Ideological Front Research Articles

The Great Leap Forward and the People's Communes—Socialist Ideals and Practice

The Great Leap Forward and the People's Communes—Socialist Ideals and Practice

At the ideological front

In an effort to understand the critical culture of the 1930s and Kenneth Burke's place in it, this essay explores the meaning of the thirties, the role the American Communist Party played during this period, popular front politics, and the lens of McCarthyism through which these issues have been refracted. Burke's book Permanence and Change was first published in 1935. Reissued in 1954, it reflects deletions that reveal the impress of ideological struggles, struggles that influence not only Burke but also our own view of ourselves as scholars, scientists, and critics and the course of American history. Burke's contribution to rhetorical theory, situated in a historical context, reveals strategies and tactics of one who has, throughout his life, moved in and about the ideological front. Although this conclusion is borne out by situating Burke in a historical context and takes us beyond Burkeanism, as a methodological stance, it takes on meaning in the here and now of our own work.

The Berlin Novels of Alfred Döblin: "Wadzek's Battle with the Steam Turbine," "Berlin Alexanderplatz," "Men without Mercy," and "November, 1918" , and: Vision and Revision: The Concept of Inspiration in Thomas Mann's Fiction , and: New Subjectivity and Prose Forms of Alienation: Peter Handke and Botho Strauss (review)

Reviewed by: The Berlin Novels of Alfred Döblin: "Wadzek's Battle with the Steam Turbine," "Berlin Alexanderplatz," "Men without Mercy," and "November, 1918", and: Vision and Revision: The Concept of Inspiration in Thomas Mann's Fiction, and: New Subjectivity and Prose Forms of Alienation: Peter Handke and Botho Strauss Carol Bedwell David B. Dollenmayer . The Berlin Novels of Alfred Döblin: "Wadzek's Battle with the Steam. Turbine," "Berlin Alexanderplatz," "Men without Mercy," and "November, 1918."Berkeley: U of California P, 1988. 216 pp. $32.50. Karen Drabek Vogt . Vision and Revision: The Concept of Inspiration in Thomas Mann's Fiction. Germanic Studies in America. New York: Lang. 168 pp. $24.00. Linda C. DeMeritt . New Subjectivity and Prose Forms of Alienation: Peter Handke and Botho Strauss. New York: Lang, 1987. 278 pp. $41.95. In his concisely written Introduction, David B. Dollenmayer presents the author of "monumental epics of social upheavals and mass movements" as a stylistic innovator whose technique of writing from subconscious inspiration often produced the "formless, surging incoherence one would expect from such a technique." He characterizes Alfred Dublin's Berlin novels as "engaging, disturbing works of a great and unique prose stylist" that document "the dilemma of a progressive writer caught between the ideological fronts that would tear the Weimar Republic apart." In the first chapter, the author gives a brief biography of Döblin, explaining the origin of the sexual conflict that surfaces again and again, the influence of artistic Futurism, with its glorification of dynamism and speed, and the development of an objective style that presents the totality of the real world without attempting to interpret it. Chapter Two, tided "Wadzek's Battle with the Steam Turbine" for Döblin's second published novel (1918), introduces a work that developed away from the direction (man against technology) indicated by the title to a preoccupation with family life. The rather grotesque protagonist, Wadzek, who ultimately abandons his idealistic role in love and in public life, is seen as the antithesis of the traditional hero. [End Page 829] Each of the remaining chapters deals with a major work and only peripherally with Döblin's other writings (plays, essays, reviews). The protagonist of Berlin Alexanderplatz, Franz Biberkopf, is a representative victim of modern industrial society; released from prison, he determines to live a decent life, but his resolution is thwarted by three increasingly severe disasters culminating in the death of his great love, Mieze. Finally accepting his guilt, he is resurrected as a new man at the end of the novel, determined to live in solidarity with others within the context of urban life. This work, says Dollenmayer, "owes its fascination and greatness primarily to the way in which it is told": the inclusive, kaleidoscopic montage technique, equal in importance to the hero. The city stands at the end of the novel, says Dollenmayer, in a positive relation to the individual who has accepted responsibility for himself as well as his need for dependence on others. Yet the ending remains open, Biberkopf's plan for redemption as yet unrealized. The chapter on Men Without Mercy (Pardon wird nicht gegeben, 1935) is characterized as Döblin's most conventional and most autobiographical novel. The struggle between freedom and authority is expressed in family relations as well as in society by the protagonist, Karl, who exemplifies in his career the futility of hopes for the revolution. The last chapter deals with November, 1918 (1937-1943), described as the culmination in the progression of Berlin novels. Its protagonist, Friedrich Becker, undergoes a religious conversion analogous to that of his author at the time of writing; Becker sacrifices himself for his fellow men and "represents the narrator's desperate attempt to raise his story out of the realm of history, to suggest a transcendent alternative mat focuses on the individual soul rather than a society in turmoil." Dollenmayer addresses his theme of the massive city novels with easy competence. Although he characterizes Döblin as the most difficult of all his contemporaries to summarize, he succeeds well at imparting the essence and the flavor of the works he discusses. He is not uncritical; he sees that these works...

