Practice is the source and motive force of the emergence and development of all ideological theories, and it is also the ultimate goal and the only criterion of authenticity of all ideological theories. This is the basic fact of human history and the basic principle of Marxism. Lenin has repeatedly quoted the famous saying in Goethe's Faust that "theory is gray and the tree of life is evergreen" to illustrate that theory often lags behind life practice. If theory is to have vitality, it must constantly break the shackles of old ideas, renew itself, keep pace with the times, master the masses, adapt to the requirements of practice and promote the development of practice. This is the true meaning of emancipating the mind.
Emancipating the mind has a great progress in human history, which often occurs at the turning point of history, which is the requirement and important symbol of this turning point. In the modern history of China, we can clearly see its historical imprint.
1840 After the Opium War, China society fell into a semi-colonial and semi-feudal situation, poverty and backwardness became the basic national conditions, and national rejuvenation became the practical theme of China's modern history. What road to take to realize national rejuvenation is a major historical issue facing the people of China. China's advanced intellectuals, under the influence of the Russian October Revolution, finally chose Marxism and socialism in the process of spreading western learning to the east, which was an ideological emancipation movement during the New Culture Movement and the May 4th Movement.
From 19 19 to 1949, the course of the 30-year new-democratic revolution has been full of twists and turns. China * * * paid a great sacrifice and price in the process of leading the people of China to win the new-democratic revolution. The correct line represented by Mao Zedong waged a long-term struggle against the "Left" line mistakes. 194 1 The Yan 'an rectification movement is a historical summary. By opposing dogmatism, the ideological circle of the whole party has achieved new ideological emancipation under the banner of seeking truth from facts, and its theoretical achievement is the first major theoretical achievement of China Marxism-the advent of Mao Zedong Thought. The actual result it brings is the final victory of the new-democratic revolution.
However, as Mao Zedong pointed out, the victory of the new-democratic revolution is only the first step of national rejuvenation-national independence and national liberation, and the next step will be even more arduous, that is, to achieve national prosperity and people's happiness through the practice of modernization. Let the new practice prove that only socialism can save China and only socialism can develop China.
This is a new beginning, a new long March. It is also full of twists and turns, and it is also necessary to pay tuition fees and costs. From 1949 to the end of 1978, the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Party was held, and almost another 30 years passed. On the road of exploring and building socialism, we have made great achievements and made some serious mistakes, leaving some heavy historical lessons including the "Cultural Revolution".
The "Cultural Revolution" was once considered as an ideological emancipation movement, but as Marx said, once thoughts leave "interests", they will make a fool of themselves. Mao Zedong said long ago: "The policies and practices of all political parties in China have had a good or bad influence on the people of China. In the final analysis, it depends on whether they are helpful to the development of the productive forces of the people of China, whether they are binding the productive forces or liberating them. " This "look" will eventually be reflected in the interests of ordinary people and social demands. When1June 1976 and1June 1976, millions of people took to the streets to celebrate the victory of smashing the anti-party clique of the Gang of Four, practice has already made a judgment on this. At this time, everyone in China realized that a new era was coming.
Maybe we didn't know what this new era really meant at that time. In the minds of most ordinary people, it is more of a vision. These beautiful visions contain confidence in socialism, and entrust China with correcting the mistakes of the "Cultural Revolution" and leading the people to move on. In order to meet the new era soberly and ensure that the party is in the forefront of the times, it became an urgent need for practice at that time to set things right. However, from the very beginning, we encountered resistance from all sides. Habitual thinking mode is an important factor, mainly dogmatism formed in the long-term "left" ideological environment. Theoretically speaking, "Left" ideological tendency and dogmatism are two different but possibly related issues. "Left" means that thoughts, lines and policies go beyond the actual development stage of things, and dogmatism means that the developed ideological theory is rigid and absolute. Due to the influence of China's long-term feudal autocracy, dogmatism has its special breeding conditions. It is easy to combine with the guiding "Left" problem to strengthen and continue the "Left" mistakes that have occurred. Therefore, to correct the "Left", we must first get rid of dogmatism, and a new round of ideological emancipation movement is imperative. 1978 12, Deng Xiaoping emancipated the mind to the height of the party's life and death at the central working conference to prepare for the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee. He said: "A party, a country and a nation will not advance, its vitality will stop and its party will perish if everything starts from its roots, its thinking is rigid and superstitions prevail. In this speech, he emphasized that democracy is an important condition for emancipating the mind, and reiterated Comrade Mao Zedong's idea of forming a lively political situation combining centralism with democracy, combining discipline with freedom, and combining unified will with individual will.
This new ideological emancipation movement has surpassed the past in depth and breadth. It is both bottom-up and top-down. The whole China is moving, not only the intellectuals, but the whole nation is thinking: Where will China go?
The historic changes it brought were: the practical standard and ideological line of seeking truth from facts were restored, Comrade Mao Zedong and Mao Zedong Thought were scientifically evaluated, the policy of "taking class struggle as the key link" was completely denied, and the historic decision was made to shift the work center of the party and the state to economic construction and implement reform and opening up, which opened Socialism with Chinese characteristics's great practice and produced another great achievement of Marxism-Deng Xiaoping Theory China.
It has brought historic influence: emancipating the mind has become an important spiritual factor and cultural symbol in contemporary China. It has stepped out of the study of theoretical research, integrated into the party's ideological line of seeking truth from facts, entered the spiritual life of the broad masses of cadres and people, and became the ideological weapon and mode of thinking of reform and opening up. In practice, it truly embodies what Marx said: once the theory has mastered the masses, it will also become a material force to transform the world.
Emancipating the mind is the inherent requirement of practice, and the development of practice is endless, so is emancipating the mind. Over the past 30 years, we have argued many times about the major issues raised in the practice of reform and opening up. History has repeatedly proved that only by consciously liberating ideological knowledge from the shackles of outdated concepts, practices and systems, from the mistakes and dogmatic understanding of Marxism, from the shackles of subjectivism and metaphysics, and using developing Marxism to guide new practice, can we meet challenges and seize opportunities without losing them.