義的生產關系，破壞著社會主義的經濟基礎，一步一步地把人民引向資本主義的深淵。當人民覺察時大勢已去，為時已晚。戈爾巴喬夫其人直到前蘇聯社會主義大廈傾覆時才最后說出：他“一生的主要事業已經完成了”。原來他的本意就是要改變蘇聯的社會主義制度。他在回憶錄中坦率承認，他是從大學時代開始對共產主義懷疑的，并認為：“只有從這個制度的頂端，才能有效地改革這個制度。”他一生的事業確實完成了。

　　(1) Wrapping the flag of socialism but taking the way of capitalism. They generally still wrap themselves in the flag of various Marxism or socialism, but they emasculate their revolutionary soul with utilitarianism. They pay lip service to concern about the interest of the people, but they essentially speak for the interests of the old and new bourgeoisie in order to restore the capitalist system. Deception is their common modus operandi, because they absolutely know that it is desperately unpopular and doomed failing that anti-socialist appears flagrantly in a socialist country. Therefore, in the name of reforming the shortcomings of socialist society, what they do is actually to overthrow the socialist regime. Sometimes they do it but saying nothing, or they say it when it's done. They never say their true motives and purposes and attract the people only in ways of utilitarianism slogans and short-term profits, but in fact they are changing daily the socialist relations of production, destroying the economic foundation of socialism and leading the people step by step into the abyss of capitalism. When the people realized the abyss, it was too late because the writing is now on the wall. Until the collapse of the edifice of socialism in the former Soviet Union, Gorbachev himself didn’t finally say that his ‘main business of life has been accomplished.’ It turned out that his true intention was to change the socialist regime of the Soviet Union. In his memoirs, he frankly admitted that he had been skeptical of communism since his college days and believed that ‘only from the top of the regime can we effectively reform the regime.’ His life's business was indeed accomplished.

　　(二)在國際問題上，對帝國主義妥協退讓，實行無原則的和平共處，是現代修正語言者的共同特征。因此他們必然放棄無產階級國際主義的旗幟和反帝的旗幟。赫曉魯夫的“和平共處”與戈爾巴喬夫鼓吹的“全人類的利益超過一切階級、集團的利益”就是他們的口號。列寧說，帝國主義是無產階級革命的前夜，現在是帝國主義與無產階級革命的時代，其實并沒有過時，但卻被他們丟到九霄云外去了。

　　(2) In international issues, compromise to and unprincipledly peaceful coexistence with imperialism are common features of modern revisionists. Therefore, they are bound to abandon the flags of proletarian internationalism and anti-imperialism. Khrushchev's ‘peaceful coexistence’ and Gorbachev's advocacy that ‘the interests of all humanity is above that of all social classes and groups" are their slogans. The word by Lenin is that imperialism is the night before the proletarian revolution, so both imperialism and the proletarian revolution exist now in this era, which isn’t outdated but forgot completely by them.

　　(三)在社會主義國家內部，現代修正主義的顯著特征是推行全民國家全民黨的主張，或借口所有制改造的初步完成，不再提或漠視無產階級與資產階級之間的階級斗爭，包括在意識形態領域中相當激烈的階級斗爭。他們這樣做，實質上不過是放任資產階級思想對無產階級的進攻。蘇聯、東歐等國幾乎沒有一國不是造成極端的思想混亂而垮臺的。前美國駐蘇大使馬特洛克在其《蘇聯政變親歷記》中曾說：“只要蘇聯領導人真的愿意拋棄這個觀念(指階級斗爭的學說)，那么他們是否繼續聲稱他們的指導思想為馬克思主義也就無關緊要了。這已是一個在別樣的社會里實行的別樣的‘馬克思主義’，這個別樣的社會則是我們大家都可以接受的。”這句話確實說到了要害處。放棄階級斗爭，是社會主義國家垮臺的致命因素。

　　(3) Inside the socialist countries, the distinctive feature of modern revisionism is that it puts forward the proposal of the universal nation and party, or with the excuse to preliminarily accomplish ownership reforms, does not mention or deliberately ignore the class struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie including the severe class struggle in the ideological field. In doing so, revisionists are in essence exactly allowing the bourgeois ideology to attack the proletariat. Nearly no one country in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe countries didn’t collapse due to this extreme ideological confusion. Matlock, a former United States ambassador to the Soviet Union, said in his book ‘Autopsy on an Empire: The American Ambassador's Account of the Collapse of the Soviet Union’ that ‘as long as the Soviet leaders are really willing to abandon this idea [referring to the doctrine of class struggle], it does not matter whether they continue to declare that their fundamental guiding ideology is Marxism. It is already a different kind of 'Marxism' practiced in a different kind of society, and it is the different kind of society acceptable to all of us’. These words really get a point. Giving up the class struggle is the fatal element resulting in the collapse of the communist countries.

