From The Perspective Of Cultural Confidence Research On Mao Zedong’s New Democratic Cultural Thought

Mao Zedong’s new democratic cultural thought,also known as "new democratic cultural view" and "new democratic cultural theory",is Mao Zedong’s cultural thought with Chinese characteristics.It originated from Marxist Leninist cultural view and cultural thought,especially inherited the ideological superstructure theory of Marx and Engels,originated from the "Third Civilization" theory of revolutionary pioneer Li Dazhao,developed in the period of agrarian revolution,and formed in the period of national anti Japanese War and liberation war.Mao Zedong’s new democratic cultural thought and later Mao Zedong’s socialist cultural thought are two important parts of Mao Zedong’s cultural thought,which are connected and complement each other.They are a bright pearl in the treasure house of Mao Zedong’s thought.It not only provides an important ideological weapon for the victory of new democracy,but also provides an important reference and preliminary basis for the prosperity and development of China’s socialist cultural construction after the founding of new China,and accumulates preliminary experience for the CPC’s leadership of cultural construction after the country is in power.At present,it has great value of the times.Over the years,scholars have paid close attention to Mao Zedong’s cultural thoughts formed in the new democratic period.However,it is still a new attempt to study from the perspective of "cultural confidence".To observe Mao Zedong’s new democratic cultural thought from the perspective of cultural self-confidence is to observe the development track of Mao Zedong’s cultural thought from the perspective of a grand historical view.Through the in-depth discussion of the centennial history of the Communist Party of China,we can sort out the development process of the Chinese Communists headed by Mao Zedong from cultural criticism,cultural self-consciousness,cultural self-examination to cultural self-confidence.By grasping the great changes in the world and the overall situation of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation,we can deeply understand the specific connotation and historical role of Mao Zedong’s thought.In the ten years of Yan’an,Mao Zedong wrote the most works.During this period,he left several million words of manuscripts.His discussion of cultural thought mainly focused on the three documents of new democracy written in 1940,speech at Yan’an Literature and art forum published in 1942 and on coalition government published in 1945.The sudden outbreak of the all-round Anti Japanese War brought the Chinese nation to the most dangerous time,on the verge of extinction.After occupying a large area of Chinese territory,the Japanese imperialists exploited and oppressed the Chinese people fiercely.As Mao Zedong wrote in "on protracted war"(May 1938): in material terms,they "made the broad masses of the people cry for hunger and cold,and Chinese national industry was destroyed and enslaved.".In spirit,they "devastate the national consciousness of the Chinese people" and "every Chinese can only be obedient to the people and be an ox and a horse".In such a critical situation,it is more and more urgent to work hard and inspire the masses to resist and save the nation through advanced culture.It is against this background that Mao Zedong put forward the new proposition of "new democratic culture" by combining Marxist cultural thought with Chinese revolutionary practice.This is a new cultural thought that is different from any other period and faction in the past.As soon as it was put forward,it aroused wide attention and strong resonance from all walks of life,and played a very important role in the Anti Japanese national salvation movement.The important source of Mao Zedong’s new democratic cultural thought is Marxist cultural thought and theory.In the 1920 s,when the pioneers of Chinese thought attacked all kinds of malpractices of Chinese traditional culture in domestic and foreign troubles,western culture was also facing unprecedented crisis.With the outbreak of the first World War and the chaos and decline of the old western capitalist countries,the Chinese people have deep doubts about the Western civilization which used to be a panacea.At the same time,the outbreak of Russian October Revolution and the thriving Soviet regime and its culture strongly attracted the attention of Chinese advanced intellectuals.Russia’s "little flower of new culture" is actually the preliminary practice of Marxist culture in Russia.Marx and Engels,two German names that were very strange to the Chinese people,gradually came into the vision of Chinese intellectuals and deeply influenced the Chinese Communists,including Mao Zedong.At the beginning,the Communist Party of China in its infancy regarded the classical theory of Marxism as a "panacea" for all diseases,especially for the instructions and propositions of the Soviet Union and the Republic International.However,the cruel reality mercilessly shattered the dreams of the early Communists and had to continue to explore.Mao Zedong and other Chinese Communists have gradually embarked on the road of theoretical innovation to deeply understand China’s national conditions and constantly carry out revolutionary practice.Viewing this road of theoretical innovation from the perspective of cultural self-confidence is a difficult process from cultural confusion to cultural introspection.From the Opium War to the Anti Japanese War,Chinese traditional culture,as far as the Chinese nation is concerned,has experienced a process of gradual decline from "blind self-confidence" to "loss of self-confidence".For a long time,the Chinese nation is a very confident nation in culture,which is not only reflected in the five thousand years of history,she has created brilliant