Circular of the CCP Central Committee on Issues of the Current Anti-bourgeois Liberalization Movement

Abstract After relaying Comrade Deng Xiaoping's "Speech at the Sixth Plenum of the Twelfth CCP Central Committee" and "Main Points of Comrade Deng Xiaoping's Speech about the Current Problem of Student Disturbance, " party organizations at all levels have shown a better understanding of the importance of the struggle against bourgeois liberalization. As a result, this movement is moving forward in depth. To keep the movement proceeding in a healthy way, some relevant issues are hereby communicated to you as follows: 1. Party organizations at all levels must understand the importance and protracted nature of the struggle against bourgeois liberalization. The student disturbance affecting a number of cities at the end of last year was very serious in nature. The direct cause of these disturbances varies from place to place and from college to college. It includes the distrust of the partys leadership caused by mistakes in some of the work of the central and local governments and those of the universities. Generally speaking, however, it is the result of the lack of a clear-cut stand and a firm attitude to oppose the bourgeois liberalization in recent years. From the central government to many localities, leadership in the political and ideological front was feeble and confusing. Many battlefields including the classrooms of some universities could not resist the invasion of bourgeois liberal thought, thus creating the flood of bourgeois liberalization. A few Communist members were even taking the lead in advocating bourgeois liberal ideas, thus causing serious consequences.

Response from Dr. Jonas

Response from Dr. Jonas Steven Jonas CopyRight https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.77.2.240 Published Online: October 07, 2011

II. Eliminating Interference from the Seemingly "Left" but Actually Right Line

Even though the broad commune members and cadres of July 1 Commune achieved great victories in the struggle while studying the spirit of the Tenth Plenum of the Eighth Central Committee, those victories were still only the first step. In order to repel thoroughly the savage restoration movement by the capitalist forces, they urgently had to go a step further and carry on an acute struggle against the class enemy on the political, economic, and ideological front. That was the fervent wish of the poor and lower-middle peasants, the revolutionary masses, and the revolutionary cadres.

Some Problems of Ideological Work and the Tasks of Psychology

The Twenty-fifth Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) has placed vast, important tasks before the large army of workers on the ideological front. These tasks are associated primarily with the problems of communist education, the further improvement of the socialist way of life, and the development of socialist democracy. They grow logically out of Lenin's pronouncement: "The foundation and chief content of our work continues to be the development of the political understanding of the masses" [2, p. 376]. The Congress urged that the role of science in organizing and executing all educational work carried out in our society be intensified, for science not only plays a large part in the formation of a Marxist-Leninist world view and has import ideological aspects, it can also have a decivisive influence on the elaboration and introduction of effective methods for educating the new man.