　　(四)在建黨思想上，他們同樣是以全民黨和階級斗爭熄滅論為指導的。對外既諱言與資產階級的階級斗爭，對內也不強調改造黨員的非無產階級思想，更缺乏進行系統的馬克思列寧主義教育，作為無產階級先鋒隊的黨員，就這樣逐漸消融在一般的群眾之中。再加上黨的民主集中制遭到破壞和缺乏誠懇的批評與自我批評，使黨既缺乏嚴整的紀律，更缺乏生動活潑的民主生活，黨也就逐漸喪失了先進性、戰斗性與無產階級的本質。甚至日漸腐化墮落，脫離了人民，黨也就變成了各階級和平雜居的俱樂部和爭名逐利的團體了。

　　(4) In terms of theoretical idea of founding party, they agitate the theory of entire people party and the extinction theory of class struggle too. Externally, they avoid mentioning the class struggle against the bourgeoisie, whereas internally they do not place an emphasis on changing the Party members’ non-proletarian ideology, and they are even lack of systematic education in Marxism-Leninism, in this way of which the Party members as the vanguard of the proletariat are gradually dissolving into ordinary people. In addition, the Party's democratic centralism has been undermined and its lack of sincere criticism and self-criticism has made the Party lack of both strict discipline and lively democratic life. As result, the Party has gradually lost its advancement, militancy and proletarian nature. Even worse, with corruption slowly increasing day after day and with splitting and breaking themselves from the people, the Party finally becomes an all classes’ club of all fraternal packed together and a group vying for fame and fortune.

　　(五)在建設路線上，他們共有的特征是對市場經濟萬能論和私有制驅動力的迷信。為了掃除改變社會主義制度的強大阻力，他們聲嘶力竭地把計劃經濟貶斥為“斯大林的模式”，把它說得一無是處，而實際上卻難以解釋蘇聯為何在短短的時期內發展為如此強大的國家。其目的無非是以資產階級的新自由主義來代替馬克思主義的政治經濟學，以資本主義私有制來代替已經實現的公有制而已。

　　(5) In terms of the construction route, their shared characteristic is the superstition concerning the panacea of market economy and the drivie of private ownership. In order to remove the deep resistance to change the socialist regime, they screamed at the top of their voices to reduce the planned economy to ‘Stalin's model’ and described it as useless, while in fact they fail to explain why the Soviet Union had developed into such a powerful state just in a short time. Their purpose is nothing more than the replacement of Marxist political economy with bourgeois neoliberalism, and the replacement of realized common ownership with capitalist private ownership.

　　(六)在依靠誰的問題上，他們天天都說依靠人民，依靠工人階級，實際上卻天天都在改變其主人翁的地位，收回其已經到手的福利，并且使其淪為資本的雇傭奴隸。而其真正依靠的卻是黨內外的資產階級，把無產階級專政演變為資產階級專政。

　　(6) In terms of whom they can rely upon, they say every day that they depend on people and working class, but in fact they daily want to abolish people’s master status and claw-back the people’s already received entitlements in order to make the working class reduce to capitalist wage slaves. In other words, whom they really relied on is the bourgeoisie both inside and outside the party in order to turn the dictatorship of the proletariat into that of the bourgeoisie.

　　(七)現代修正主義的社會基礎與階級基礎，是社會主義國家中新生的資產階級分子和黨內的特權階層。由于在社會主義階段忽視階級斗爭和對資產階級法權不加限制，黨內便會出現特權階層。這個階層是傾向資本主義的，因為資本主義會帶給他們更大的利益。他們與國外帝國主義的影響相呼應，企圖改變社會主義制度，幾乎是不可避免的。一個馬列主義的黨，必須堅決展開對修正主義的斗爭。

　　(7) The social and class basis of modern revisionism is nascent bourgeois in the socialist countries and the privileged members within the party. Because the class struggle is ignored and the distribution system of the bourgeoisie isn’t restricted at the stage of socialism, the privileged will emerge inside the party. This class is inclined to capitalism because capitalism will bring them greater benefits. It is almost inevitable that they respond to the influence fostered by foreign imperialism in order to attempt to change the socialist regime. A Marxist-Leninist party must struggle against the revisionism uncompromisingly.

　　五、“補課論”必須深入批判

　　Fifth, the ‘Extra-Lesson Theory (i.e. primary stage of socialism)’ must be deeply criticized

　　一個時期以來，一種流行甚廣的修正主義理論就是“補課論”。也就是說，社會主義國家應當進行資本主義補課。其論據是，現在的社會主義國家，例如俄、中等國都是原來經濟、文化落后，資本主義尚未充分發展的國家。這些國家的社會主義革命都是不應當發生而發生的，都是不滿月的“早產兒”和“畸形兒”(這話從他們的老祖宗考茨基一直講到現在)。因此，重新補上這一課作為一個必要的階段是不可少的。這就是被人稱之為的“早產論”和“補課論”。

　　For a period of time, a popular revisionist theory was the ‘the Extra-Lesson Theory’. In other words, socialist countries should have an extra lesson in capitalism. Their theoretical ground is that the previous and existed socialist countries such as Russia, China and others, are those countries that were economically and culturally poor with the feature that their capitalism has not yet fully developed. The socialist revolutions in these countries should not have taken place but did, so they were all ‘premature babies’ and ‘deformed babies’ (the word has been said ever since their ancestor Kautsky started). Therefore, they think that it is indispensable to catch up this lesson as a necessary stage. This is what is known as the ‘premature birth theory ’and the ‘extra-lesson theory’.

