So, where is the "new" of this new-democratic revolution? Mao Zedong gave a comprehensive answer in "On New Democracy": First, the revolutionary leadership is different, not led by the bourgeoisie, but by the proletariat, which is the anti-imperialist and anti-feudal revolution of the masses under the leadership of the proletariat. Second, the scope of the revolution is different. The First World War and the October Revolution in Russia changed the whole era of world history. From then on, the anti-imperialist struggle of any colonial and semi-colonial people belongs to the category of world proletarian socialist revolution, and no longer belongs to the category of world bourgeois revolution. Third, the guiding ideology is different. The guiding ideology of the new-democratic revolution is Marxism, not bourgeois democracy. Fourth, the future of the revolution is different. It does not lead to bourgeois dictatorship, but to the dictatorship of the United front of all revolutionary classes under the leadership of the proletariat, and finally transitions to socialism. Among the above characteristics, the revolutionary leadership is the main symbol that distinguishes the new and old democratic revolutions. Because of the different ways of revolutionary leadership, there are differences in guiding ideology, revolutionary strength and development prospects. Replacing the bourgeoisie with the proletariat to lead the China Revolution is not only a historical choice, but also a fundamental guarantee for the final victory of the revolution.
Since the new-democratic revolution is led by the proletariat and its future is socialism, what is its relationship with the socialist revolution? China * * * production party gradually found the answer in the revolutionary practice.
One of the main propositions of the party is to directly carry out the socialist revolution. The Second National Congress of the Communist Party of China put forward the highest program (realizing * * * productism) and the lowest program (anti-imperialism and anti-feudalism), and began to distinguish between democratic revolution and socialist revolution. However, on the whole, the whole party's understanding of this issue is not profound, and there are two wrong tendencies: one is Chen Duxiu's "second revolution theory", which separates the two stages in the process of China's revolution. It is believed that the proletariat should first help the bourgeoisie seize power, and then carry out the socialist revolution after capitalism develops, resulting in a right-leaning mistake. The other is Wang Ming's thought of "one revolution", which confuses the boundary between the two revolutionary stages, advocates that the democratic revolution and the socialist revolution should "fight to the end" and win the socialist revolution in one fell swoop, resulting in "Left" mistakes.
On the basis of summing up the experience and lessons of the two victories and two failures of the Northern Expedition and the Agrarian Revolution, Mao Zedong put forward the idea that the China Revolution was divided into two steps, that is, the whole China Revolution was divided into two steps, the first step was to carry out the new-democratic revolution, and the second step was to carry out the socialist revolution. The relationship between the democratic revolution and the socialist revolution is like the first part and the second part of an article. Only by doing the first part well can we do the second part well. The democratic revolution is a necessary preparation for the socialist revolution. Socialist revolution is the inevitable trend of democratic revolution. Firstly, it is determined by the semi-colonial and semi-feudal social nature. Only by changing the semi-colonial and semi-feudal social form and making it an independent democratic society can a socialist society be established. Secondly, the socialist revolution needs certain social and economic conditions. A unified country without new democracy. Without the development of new-democratic economy and culture and the liberation and development of tens of millions of people's personalities, it is totally utopian to build a socialist society on the ruins of colonies and semi-colonies. Third, revolutions of different natures have their specific tasks and class fronts. If they "kill them all in one battle", they will attack from all sides and disperse our revolutionary forces, but the results will not be quick. Moreover, they will regard the national bourgeoisie, the ally of the revolution, as the object of the revolution.