A Reading of Han Fei's "Wu Tu" [Five Vermin

To give the necessary affirmation to the historical role played by the Legalists and to study and analyze the Legalists' writings from the Marxist point of view is a major task on the ideological front called for by the deepening of the Campaign to Criticize Lin Piao and Confucius. Han Fei was an outstanding representative of the Legalists of the late Warring States period. He summed up the experience, both positive and negative, of the newly emerging landlord class in the process of instituting reform, and he criticized the reactionary Confucianism. He thus fully and theoretically formed a comprehensive system of Legalist thought which served as a direct theoretical preparation for the establishment of a unified feudal state under a centralized authority. The "Wu Tu" is representative of the more than one hundred thousand words of Han Fei's writings. This important political essay made a revolutionary criticism of the reactionary ideology hindering the progress of the newly emerging landlord class and outlined a theoretical program by which the landlord class could exercise an all-round dictatorship over the slave-owning class. Acquiring a clear understanding about this will help us see further through the ultra-Right essence of Lin Piao's practice of honoring Confucius and opposing Legalism.

23 Launching Criticism of Bourgeois. Academic Thought in the Linguistics Field

In continuously perfecting the socialist revolution on the economic, political, and ideological fronts simultaneously, the step-by-step realization of the technological and cultural revolutions is the primary focal point of the general line of socialist construction in our country. Launching criticism of bourgeois academic thought is a link in the technological and cultural revolutions that cannot be ignored; it is only by thoroughly criticizing the academic thought of the specialists and scholars that the proletariat at large and the young intellectuals can rid themselves of their superstitions, completely liberate their creative energies, and develop the lofty communist traits of thinking, speaking, and disagreeing fearlessly. This kind of criticism of the bourgeois intellectuals will be a more thorough revolution of the self than criticisms of ideology on several occasions in the past have been.

On The Shaping of a Scientific World-View Under the Conditions of the Revolution in Science and Technology

What is the role of Soviet philosophers in the ideological and educational work being carried out by our Party in the shaping of a communist world-view in the builders of a communist society? First, it is the further elaboration on the basis of the Marxist-Leninist methodology of the problem area pertaining to world-view, as well as the exposure of contemporary bourgeois concepts in the field of world-view. Second, it is the elaboration of the methodological aspects of inculcating in the toilers a world-view under present conditions, within the overall set of problems of shaping the person of communist society, including a theoretical validation of the entire system of concrete measures of inculcation of communism. Third, it is the direct participation in work aimed at the shaping of a communist world-view among the toilers of Soviet society, since all philosophers are workers on the ideological front.

On Shaping a Scientific World View Under the Conditions of the Scientific-Technological Revolution

What is the role of Soviet philosophers in our Party's ideological education work on shaping a communist world view among the builders of a communist society? It entails: (1) the further elaboration of world-view problems on the basis of Marxist-Leninist methodology and the exposure of contemporary bourgeois world-view conceptions; (2) the elaboration of methodological aspects of the world-view education of the working people at the present stage, as part of the general complex of problems pertaining to the education of man in communist society, including the theoretical substantiation of the entire system of concrete measures relating to communist education; and (3) direct participation in work aimed at shaping a communist world view in the working people in Soviet society, since all philosophers are workers on the ideological front.

On Li Ssu

Li Ssu, the Legalist representative of the newly rising landlord class who made an immense contribution to the brilliant historical achievements of Ch'in Shih-huang, actively participated in Ch'in Shih-huang's unification of China. As outspoken as he was forthright, he contributed brilliant views on political, cultural, and military affairs which shone with the radiance of Legalist thought. In assisting Ch'in Shih-huang formulate and implement a correct line, which upheld advance and unification and opposed regression and division, Li Ssu played an important role in establishing the first feudal dynasty based on centralized power in Chinese history. After Ch'in Shih-huang's death, Li Ssu engaged in a struggle against the restoration forces of the slave owners represented by Chao Kao. His life ended when he was cruelly murdered. Li Ssu was a product of the violent struggle of the newly rising landlord class against the slave-owner class. His lifetime of political struggle was directly related to the Confucian-Legalist struggle on the contemporary ideological front. Different appraisals of Li Ssu's life are also reflections of the struggle between Confucianism and Legalism. Confucians have viciously attacked him for "burning the books and for harsh laws and decrees which brought disaster to the empire" (Chao I, Kai-yü ts'ung-k'ao, Chapter 41). But Legalist thinkers have praised him for being Ch'in Shih-huang's "meritorious minister and capable official" (Chang Pin-ling, "On Ch'in Government") and have expressed unbounded sympathy for his cruel murder. "When it became known that Li Ssu had been slain, an atmosphere of gloom prevailed. Everyone wept, in a spirit that moved Heaven" ("Ni-hen fu" in Collected Works of Li T'ai-po). However, the limitations of the landlord and bourgeois classes made it impossible for them to appraise Li Ssu's life correctly. Only by applying the viewpoint of historical and dialectical materialism can we correctly analyze his achievements and mistakes and sum up the historical experience of the class struggle, including the struggle between the Confucians and the Legalists.