　　的確，像前蘇聯和中國等許多社會主義國家的情況都是這樣。但是我們何不進一步想一想，難道歷史上發生的這一切都是偶然的嗎？馬克思什么時候說過社會主義革命只可能發生在資本主義最發達、最成熟的國家呢？資本主義鏈條在它最薄弱、矛盾集中點的地方，或各種革命條件已完全具備的地方斷裂，為什么就不可以呢？這難道不是最可憐的教條主義和機械論嗎？幸虧列寧和毛澤東都不是這樣的人。在這一點上，他們才是真正的革命者，富有創造性的偉大的馬克思主義者。列寧早就從理論上粉碎了這種論調。他在《論我國革命》中說：“‘俄國生產力還沒有發展到可以實現社會主義的水平。’第二國際的一切英雄們，當然也包括蘇漢諾夫在內，把這句話視若至寶。”但是列寧接著問道，既然如此，“我們為什么不能首先用革命手段取得達到這個一定水平的前提，然后在工農政權和蘇維埃制度的基礎上趕上別國人民呢？”(《列寧選集》第4卷，第777頁)毛澤東與列寧的見解相同。他不僅從理論上并且在實踐上適時地進行了從新民主主義革命到社會主義革命的轉變。中俄兩國都以其輝煌的速度，建成了完整的工業體系。這不都是萬眾矚目的事實嗎？

　　Indeed, this is the case in many socialist countries such as the former Soviet Union and China. But why don't we think about it a little further, is it possible that everything that happened in history is accidental? When did Marx say that a socialist revolution could only take place in the most developed and mature capitalist countries? Why can't the capitalist chain break where it is at its weakest, where the clashes are concentrated, or where the conditions for revolution are fully met? Isn't this the most pathetic doctrinaire and mechanism? Fortunately, neither Lenin nor Mao Zedong were such people. In this respect, they are the real revolutionaries and the great Marxists who are creative. Lenin had theoretically shattered this kind of argument long ago. In ‘The theory of Revolution’, he said ‘there is a statement that the productivity in Russia have not yet developed so enough that socialism can be realized. All the heroes of the Second International, of course including Sukhanov, took this statement as holy writ’. But Lenin then asked ‘Why can't we achieve the preconditions for reaching the certain productivity first by revolutionary means, and then catch up with the people of other countries on the basis of the workers' and peasants' regime and the sovietism?’ (Title: Lenin Selected Works, vol. 4, p. 777). Mao Zedong and Lenin shared the same views. He carried out, on both theoretical and practice grounds, the timely transition from the new-democratic revolution to the socialist revolution. Both China and Russia have built complete industrial systems at their brilliant speed. Isn't it all highly visible fact?

　　馬克思曾經預言，資本主義必將被社會主義所代替。但是他并未說過社會主義革命必然在資本主義最成熟、最發達的國家首先發生，更沒有說過，在經濟比較落后、資本主義不甚發達的國家不能發生和不應發生。現在的情況是社會主義革命恰恰發生在東方資本主義發展僅有一定程度的國家里。是否能武斷地說，這是違反了社會主義革命的規律呢？看來不能這樣說。根據本世紀已經出現的情況，也許資本主義的鏈條首先從薄弱的環節裂斷，反而合乎正常的規律。有出息的馬克思主義者，真正的無產階級革命家，完全沒有必要依據資本主義是否高度發展而束縛自己的手腳。因為革命的爆發，其因素是多方面的，生產力的發展水平不過是其中的一個因素，但決不是惟一的因素。從俄國革命和中國革命的發生看，當時都是矛盾的集中點，主客觀條件都已完全具備，包含著深刻的歷史必然性。我們高興也罷，不高興也罷，它都是要發生的。那種把生產力發展水平視作惟一標志的人，不承認其他因素的人，只能證明不過是庸俗的生產力論者和機械論者罷了。

　　Marx once predicted that capitalism would surely be replaced by socialism. However, he did not say that the socialist revolution would surely take place first in the most mature and developed capitalist countries, and even never mentioned that socialist revolution could not and should not happen in poor and under-developed capitalist countries. The fact now is that the socialist revolution took place precisely in the countries where the development of Eastern capitalism reached not to an adequate degree. Can it be arbitrarily said that this breaks the laws of the socialist revolution? It seems that not. In the light of what has already arisen in this century, it seems more reasonable that the capitalist chain snaps first from the weak link. Capable Marxists and real proletarian revolutionaries don’t have to tie their hands according to the standard of whether the development of capitalism must reach a high level, because the factors for the outbreak of revolution are various, and the level of development of productive forces is only one of them, but by no means not the only one. From the occurrence of the revolution standpoint, both Russia and China were the place where social conflicts have intensively at that time, and their subjective and objective revolutionary conditions were fully satisfied, so the outbreak of the socialist revolution has profound historical inevitability. No matter how happy or not, it's going to happen. Those who regard the level of development of the productive forces as the only sign and refuse to recognize other factors can only be proven to be just vulgar productivity theorists and mechanists.

