Wang Hongwen

Wang Hongwen (Chinese:王洪文; December 1935 – 3 August 1992) was a Chinese labour activist and politician who served as the member of the political clique called the "Gang of Four." During the Cultural Revolution, Wang rose from a member of the working class to become one of the foremost members of national leadership of the Chinese Communist Party.

Will our Great Cultural Revolution be cursed? Certainly some people will curse it. And even 10 years or several decades later, there will be some people who will curse it.

Historical experience tells us that not only will the struggle between the two classes and the two roads in society at home inevitably find expression in our Party, but imperialism and social-imperialism abroad will inevitably recruit agents from within our Party in order to carry out aggression and subversion against us.

The Marxist method is our telescope and microscope in political and military matters.

Quotes

• What is wrong with rebellion? It was through the rebellion led by Chairman Mao against imperialism, feudalism and bureaucratic capitalism that members of the Communist Party of China achieved the victory of revolution and succeeded in seizing political power.
  • As quoted in 1974, "Wang Hongwen Dies in Beijing; A Member of the 'Gang of Four'" in The New York Times (5 August 1992)

• Will our Great Cultural Revolution be cursed? Certainly some people will curse it. And even 10 years or several decades later, there will be some people who will curse it.
  • As quoted in 1974, "Wang Hongwen Dies in Beijing; A Member of the 'Gang of Four'" in The New York Times (5 August 1992)

"On the Revision of the Party Constitution" (1973)

"On the Revision of the Party Constitution - Delivered at the Tenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China on August 24 and Adopted on August 28, 1973" (excerpts)

• Chairman Mao says, "To lead the revolution to victory, a political party must depend on the correctness of its own political line and the solidity of its own organization." All the comrades of our Party must pay close attention to the question of line, persist in continuing the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat, strengthen our Party building and ensure that the Party's basic line for the historical period of socialism is carried through.
• Historical experience tells us that not only will the struggle between the two classes and the two roads in society at home inevitably find expression in our Party, but imperialism and social-imperialism abroad will inevitably recruit agents from within our Party in order to carry out aggression and subversion against us.
• We must heighten our vigilance and understand the protractedness and complexity of this struggle. In order to constantly consolidate the dictatorship of the proletariat and seize new victories for the socialist cause, it is necessary to deepen the socialist revolution in the ideological, political and economic spheres, to transform all those parts of the superstructure that do not conform to the socialist economic base and carry out many great political revolutions such as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution.
• If one practises Marxism and wholeheartedly serves the interests of the vast majority of the people of China and the world, one is obliged to work for unity and be open and aboveboard; if one practises revisionism and exclusively serves the small number of exploiting class elements, one will inevitably go in for splits, intrigues and conspiracy. Revisionism is an international bourgeois ideological trend. Revisionists are agents whom the bourgeoisie, and imperialism, revisionism and reaction plant in our Party by means of sending them in or recruiting them from our ranks.
• To study Marxism and criticize revisionism is our long-term task for strengthening the building of our Party ideologically.
• When confronted with issues that concern the line and the overall situation, a true Communist must act without any selfish considerations and dare to go against the tide, fearing neither removal from his post, expulsion from the Party, imprisonment, divorce nor guillotine. Of course, in the face of an erroneous trend there is not only the question of whether one dares go against it but also that of whether one is able to distinguish it. Class struggle and the two-line struggle in the historical period of socialism are extremely complex. When one tendency is covered by another, many comrades often fail to note it. Moreover, those who intrigue and conspire deliberately put up false fronts, which makes it all the more difficult to discern. Through discussion, many comrades have come to realize that according to the dialectic materialist point of view, all objective things are knowable.
• The naked eye is not enough, we must have the aid of the telescope and the microscope. The Marxist method is our telescope and microscope in political and military matters.
• Many young comrades on their part warmly pledged to learn modestly from the strong points of veteran cadres who have been tempered through long years of revolutionary war and revolutionary struggle and have rich experience, to be strict with themselves and to do their best to carry on the revolution. Both veteran and new cadres expressed their determination to learn each other's strong points and overcome their own shortcomings.
• Now, I would like to discuss with special emphasis the question of accepting criticism and supervision from the masses. Ours is a socialist country under the dictatorship of the proletariat. The working class, the poor and lower-middle peasants and the masses of working people are the masters of our country. They have the right to exercise revolutionary supervision over cadres of all ranks of our Party and state organs. This concept has taken deeper root throughout the Party, thanks to the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. However, there are still a small number of cadres, especially some leading cadres, who will not tolerate differing views of the masses inside or outside the Party. They even suppress criticism and retaliate, and it is quite serious in some individual cases. In handling problems among the people, Party discipline absolutely forbids such wrong practices as resorting to "suppression if unable to persuade, and arrest if unable to supress."
• We must have faith in the masses, rely on them, constantly use the weapons of arousing the masses to air their views freely, write big-character posters and hold great debates and strive "to create a political situation in which there are both centralism and democracy, both discipline and freedom, both unity of will and personal ease of mind and liveliness, so as to facilitate our socialist revolution and socialist construction, make it easier to overcome difficulties, enable our country to build a modern industry and modern agriculture at a fairly rapid pace, consolidate our Party and state and make them better able to weather storm and stress."
• Our country has a large population, vast territory and abundant resources. We must make our country prosperous and strong and we are fully capable of doing it. However, we must persist in the principle of "never seek hegemony" and must never be a superpower under any circumstances.
• At home, too, we must oppose every manifestation of "great-power" chauvinism, and further strengthen the revolutionary unity of the whole Party, the whole Army and the people of all the nationalities of the country to speed up our socialist revolution and socialist construction and strive to fulfill our due internationalist obligations.

External links

• Encyclopedic article on Wang Hongwen on Wikipedia
• Media related to Wang Hongwen on Wikimedia Commons