Historical Fate of the Theory of New Democracy: Reading Notes

Author: Yu Guangyuan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-12-01
Features: In Mao Zedong's works, there is an important viewpoint that was not discussed by Marxists before him, which is the concept of the "New Democratic Society" he proposed in On New Democracy. This viewpoint can be considered entirely new. The "theory of the New Democratic Revolution" in On New Democracy cannot be said to have been created by Mao Zedong, but the "theory of the New Democratic Society" in On New Democracy can be considered as belonging to Mao Zedong's creation. As everyone knows, Marxists, based on the evolution of the mode of production, have summarized the history of human society's development so far into a basic sequence: primitive commune society—slavery society—feudal society—capitalist society. The scientific socialism founded by Marx and Engels also pointed out, based on research into capitalist society, that after capitalist society there would be a new social form—the socialist society. However, the process of social development from capitalist society to socialist society has not yet been realized. The existing socialist societies are still rooted in the overall historical trend of capitalist society developing toward socialist society, and due to specific historical conditions, they have emerged and been supported in certain parts of the Earth, coexisting with capitalist society and competing with it. The five socio-economic forms discussed here are the basic socio-economic forms in the history of human social development. Within each socio-economic form, there are smaller stages of development. For example, in the capitalist socio-economic form, we distinguish stages such as pre-monopoly capitalism and monopoly capitalism. Additionally, between two basic socio-economic forms, there can be "transitional" socio-economic forms. Both of these types of socio-economic forms (i.e., smaller stages of social development and transitional socio-economic forms) are non-basic socio-economic forms. We can also see that there are combinations of several basic socio-economic forms formed in specific regions or among certain ethnic groups due to specific historical conditions. We should also consider these as non-basic socio-economic forms. China's colonial, semi-colonial, and semi-feudal society belongs to this category of non-basic socio-economic forms. In short, the socio-economic forms of human society themselves are a complex issue. Of course, the theory of the five basic socio-economic forms is important because it provides a theoretical framework for analyzing and judging the numerous socio-economic forms that actually exist or may exist. However, we must absolutely not simplify our understanding of socio-economic forms. The socio-economic forms that have appeared in the history of human social development are always concrete, and they require specific research. The "New Democratic Society" that Mao Zedong boldly proposed in On New Democracy is one such concrete socio-economic form that could appear in human history. According to the arguments presented in this work, this socio-economic form is the one that the people of colonial and semi-colonial countries could establish after the victory of the October Revolution in Russia, which marked the division of the entire era of world history, and in the process of