　　列寧曾經明確指出，要使社會主義革命在一個國家內取得勝利，只要具有像革命前的俄國那樣的中等資本主義發展水平就可以；同時工人階級依靠自己的政權，可以同全體勞動人民一起，在過渡時期中克服本國經濟和文化的落后狀態。毛澤東接著指出，“列寧指出的那句話很對。一直到現在，社會主義革命成功的國家，資本主義發展水平比較高的，只有東德和捷克；其他的國家，資本主義發展水平都比較低。西方資本主義發展水平很高的國家，革命都沒有革起來。列寧曾經說過，革命首先從帝國主義世界的薄弱環節突破。十月革命時的俄國是這樣的薄弱環節，十月革命后的中國也是這樣的薄弱環節。”(《毛澤東讀社會主義政治經濟學批注和談話》，第88頁)

　　Lenin once said precisely that the victory of the socialist revolution could be achieved in a country, as long as the country same as pre-revolutionary Russia can reach the medium level of capitalist development; Meanwhile, the proletariat relying on its own regime, together with all the working people, can overcome the economic and cultural backwardness of the country in the transitional period. Mao Zedong then noted, ‘The words that Lenin said were right. Until now, only East Germany and the Czech Republic have a relatively high level of capitalist development in the countries where the socialist revolution has been successful. In other countries, the level of capitalist development is relatively low. However, in the West countries where the level of capitalist development is very high, their revolutions have not generated. Lenin once said that revolution first breaks from the weak links of the imperialist world. Russia before the October Revolution was such the weak link, and China after the October Revolution was also such the weak link. ‘(Mao Zedong’s Commentaries and Talks as Reading ‘A Socio-Political and Economic theory Textbook’, p. 88)

　　從列寧和毛澤東的思想，我們可以深刻領會到生產力與生產關系之間的辯證關系。一方面我們要承認生產力的決定作用。同時也要承認生產關系以及作用。毛澤東認為：“一切革命的歷史都證明，并不是先有充分發展的新生產力，然后才改造落后的生產關系，而是要首先造成輿論，進行革命，奪取政權，才有可能消滅舊的生產關系。消滅了舊的生產關系，確立了新的生產關系，這樣就為新的生產力發展開辟了道路。”(《毛澤東讀社會主義政治經濟學批注和談話》，第170頁)一句話，毛澤東認為，不是先有充分發展的新生產力，然后再改造落后的生產關系，而是先造成新的生產關系，才能使新的生產力充分發展。

　　From the ideas of Lenin and Mao Zedong, we can profoundly understand the dialectical relationship between forces of production and relations of production. On the one hand, we need to recognize the decisive roles of productive forces, on the other hand, we need also to recognize the relations of production and their roles. Mao Zedong believed: ‘All revolutionary history has proved that new forces of production cannot be fully developed before reforming backward relations of production. In contrary, the fist task is to create a public opinion getting to revolution to seize political power, through which it is possible to eliminate the old relations of production. If the old relations of production have been eliminated and new ones have been established, the way will be blazed for the development of new productive forces. (Mao Zedong’s Commentaries and Talks as Reading ‘A Socio-Political and Economic theory Textbook’, p. 170) In other words, Mao Zedong believed that there is no need to have new productive forces fully developed first before backward relations of production are reformed, in contrary, the fact is to construct new relations of production primarily and then new productive forces can be fully developed secondarily.

　　從資本主義生產力與生產關系的發展史看，就是如此。

　　This is the case with a look back to the history of the development of the capitalist productive forces and relations of production.

　　以英國為例。英國的資產階級革命是從17世紀開始的。革命前自然具備了必要的社會經濟前提。事實上英國的農奴制度在14世紀末已經解體，資本主義經濟在封建社會內部逐漸成長，工場手工業也相當繁榮，商業勢力已擴展到海外。但在資產階級革命前，資本主義經濟還不占主導地位。1660年10月，英國的資產階級和新貴族在國會的選舉中取得勝利，與專制王權的斗爭進一步激化了，此后經過數十年曲折復雜的復辟和反復辟的斗爭，于1689年方才取得了革命的勝利。但是這一革命僅僅為英國資本主義的進一步發展掃清了道路，一百年后，英國發生的工業革命，才使英國成為大機器工業的發源地。眾所周知的瓦特的蒸汽機就是這時(1784年)發明的。這正說明，毛澤東的論斷，即先改變舊的生產關系，才能出現新的生產力的大發展是正確的。

　　Take the United Kingdom as an example. The bourgeois revolution in United Kingdom began in the 17th century. The necessary socio-economic prerequisites were naturally in place before the revolution. In fact, its serfdom had been dissolved by the end of the 14th century in the United Kingdom where the capitalist economy had gradually grown within feudal society, its manufacture was quite prosperous, and its commercial power had expanded overseas. But before the bourgeois revolution, the British capitalist economy was not yet dominant. In October 1660, British bourgeoisie and a new aristocracy won the Parliamentary election, so their struggle against the autocratic monarchy intensified, and finally the victory of the revolution was achieved in 1689 after their tortuous and complicated restoration and anti-restoration struggles for decades long. But the revolution only cleared the way for the further development of British capitalism, a hundred years later, it was Britain’s Industrial Revolution as the key factor to made the country become the birthplace of capitalist large-scale mechanized industry. That was when (1784) the well-known Watt's steam engine was invented. This just goes to prove the Mao Zedong's correct deduction that the old relations of production must be changed firstly before new productive forces can be largely developed.

