Selected Works of Liu Shaoqi: Volume 1

The Selected Works of Liu Shaoqi, compiled by the Editorial Committee on Party Literature of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, consists of two volumes. The first comprises 38 important works composed prior to the founding of the People's Republic of China, of which 22 are published here for the first time. The first volume comprises 3 items from the period of the First Revolutionary Civil War (1924-27), that is, the period of Kuomintang-Communist co-operation against imperialism and feudalism, 9 items from the Second Revolutionary Civil War, also known as the ten years of civil war (1927-37), 17 items from the period of the War of Resistance Against Japan (1937-45), and 9 items from the period of the Third Revolutionary civil War (1945-October 1949). In the main these writings and speeches deal with the labor movement, work in the White areas (areas under Kuomintang rule), Party building, the united front, armed struggle, and the development of the base areas. Comrade Liu Shaoqi was involved in the labor movement and the work in the White areas for many years. He consistently opposed and combated the "Left" errors of those represented by Wang Ming, which caused enormous damage to the Party's work in the White areas. Through a number of famous articles, Comrade Liu Shaoqi made brilliant contributions to Party building in the long course of the revolution. In "How to Be a Good Communist" (1939), he expounded systematically on the relationship of the ideological self-cultivation of Communists with revolutionary practice and theoretical study, as well as on how to relate changing the objective world to changing the subjective world. He set forth specific requirements one must meet to be a fine Party member, which served to guide and encourage Party members to dedicate their lives to the realization of communist. In "On the Party" (1945), the author systematically explained how Comrade Mao Zedong came to be leader of the Party and how Mao Zedong Though came to be the Party's guiding ideology. He pointed out that Mao Zedong Thought is the theory that integrates Marxism-Leninism with the practice of the Chinese revolution. The first volume of the Selected Works of Liu Shaoqi is an important theoretical asset to the Chinese Communists and the Chinese people. It provides abundant material for the study of Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, the history of the Chinese revolution as well as the life and thought of Comrade Liu Shaoqi.