On the Problem of Alienation

Abstract

WANG RUOSHUI, the author of the following two articles on Alienation and Humanism was recently dismissed from the post of Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the PEOPLE'S DAILY. He fell a victim to the campaign for 'eliminating spiritual pollution'. WANG'S crime was not that he was repudiating Marxism-Leninism or even Mao Zedong Thought as defined by the Chinese Communist Party now. He was accused of 'spiritual pollution' because he put forward the theory that the socialist society created new forms of alienation and because he went on to say that socialist societies have neglected the centrality of man. Precisely the same thesis has been put forward by ZHOU YANG. But because ZHOU enjoys greater prestige among China's intellectuals, he was spared punishment. Instead, WANG RUOSHUI was dismissed as a warning to ZHOU. Nevertheless ZHOU has been indirectly criticized for putting forward a 'totally incorrect' interpretation of MARX'S views on alienation and humanism. We are publishing these two articles by WANG in order to let our readers judge for themselves how difficult it is,for China's intellectuals to give their own independent interpretations of some of the major ideas put forward by MARX himself—all this despite the Party's repeatedly declar ed policy of 'letting a hundred schools of thought contend'. 'On the Problem of Alienation' was the title of a lecture delivered by WANG at the PEOPLE'S DAILY journalists' vocational class in June 1980. The translation is by MRS. SHEELA MURTHY, a teacher of Chinese Language and Literature at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. 'Man is the Starting Point of Marxism' was published in a book of the same title. The translation is by the staff of the BBC'S SUMMARY OF WORLD BROADCASTS. —EDITOR