　　以無產階級領導的社會主義革命為例，也是如此。本文已就俄、中兩國的實例作出充分的說明，不需再重復了。如果依照某些政治庸人的見解，以生產力的發展作為革命因素的唯一標準，列寧是絕不應當發動十月革命的，他必須等到落后的俄國生產力達到美國的水平(也許需要幾百年)方才舉事，那是不會有20世紀的這段歷史的。如果中國也按照這些庸人的看法，則應當在大陸上革命取得勝利以后，至少插上一百年以上的資本主義發展階段，讓資產階級充分發展起來，等到幾百年后再發動人民起來以第二次流血的方式來推翻它。請問世界上有這樣的蠢人嗎？

　　The same example is true of the socialist revolution led by the proletariat. There is no need to explain repeatedly because of the adequate examples of Russia’s and China’s revolutions mentioned above in this article. Supposed that the views by some political philistines are correct, that is, that the development of the productive forces was considered as the sole criteria of factors driving revolution, Lenin should never have started the October Revolution, because upon the sole criteria, he had to wait until the backward Russian productive forces reached the level of the United States (perhaps need to take hundreds of years), if which there would have been no history of the 20th century. If China also follows the views of these philistines, it should add at least over a hundred years into the stage of capitalist development after the victory of the revolution on the mainland so that it can allow the bourgeoisie to be fully developed and then wait until a few hundred years later to initiate again the enslaved people to overthrow the capitalist system by a second bloody struggle. Is there such a stupid person in the world?

　　“補課論”在我國的廣泛流傳，決不是偶然的。它其實不過是“愛資病”患者拒絕社會主義、復辟資本主義的借口罷了。這種“理論”危害甚烈，流傳甚廣，是必須深入批判的。

　　It is by no means accidental that the ‘the Extra-Lesson Theory’ has been widely circulated in our country. In fact, it is nothing more than an excuse for the truly sick fanatics of ‘loving capitalism’ to reject socialism and restore capitalism. This kind of ‘theory’ is so seriously harmful and so widely circulated that it must be deeply criticized.

　　六、新世紀的展望

　　6. Prospects for the new century

　　總之，20世紀是一個偉大而輝煌的世紀，一系列社會主義國家的出現和民族解放運動的興起，畢竟是人類取得的巨大進步。盡管世紀末的悲劇使它遭受到極大的挫折和反復，但只要溫習一下歷史的進程，就是不難理解的。歷史上各種不同性質的革命，如果它是真正的革命，很難是一帆風順、沒有反復的。資產階級革命就是如此。例如英、法等國的資產階級革命就都經過復辟與反復辟的反復斗爭。何況無產階級的社會主義革命，其性質是根除私有制的革命，它的深刻性和復雜性遠遠超過任何革命。怎么能夠設想不經反復交戰一舉成功呢？客觀地看，資本主義與社會主義誰勝誰負的斗爭，不論在一個國家內或者在世界范圍內，都將是一場長期的、持續的、不可調和的斗爭。雖然斗爭的雙方力量的消長會有不同的變化，只要矛盾沒有解決，這個斗爭就會繼續下去。所以世紀末出現的社會主義低落的悲劇，決不是共產主義的終結。它只不過是一個回合的結束和另一個回合的開始。人們將認真研究世界共運的歷史經驗，吸取教訓，面向未來，重整隊伍，再振旗鼓，在全世界無產階級聯合起來的口號下，在馬克思主義的旗幟下，迎風搏浪，再一次迎接新的勝利！

　　In short, the 20th century was a great and glorious century when the emergence of a series of socialist countries and the rise of national liberation movements, were after all humanity’s great progress. Although the tragedy at the end of the century has made revolutions suffer great setbacks and back-and-forth, it is not difficult to understand such cases on condition that the course of history is reviewed. In terms of revolutions with various features in humanity’s history, if it were a real revolution, it would have been hardly a smooth ride and not lack of back-and-forth. Such is the case with the bourgeois revolution. For example, the bourgeois revolutions in Britain, France, and other countries have gone through back-and-forth struggles between restoration and anti-restoration. Besides, the socialist revolution of the proletariat, which is in nature a revolution to eradicate private ownership, is far more profound and complex than any other revolutions. How can it be conceived that success will be achieved in one go without back-and-forth battles? From an objective point of view, the struggle between capitalism and socialism will be a long-term, continuous, and incompatible struggle, both within a country and in the world. Although the seesaw of strength that the both sides of the struggle have will change according to different circumstances, as long as the contradictions are not resolved, the struggle will continue. Therefore, the tragedy that socialism has been declining at the end of the century was definitely not the end of communism. It is nothing but the end of one round and the beginning of another. People will conscientiously study the historical experience in the world communist movement to learn lessons and to face the future, replenish ranks and revive strength, so that they can forge ahead and once again greet a new victory under the slogan of ‘Proletarier aller Länder, vereinigt euch’ (working men of the whole world unite) and under the banner of Marxism!

