Concerning the Study of «The Dream of the Red Chamber»
#PUBLICATION NOTE
This edition of Concerning the Study of «The Dream of the Red Chamber» has been translated, prepared, and revised for digital publication by the Institute of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism under the Central Committee of the Communist Party in Switzerland on the basis of the following editions:
- Letter Concerning the Study of «The Dream of the Red Chamber», in the Selected Works of Mao Zedong, First English Edition, Vol. 5, Foreign Languages Press, Beijing, 1977.
- Letter Concerning the Study of «The Dream of the Red Chamber», in the Collected Works of Mao Zedong, First Chinese Edition, Vol. 6, People's Publishing House, Beijing.
#INTRODUCTION NOTE
This is a letter from Comrade Mao Zedong to a number of members of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and others dated the 16th of October, 1954. It was first published in the Renmin Ribao (27th of May, 1967).
#Workers and oppressed people of the world, unite!
#CONCERNING THE STUDY OF THE DREAM OF THE RED CHAMBER
#LETTER TO MEMBERS OF THE POLITICAL BUREAU OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF CHINA AND OTHERS
#Mao Zedong
#16th of October, 1954
#★
#To Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai, Chen Yun, Zhu De, Deng Xiaoping, Hu Sheng, Peng Zhen, Old Dong, Old Lin, Peng Dehuai, Lu Dingyi, Hua Qiaomu, Chen Boda, Guo Moruo, Shen Yanbing, Deng Tuo, Yuan Shuipai, Lin Danqiu, Zhou Yang, Lin Feng, He Kaifeng, Tian Jiaying, Lin Mohan, Zhang Jichun, Ding Ling, Feng Xuefeng, Xi Zhongxun, He Qifang, and Other Comrades
Comrades:
Enclosed are two articles refuting Yu Pingbo. Please read them. It is the first time in over 30 years that a serious attack has been leveled against the erroneous views of the so-called authorities on The Dream of the Red Chamber. The authors are two Youth League members. At first they wrote to the Wenyi Bao [Literary and Artistic News] to ask whether it was all right to criticize Yu Pingbo, but they were ignored. In the circumstances, they were obliged to write to their teacher at Shandong University, their alma mater, and they received support. Their article refuting An Essay on «The Dream of the Red Chamber» was published in the university journal Wen Shi Zhe [Literature, History, and Philosophy]. Then the matter came up again in Beijing. It was suggested that the Renmin Ribao [People's Daily] reprint the article in order to start a debate and carry on the criticism. This, too, came to naught, because certain persons objected for a variety of reasons (the main ones being that it was «an article written by nobodies» and that «the Party paper is not a platform for free debate»). In the end, a compromise was reached and the article was allowed to be reprinted in the Literary and Artistic News. Later, the «Literary Legacy» page of the Guangming Ribao [Guangming Daily] carried another article by the two young men refuting Yu Pingbo's book, Studies in «The Dream of the Red Chamber». It seems that a struggle may now be able to get under way against the Hu Shi school of bourgeois idealism in the field of classical literature, which has poisoned the minds of the young for more than 30 years. The whole thing has been set going by two «nobodies», while the «bigwigs» have ignored and obstructed it as is their wont; they go in for a united front with bourgeois writers on the question of idealism and become willing captives of the bourgeoisie. The case is almost the same as with the films Inside Story of the Qing Court1 and The Life of Wu Xun2 when they were shown. Inside Story of the Qing Court, which has been described by certain people as a film of patriotism, but is in fact one of national betrayal, has never been criticized since it was shown all over the country. The Life of Wu Xun has been criticized, but until now, no lessons have been drawn; what is more, such strange things have happened as tolerating Yu Pingbo's idealism while suppressing the lively critical essays by the «nobodies». This deserves our attention.
Toward such bourgeois intellectuals as Yu Pingbo, our attitude should naturally be one of uniting with them, but we should criticize their erroneous ideas which poison the minds of the young, and we certainly should not surrender to them.