and eye-catching cultural achievements,but also reflected in the long historical period in which the Chinese nation has always been in the leading position in the world.However,in modern times,Chinese culture has encountered great difficulties in the world trend,which can be called "unprecedented change in three thousand years".In this case,the modern advanced Chinese began to doubt and criticize all kinds of malpractices in Chinese traditional culture,and then fiercely criticized and even totally negated them.Mao Zedong inherited the essence of China’s modern and contemporary culture and thought,but at the same time,it has developed further.Many leaders of the Communist Party of China,represented by Mao Zedong,have profound Chinese traditional cultural accomplishment,but they are different from the literati or scholar bureaucrats in the traditional sense of China.They are greatly influenced by Marxism Leninism.At first,he was eager to find the prescription to save the nation from extinction from the classic literature of Marxism Leninism,but soon learned to master the basic method of Marxist historical materialism,so as to get rid of all kinds of puzzles encountered by the party and the Red Army in the process of development,and find the countermeasures to the realistic problems that need to be solved urgently.When they treat the spiritual heritage of the Chinese nation,they consciously use the methods of dialectical materialism and historical materialism to preserve the essence,critically inherit,develop and innovate,which fully reflects the rational analysis and leisurely cultural confidence of the Chinese Communists.After the founding of the Communist Party of China,especially after the first cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China,with the practice of the Soviet political system and the military system of party representatives in China,a large number of Soviet cultural products and literary works began to be translated and transported to China.Under its influence,China has gradually formed a left-wing cultural group.Influenced by Wang Ming’s "left" line,the party’s dogmatism and formalism in political system,military command and cultural education become more and more intense.When Mao Zedong was in Jinggangshan and the Soviet Area,he still attached great importance to the work of cultural construction,and regarded it as an important part of political power construction and military construction.However,after Bogu,Li De and others came to the Central Soviet area one after another,especially after the Ningdu conference,they gradually removed Mao Zedong from his post in the army within the party,and Mao Zedong’s cultural construction practice was roughly interfered with and distorted,thus accelerating the dogmatization tendency in the dissemination of Marxist culture.Mao Zedong was excluded and under great political pressure,he paid a huge price in body and spirit.At the same time,he was forced to think deeply,which laid the foundation for saving the party,the Red Army and the Chinese revolution at the critical moment after the Zunyi Meeting.After the long march arrived in Yan’an,new cultural ideas have been gradually rooted in the hearts of the people,and new cultural ideas are ready to come out.From the profound criticism of Chinese traditional culture to the vigorous advocacy of Western civilization dominated by Europe and America,from the blind worship of the Soviet Union and the Communist International Culture to the efforts to create a new culture suitable for China’s national conditions in combination with the practice of China’s revolutionary struggle,the road of cultural self-confidence of the Communist Party of China has suffered a very painful lesson and gone through a difficult and tortuous process.When Mao Zedong put forward the important cultural thought of new democracy,he also practiced it in the party’s line,principles and policies,effectively guiding the practice of Chinese revolution.He wrote some poems during his military career.Although the number of these poems is not large,they can be regarded as "more than a few poems,the most important thing in the history of Chinese poetry"(Guo Moruo’s language),and can be regarded as a vivid reflection of the new democratic cultural thought.In addition,Mao Zedong’s new democratic cultural thought,to a great extent,has penetrated and influenced the whole process of the history of the Communist Party of China.It leads the socialist cultural thought after the founding of the People’s Republic of China and lays the foundation for the socialist cultural construction after the founding of the People’s Republic of China.It leads the thought of socialist culture with Chinese characteristics,and has profound enlightenment for the great development and prosperity of socialist culture since China’s reform and opening up.In particular,since the new era,various social ideological trends have emerged one after another and stirred up with each other.It often plays an important role in discerning right from wrong,black and white,and straight lines among party members and cadres at all levels.In essence,it contains the Chinese Communists’ cultural self-confidence that they are not afraid of any difficulties and obstacles,and that they are brave and pioneering.And this kind of cultural self-confidence often makes us ponder: Why did the party members and cadres have such strong cultural self-confidence in the era of Mao Zedong,and why did they have such a high cultural identity with the party’s cultural ideas? Today,with the material conditions greatly improved,the Chinese Communists in the new era are often troubled by the lack of self-confidence? To answer these questions,we must not forget the original intention,trace back to the source,and sort out the far-reaching influence and practical significance of the new democratic cultural thought.