　　人們看到，世紀末出現共運低潮不久，由亞洲金融危機觸發的世界資本主義的經濟危機也隨之出現了。這真是一個戲劇性的變化。這個變化明確無誤地告訴全世界的資產階級：你們不要高興得太早了！你們未來的日子不一定是很好過的！這場危機目前正在發展之中。許多有見識的經濟學家已經看到，這場危機不同一般，許多地方有類似從1929年至1933年那次世界資本主義經濟危機的征兆。事實的發展如果真是這樣的話，其深刻性在于它必然引起革命危機的出現，而使各種矛盾更加激化為燎原之火，使世界出現新的革命形勢。一切有志于為改變人類命運奮斗的人們，將把共產主義的低谷再次引向新的世界革命的高潮，這不是不可能的。

　　It has been seen that soon after the worst of the communist movement at the end of the century, the economic crisis of world capitalism triggered by the Asian financial crisis also appeared along with it. It's really a dramatic change. This change unmistakably tells the bourgeoisie of the world: don't get too excited too early! Your days to come may not be very easy! The crisis is now developing. Many knowledgeable economists have realized that this crisis is not usual, and its many signs are similar to those of the world capitalism economic crisis from 1929 to 1933. If it is true of the factual progress, the profundity of it will indicate the fact that it will inevitably lead to the emergence of a revolutionary crisis, which will further intensify all kinds of contradictions into a prairie fire and bring about the emergence of a new revolutionary trend in the world. It is not impossible that all those who are aspiring to fight for changing the destiny of humanity will once again lead the rock bottom of communism to the culmination of a new world revolution.

　　21世紀已經來到眼前。如果我們想對新世紀的前景作出比較可靠的判斷，我們就得向我們的導師——偉大的列寧請教。他的《帝國主義是資本主義的最高階段》仍是我們分析現實的經典。近些年來，不少人為資本主義經濟上取得的某些發展所迷惑，而認為列寧的論斷過時了。他們說，資本主義明明白白還在發展嘛，怎么能說它腐朽、垂死了呢？其實列寧在本書中說得很清楚：“如果以為這一腐朽趨勢排除了資本主義的迅速發展，那就錯了。不，在帝國主義時代，某些工業部門，某些資產階級階層，某些國家，會不同程度地時而表現出這種趨勢，時而又表現出那種趨勢。整個說來，資本主義的發展比從前要快得多，但是這種發展不僅一般地更不平衡了，而且這種不平衡還特別表現在某些資本最雄厚的國家(英國)的腐朽上面。”(《列寧選集》第2卷，第685頁)何況列寧講的“垂死階段”是指一個歷史階段，一種趨勢，并非像一個人一樣危在旦夕，立刻壽終正寢。如果我們認真研究一下帝國主義的現狀，就會發現列寧概括的帝國主義的五個特征，一個也沒有變，變的只是列寧指出的帝國主義的壟斷性、寄生性和腐朽性等方面成倍地嚴重化了。以資本的集中和壟斷來說，現在全世界100家最大的跨國公司竟集中控制了14000億美元的年銷售額。跨國公司占有了全世界貿易的三分之二。事實上它們已成為全球經濟的主宰，這是何等驚人！以資本主義的寄生性和腐朽性來說，列寧曾經指出，帝國主義作為其重要經濟基礎的資本輸出，使食利者階層完完全全脫離了生產，在世界商業最發達的國家，食利者的收入竟比對外貿易大四倍。這是當年的情況。現在更嚴重了。據經濟學家提供的資料，60年代以前，美國的外匯交易還是以商品進出口為主。至1976年即急劇下降到23%，1981年再下降到5%，1992年竟下降到2%以下。其余98%的金額都用做搞金融投機、賭博去了。整個美國經濟，自本世紀70年代以來，一方面是各種金融工具及其衍生品的投機、賭博活動空前猖獗，賭博金額的空前增長；另一方面則是物質生產在國內生產總值中所占的比重急劇下降。現在所謂的“市場經濟的全球化”，不過是在廣大發展中國家為這種投機資本、食利資本提供超額盈利的場所罷了。

　　The 21st century has come to us. If we want to make a more reliable judgment about the prospects of the new century, we must ask our great mentor-Lenin for help. His book ‘Imperialism，the Highest Stage of Capitalism’ is still a classic in our analysis of reality. In recent years, many people have been deluded by certain achievements in the capitalist economy and thus have considered Lenin's judgement to be outdated. They say that capitalism is clearly still developing, so how can it be said that it is rotten and dying? In fact, Lenin makes it very clear in this book: ‘If it is thought that this rotten trend excludes the rapid development of capitalism, that is wrong. In the era of imperialism, as well as in certain branches of industry, in certain bourgeois strata and in certain countries, in different degrees, the trend can display to be this sort at times or display that one at times. In general, capitalism is developing much faster than before, but not only is the capitalist development generally more imbalanced, but also this imbalance is particularly manifested on the decay of some most wealthy capitalized countries like the United Kingdom. (Lenin's Selected Works, vol. 2, p. 685) Moreover, ‘dying stage’ that Lenin says refers to a historical stage, that is, a tendency but not being in grave danger like a person and immediate death. If we look seriously into the current situation of imperialism, we will find that the five characteristics of imperialism outlined by Lenin changed none at all, in contrary, the change is only that the monopoly, parasitism, and decadence aspects of imperialism pointed out by Lenin have become aggravated exponentially. In terms of capital concentration and monopoly, the world's 100 largest multinationals now control $1.4 trillion in annual sales. Multinational corporations account for two-thirds of the world's trade. How shocking is the fact that they have become the masters of the global economy! In terms of the parasitic and decadent nature of capitalism, Lenin once pointed out that the export of capital, as the important economic basis of imperialism, has completely separated the rentier class out from production and working, and in the most commercially developed countries of the world, the income of the rentier is four times more than that of foreign trade. This was the case back then, now it's more serious. According to the information provided by economists, before the 60s, America’s foreign exchange transactions were still dominated by commodity imports and exports. By 1976 it had fallen sharply to 23%, in 1981 to 5%, and in 1992 to less than 2%. The remaining 98% of the amount was used for financial speculation and gambling. The entire the United States’ economy, since the 70s’ of this century, on the one hand, speculation and gambling activities of various financial instruments and their derivatives have been unprecedentedly rampant, and the amount of gambling has increased unprecedentedly; On the other hand, the proportion of physical production in GDP has fallen sharply. The so-called "globalization of the market economy" is nothing more than a place where the vast number of developing countries provide excessive profits for such speculative capital and rentier capital.

