On Practice and on Contradiction

Book excerpt: Mao Zedong was the leader of the Chinese Communist Party from 1949 to 1976. He was also a important figure in the Chinese revolution and would found the People's Republic of China in 1949. He is upheld to this day as of the most influecial figures in Marxist thought of the 20th century in China and throughout the worldThis book is a collection of two of his most important essays, some of the most approachable explainations of contradition as well as the connection between theory and practice. These essays were delivered by comrade Mao at the Anti-Japanese Military and Political College in Yenan in 1937. They were written to combat the problems of dogmatism the Mao saw in the Communst Party of China at the time.Both essays proved to be fundimental to the development of the Party line, but would later be co-opted by the ultra-left "Maoists" we see today.