Contention Between Hsüun K'Uang and Mencius is a Two-Line Struggle

In the Warring States period (475-221 B.C.), there was a fierce struggle on the ideological front between Hsun K'uang (1) and (see Mencius — a Trumpeter for Restoring the Slave System in our issue No. 37). Over the last 2,000 years many historians described it as a struggle between the Confucianists themselves, thereby concealing its class nature. Actually, the contention between Hsun K'uang and was a struggle between the Confucian and Legalist schools after Shang Yang's reforms to decide which of the two would win out; it was a two-line struggle between the new emerging landlord class which advocated changes and opposed restoration and the declining slave-owning class which opposed changes and worked for restoration. When the class nature of this contention is made clear, we will have a better understanding of the significance of the struggle between the Confucianists and the Legalists and a clearer idea of the reactionary and progressive roles played by the two schools of thought respe...

Sixty Articles on Work Methods (DRAFT)

In 1956, under the leadership of the Communist Party, the people of our country achieved a fundamental victory in the area of the socialist system of ownership. By launching the rectification campaign in 1957, they also achieved fundamental victories on the ideological front and the political front, and it was in that year that they overfulfilled the First Five-Year Construction Plan. In this manner the more than 600 million people of our country, under the leadership of the Communist Party, clearly recognized their own future and responsibility. They have dealt a blow to the evil wind of anti-Party, anti-people, and antisocialism whipped up by the bourgeois rightist elements and have at the same time corrected or are in the process of correcting some deficiencies and errors which the Party and the people themselves had carried over from the old society or which had been caused by their subjectivism. The Party has become more united and the spiritual demeanor of the people has become more enthusiastic. Th...

Are They Ready for Atheistic Work?

In recent years, the CPSU has stressed the ever-increasing role of the social sciences and of ideological work in connection with the intensification of the ideological struggle throughout the world. The party constantly reminds workers on the ideological front that scientific-atheistic propaganda is a key component in this multifaceted work.

Communist Education: Theory and Practice

Paradoxically, the contemporary phase of China's development under Communism is at once an extreme form of Westernisation and a partial reversion to traditional patterns. The totalitarian character of the present regime is not only reminiscent of the ancient autocratic order but is attributable to that tradition for its acceptance and acquiescence. On the ideological front, the state of confusion of thought, compounded by almost a century's cultural dislocation, has been brought to an abrupt end, with the promulgation of Marxism-Leninism as the state ideology which, though antithetic to Confucian orthodoxy in every essential way, is equally pervasive. Inasmuch as the ideological ‘reconditioning of the Chinese nation is first and foremost an educational task, education has become the exclusive concern of the Communist state. Moreover, within the Marxian ideological framework, the pursuit of concrete national goals requires the education of the Chinese people. Hence there are two major aspects in the study of Chinese education under Communism: Fundamental principles and actual implementation; in short, theory and practice.

Struggle with Rightists in the Field of Economic Theory in China

The struggle against right-wing bourgeois elements which developed in China more than six months ago is in content the socialist evolution on the political and ideological fronts. It is the necessary continuation of the socialist revolution in the field of production-relations, completed in essence in 1955-1956.

Japan's Ideological Front

Japan's Ideological Front

Japan's Ideological Front

Japan's Ideological Front