Marxism has
always stressed the absolute necessity of the Party’s close links with
the masses.This was stressed by Marx and Engels and one of the essential
features of the Leninist party. Thus the History of the CPSU (B)
concludes by drawing a historic lesson of the utmost need for close
connections with the masses:
"Lastly, the
history of the Party teaches us that unless it has wide connections with
the masses, unless it constantly strengthens these connections, unless
it knows how to hearken to the voice of the masses and understand their
urgent needs, unless it is prepared not only to teach the masses but to
learn from the masses, a party of the working class cannot be a real
mass party capable of leading the working class millions and all the
labouring people.
"A party is
invincible if it is able, as Lenin says, ‘to link itself with, to keep
in close touch with, and to a certain extent if you like, to merge with
the broadest masses of the toilers, primarily with the proletariat, but
also with the non-proletarian toiling masses.’ (Lenin, Collected
Works, Russ, ed., Vol. XXV, p. 174.)
"A party
perishes if it shuts itself up in its narrow party shell, if it severs
itself from the masses, if it allows itself to be covered with
bureaucratic rust.
"‘We must
take it as the rule,’ Comrade Stalin says, ‘that as long as the
Bolsheviks maintain connection with the broad masses of the people they
will be invincible. And, on the contrary, as soon as the Bolsheviks
sever themselves from the masses and lose their connection with them, as
soon as they become covered with bureaucratic rust, they will lose all
their strength and become a mere cipher....
"‘I think
that the Bolsheviks remind us of the hero of Greek mythology, Antaeus.
They, like Antaeus, are strong because they maintain connection with
their mother, the masses, who gave birth to them, suckled them and
reared them. And as long as they maintain connection with their mother,
with the people, they have every chance of remaining invincible.
"‘That is the
clue to the invincibility of Bolshevik leadership.’ (J. Stalin,
Defects in Party Work.)"
Mao, starting
from these basic standpoints, developed the concept of mass-line to a
qualitatively new level. At the philosophical level he showed how it was
an essential aspect of the Marxist theory of knowledge. At the political
and organisational levels, he showed how it was the correct political
line and also how it was the essential organisational line of
inner-party relations.
"In all the
practical work of our Party, all correct leadership is necessarily ‘from
the masses, to the masses’. This means: take the ideas of the masses
(scattered and unsystematic ideas) and concentrate them (through study
turn them into concentrated and systematic ideas), then go to the masses
and propagate and explain these ideas until the masses embrace them as
their own, hold fast to them and translate them into action, and test
the correctness of these ideas in such action. Then once again
concentrate ideas from the masses and once again go to the masses so
that the ideas are persevered and carried through. And so on, over and
over again in an endless spiral, with the ideas becoming more correct,
more vital and richer each time. Such is the Marxist theory of
knowledge."
The 1945 CPC
Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party,
explains:
"As Comrade
Mao Tse-tung says, the correct line should be ‘from the masses, to the
masses’. To ensure that the line really comes from the masses and
particular that it really goes back to the masses, there must be close
ties not only between the Party and the masses outside the Party
(between the class and the people), but above all between the Party’s
leading bodies and the masses within the Party (between the cadres and
the rank and the file); in other words there must be a correct
organisational line. Therefore, just as in each period of the Party’s
history Comrade Mao Tse-tung has laid down a political line representing
the interests of the masses, so he has laid down an organisational line
serving the political line and maintaining ties with the masses both
inside and outside the Party."
"The concept
of a correct relationship between the leading group and the masses in an
organisation or in a struggle, the concept that correct ideas on the
part of the leadership can only be ‘from the masses, to the masses’, and
the concept that the general call must be combined with particular
guidance when the leadership’s ideas are being put into practice — these
concepts must be propagated everywhere — in order to correct the
mistaken viewpoints among our cadres on these questions. Many comrades
do not see the importance of, or are not good at, drawing together the
activists to form a nucleus of leadership, and they do not see the
importance of, or are not good at, linking this nucleus of leadership
closely with the masses, and so their leadership become bureaucratic and
divorced from the masses. Many comrades do not see the importance of, or
are not good at, summing up the experience of mass struggles, but
fancying themselves clever, are fond of voicing their subjectivist
ideas, and so their ideas become empty and impractical. Many comrades
rest content with making a general call with regard to a task and do not
see the importance of, or are not good at, following it up immediately
with a particular and concrete guidance, and so their call remais on
their lips, or on paper or in the conference room, and their leadership
become bureaucratic. .....we must correct these defects and learn to use
the methods of combining the leadership with the particular in our
study, in the check-up on work and in the examination of cadres’
histories; and we must also apply these methods in all our future work.
"Take the
ideas of the masses and concentrate them, then go to the masses,
persevere in the ideas and carry them through, so as to form correct
ideas of leadership — such is the basic method of leadership."
Briefly, this
is the essence of Mao’s mass-line.