　　列寧曾經提出，我們的時代是帝國主義與無產階級革命的時代。從半個多世紀以來的現實看，這個看法并未過時。自從第二次世界大戰結束以來，帝國主義除了直接出兵侵略弱小國家，為了控制更多的殖民地，還不斷利用民族宗教紛爭挑起內戰。無論東方或西方，大大小小的戰爭一直連綿不斷。不久前還發生了以美國為首的北約對南聯盟發動的侵略戰爭。據統計，第一次世界大戰死了2000萬人，第二次世界大戰死了5000萬人，而二次大戰以來的數十年間這些大小戰爭的死亡的總人數卻已達7000萬人。所謂和平與發展只不過是好心人的主觀愿望罷了，實際上是并不存在的。這個時代所存在的幾個基本矛盾，例如帝國主義統治者與其本國無產階級和廣大人民之間的矛盾，帝國主義與第三世界國家之間矛盾，帝國主義之間的矛盾以及帝國主義與原社會主義國家之間的矛盾，不僅繼續存在，而且將繼續發展。如果我們承認這一基本事實，那么在21世紀里將仍然是這些基本矛盾錯綜復雜、相互交織的激烈斗爭。

　　Lenin once declared that our era is the era of imperialism and proletarian revolution. Based on the reality of more than half a century, this view is not outdated. Since the end of the Second World War, in addition to directly sending troops to invade weak and small countries, imperialism has also constantly made use of ethnic and religious disputes to trigger civil wars in order to control more colonies. Both in the East and in the West, wars of all scales have been continuous. Not long ago, a war of aggression launched by US-led NATO forces on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia took place. According to statistics, 20 million people died in the First World War and 50 million in the Second World War, but the total number of deaths in these wars in the decades since World War II has reached 70 million. The so-called peace and development are nothing but the subjective wishes of do-gooders, and in fact they do not exist. A few foundational contradictions existed in this era, such as the contradictions between the imperialist rulers and their countries’ proletariat and their great body of the people, between imperialism and third world countries, among imperialistic countries as well as between imperialism and the former communist countries, not only continue to exist, but will continue to develop. If we recognize this basic fact, the 21st century will remain an intricate, interweaving and fierce struggle of these foundational contradictions.

　　應當指出，隨著世界資本主義經濟危機的進一步加深，上述各種矛盾必然激化。現在，在整個地球上窮和富的兩極分化比任何時期都要突出。據統計，世界上358名億萬富翁所擁有的財產，相當于25億人，即幾乎世界上一半居民的所有財產。據聯合國秘書長安南關于人類發展狀況的報告，世界上1/5的窮人只消費著商品的1.3%，幾乎只有30年前2.3%的一半。世界上最富有的三個人擁有的財產，竟超過48個最不發達的國家。另據統計，從70年代至今20多年的時間里，世界范圍的貧富差距急劇擴大。即從1970年最富的20%比最窮的20%的平均收入差距高30倍，到1991年這一比率擴大為61倍。也就是說，資本主義500年的最后20多年貧富差距拉大的幅度，可以與前480年相比。現在，就是資本主義最發達的國家，勞動人民的生活水平也在下降。美國經濟學家拉若其說過，今天美國的一個勞動人口，平均擁有的物質產品和勞動條件僅僅相當于25年前的一半。盡管今天人們有了更多的貨幣收入，但實際購買力卻下降了一半。何況越來越嚴重的失業率，對人民群眾仍是一個致命的威脅。據估計，隨著科技的進一步發展，未來的世界啟用有勞動能力居民的20%即足以維持世界經濟的繁榮，而80%希望工作的人卻沒有工作崗位。如果資本主義制度不加以改變，人類將無法生存了。至于不發達的第三世界國家，隨著帝國主義資本的全球化，受到的控制和剝削將越來越嚴重了。其沉重的負債率已使這些國家難以從窮困中翻過身來。目前在非洲的人口中，每10人就有4人挨餓或營養不良。在加納死亡人數中的一半是5歲以下的幼兒。資本主義世界的經濟危機一旦爆發，當代世界的幾個基本矛盾都會隨之激化，革命危機與戰爭危機都是不可避免的。

