Collection of Yang Xianzhen (1-3)

Author: Yang Xianzhen
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-12-01
Features: The works of Comrade Yang Xianzhen are primarily on the theory and experience of China's revolution and construction (including the Party's construction); articles discussing the theoretical guidelines for applying the principle of "combining the universal truth of Marxism with the specific practice of China's revolution" to the founding, management, and teaching of Party schools; as well as works on the teaching, research, and debates on Marxism-Leninism, particularly dialectical materialism and historical materialism. The main articles included in Collected Works I and II are those on China's revolution and construction, Party school education, and theoretical teaching; while Collected Works III mainly contains articles on the three famous philosophical theories he upheld and persistently fought for—on "the identity of thinking and existence," on "unity of opposites" (the inseparable connection between opposites), and on "the economic base and superstructure in China's transitional period." Yang Xianzhen's three theoretical issues were subjected to erroneous criticism during the period of "Leftist" domination. Kang Sheng summarized this criticism as "three major struggles on the philosophical front since the founding of the People's Republic." The articles of Yang Xianzhen on these three philosophical issues were written as lecture drafts and were not published at the time. In 1959, when he was criticized for his alleged "rightist opportunism," in 1964 when he was criticized for "unity of opposites," and during the Cultural Revolution when he was subjected to general attacks, he had already been stripped of the right to speak and had no freedom to publish articles to articulate his own views. The statements about Yang Xianzhen's three theoretical issues that appeared in newspapers and periodicals were produced by his critics using the methods of taking things out of context and shifting the blame, selectively extracting parts of his writings that served their purpose of criticism and publishing them in the press under the guise of "criticism." During the Cultural Revolution, they even fabricated various charges and against Yang Xianzhen, subjecting him to public humiliation. Under the loss of personal freedom, Yang Xianzhen could only express his theoretical views and protest through means such as writing letters to the Central Committee and submitting protest materials to the Central Special Case Group, while refuting the erroneous criticisms. After the Cultural Revolution, Yang Xianzhen regained his freedom and the right to speak, and he published his statements and protests in various newspapers, periodicals, and books. He also conducted counter-criticisms against those who continued to distort his philosophical views by using the methods of taking things out of context or by the historical facts of the Party schools. Etc. These articles of Yang Xianzhen not only reflect the demeanor of an proletarian revolutionary, the style of a Party school educator, and the noble character of a steadfast Marxist theoretician engaged in battle, but they are also important documents for studying the history of modern Chinese philosophy (the struggle between materialism and idealism, dialectics and metaphysics, historical materialism and historical idealism).