METHOD OF MABXIST STUDY 45
-while struggling for national salvation. Many of the best of China's
sons have joined the struggle and sacrificed themselves, advancing
by moving over the dead bodies of their fallen comrades. This
is worthy of commemoration in tears and lyrics.
It was only after the first world war and the October Revolu-
tion in Russia that we found Marxism-Leninism, the best weapon
for our national liberation. The Chinese Communist Party is the
proposer, propagandist and organiser in the use of this weapon.
The marriage between the universal truth of Marxism-Leninism
and the concrete practice of the Chinese Revolution has changed
the features of the latter. Ever since the outbreak of the war of
resistance our Party has advanced a step in the study of present-
day China and the world, basing itself on the universal truth pro-
pounded by Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin, and the study of
China's past has also begun. Such phenomena are good.
Two—But we have our defects. I think if we do not correct
these defects, we shall not be able to advance a step further in
advancing the merging of the universal truth propounded by Marx,
Engels, Lenin and Stalin with the concrete practice of the Chinese
Revolution. Let us first of all speak about the study of the pre-
sent conditions. In spite of the fact that ours is such a large
political party, yet the data we have collected concerning the
political, military, and cultural conditions of our country and
other nations of the world are incomplete. Our study is unsys-
tematic, though we have had some results in our study of national
and international conditions. Speaking in general, we have not in
the past twenty years done anything in the way of collecting mate-
rials concerning the above-mentioned problems, and stressing or
emphasising on careful study and elaborate systematisation. We
have not created the atmosphere for investigation and study of the
objective real condition. " Closing one's eyes to catch sparrows,"
or ** blind men trying to grab fish," sadly lacking in details, blow-
ing an empty trumpet, and satisfied with knowing a little and
understanding only a half, is our style of work. Such extremely
bad style of working which is completely in contrast to the funda-
mental spirit and method of work of Marxism-Leninism is still
followed by many of our comrades. Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin
taught us to study seriously the existing conditions starting from
the real objective circumstances and not from onr subjective wishes,
but many of our comrades are acting directly in contrast to this
guiding truth.