　　It shall be noted that with the further deepening of the economic crisis of world capitalism, the above-mentioned contradictions will inevitably intensify. The polarization of wealth is now more pronounced than ever on the planet. Statistically, the wealth owned by 358 billionaires in the world is equivalent to that of 2.5 billion people, that is, all of the assets owned by half of nearly the world's inhabitants. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has said a report on human development that one-fifth of the world's poor consume only 1.3% of goods which is almost half of the 2.3% of what they did 30 years ago. The three richest people in the world own more money than the 48 least developed countries. Besides, according to statistics, during 20 years from the 70s to the present, the gap between the rich and the poor has widened dramatically worldwide. That is to say, the 20% of the richest is 30 times higher than that of the poorest in 1970 regarding the average income gap, but worse is that the gap figure reached to 61 times between the both in 1991. In other words, regarding the gap between the rich and the poor, the margin has widened in the last 20 years of the capitalism’s 500 years when can compete against that in the previous 480 years. Now, even in the most developed capitalist countries, the working people’s standard of living is declining. Rarodi, an American economist, has said that the material goods and labor conditions possessed averagely by an American workingman today amount merely to half that of 25 years ago. Although people today have more money-income, real spend power has fallen by half. Especially, the increasingly serious unemployment rate is still a deadly threat to the working people. It is estimated that with the further development of science and technology, the future world will be able to sustain the prosperity of the world economy using 20% of the working population, while 80% of those who wish to work will not have jobs. If the capitalist system is not changed, humanity will fail to survive. As for those underdeveloped third world countries, with the globalization of imperialist capital, they will be increasingly controlled and exploited. Their hefty debt piles have made it difficult for these countries to lift out of poverty. At present, 4 of the 10 people in Africa suffer from hunger or malnutrition. Half of the death toll in Ghana are kids under the age of five. Once the economic crisis of the capitalist world breaks out, the several foundational contradictions of the contemporary world will intensify, so the crisis of revolution and war are inevitable.

　　帝國主義為了擺脫困境，轉嫁危機，必將進一步加強對世界市場的爭奪。尤其居于唯一超級大國的美國，其稱霸世界的野心已膨脹得難以收斂了。現在它已成為全世界人民最兇惡的敵人，同時也是當代四大矛盾的集中點。不僅第三世界，而且中國和原蘇聯地區都將是它下步打擊和控制的目標。戰爭的危險顯然不是減少而是大大增加了。善良的人們不加警惕是必然會吃大虧的。全世界人民必須團結起來，結成統一戰線一齊對付它。

　　In order to escape itself from the predicament and pass on the crisis, imperialism is bound to further strengthen its contest for dominance in the world market. In particular, the United States, the world’s only super power, has expanded its ambition to dominate the world too much to restrain. Now it has become the most ferocious enemy of the people all around the world, and meanwhile it is also the center of the contemporary big four contradictions. Not only the Third World but also China and the former Soviet Union countries will be the targets of its next attack and control. The danger of war is clearly not decreasing, but greatly increasing. Good people who are not vigilant will inevitably suffer great losses. The people of the world must unite and be a united front to fight against it.

　　至于原社會主義現在演變為資本主義的國家，資產階級暴發戶與無產階級的矛盾也必然會加劇起來。應深切理解，已經嘗到社會主義甜頭并已成為國家的主人，隨著他們主人翁政治地位的喪失和生活的惡化，以及面臨的生存的威脅，是不會長期沉默的。那些深受馬列主義教育的有覺悟的共產主義者，也必然會重新凝聚自己的力量，再度堅強地團結起來，領導人民群眾，向資產階級的代理人進行堅決的斗爭。應當指出，在這場斗爭中，毛澤東的反修防修、反對資本主義復辟的革命理論，將是最有力最有效的武器。這些武器將把有覺悟的無產階級武裝起來，進行義無反顧的斗爭。盡管這種斗爭將會再遭到鎮壓，但有經驗的革命人民，有可能在資本主義復辟的地方再度首先取得革命的勝利。這是可以期望的。新世紀將仍然是一個艱難斗爭的世紀，也將是一個重新掀起世界革命高潮的世紀。讓我們勇敢地迎接這個有希望的世紀吧！

　　As for the countries where former socialism has now evolved into capitalism, the contradictions between the bourgeois nouveau riche and the proletariat will inevitably intensify. It should be deeply understood that those who have tasted the sweetness of socialism and have become the masters of the country will not remain silent for long time, when they lose their political status as masters and their living conditions deteriorate, as well as they face the threats to survival. Those enlightened communists, who have been deeply educated in Marxism-Leninism, will necessarily re-unite their strength and unite strongly again to lead the masses of the people in a determined struggle against the proxies of the bourgeoisie. It shall be pointed out that in this struggle, Mao Zedong's revolutionary theory including opposing revisionism, preventing revisionism and opposing capitalist restoration will be the most powerful and effective weapon. These weapons will arm the enlightened proletariat to fight relentlessly. Although this struggle will be suppressed again, it is possible for the experienced revolutionary people to win firstly the victory of the revolution in the place where capitalism has been restored. This can be expected. The new century will remain a century of uphill struggles, and it will also be a century of reviving the upsurge of the world revolution. Let us bravely welcome this promising century!

　　1999年7月1日-5日，2000年1月2日校改

　　written in July from1st to 5th, 1999 and corrected by January 2ed, 2000

　　------translated by Yuan YUAN

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