A Contemporary Interpretation Of Mao Zedong’s Thoughts On Labor

Mao Zedong’s thoughts on labor are varying from times and open up a different prospect. Therefore, we should put it inside the huge historical background and contact it with the micro background of Mao Zedong. In the process of researching, we can’t neglect the stage of history and determine the nature of Mao Zedong’s thoughts on labor directly; meanwhile, we also couldn’t absorbe ourselves in absolutism and make totally affirmation or negation. Consequently, we should abide by the method of combination with staged study which pay attention to the stage of Mao Zedong’s thoughts on labor, and insist on the dialectical study which emphasize criticizing the mistakes and explore the reasonable theory. With the method of historicism that explains the theory and the practice of Mao’s labor, we’d like to explore the significance of it. My paper combines three parts:Firstly, Young Mao Zedong’s labor in Otherness view. Young Mao Zedong’s labor is the interflow of Chinese and Western culture. The Nong Jia which is a school in Chinese history, the Populism and the Anarchism of Western are the theoretical source of Mao’s thoughts on labor. The main feature of Young Mao Zedong’s thoughts on labor are emphasizing and respecting labor especially physical labor, he insisted on the naive equality that the man without labor wouldn’t get food, and emphasized the combination with mental and physical labor. Moreover, Young Mao Zedong also carried the theory of labor into practice, for example, establish The New Village and The work-study mutual aid team. However, Young Mao Zedong’s theory of labor is in former science stage, it is the combination with the alienation logic of humanism and Utopian fantasy which is based on the humanism, lower than historical materialism. Therefore, Young Mao’s thoughts on labor are the reactionary of modern production rules and must go failure. Secondly, On the Consistency and Deviation:the winding development of Mao’s labor theory after being a Marist. In Marxism, labor has different meanings, anthropology, philosophy and economy. After receiving Marxism, Mao’s theory of labor has transformed from alienation to reality, open the autonomic construction of labor. Breaking the logic of alienation and explaining labor from Marxist view; the cyphosomatic cognition of working classes’social position explores Mao’s deeping understanding of labor; the new construction of combination with physical and mental labor that contact the inevitability of history and the practice of Chinese revolution; emphasizing the rule of physical labor in constructing the class consciousness of the proletariat. However, for the limit of subjective and objective reasons, he had made some mistakes on labor. For example, the deviation of work classes’nature which comes from the political attitude; extremely emphasizing the physical labor and distrusting the mental labors especially intellectual; neglecting the’labor theory of value’and’distribution according to work’in the process of transition to communism.Lastly, The contemporary value of Mao Zedong’s thoughts on labor. How to criticize and inherit Mao’s theory of labor is an important question to us. On the one hand, Mao’s theory of labor has positive reference to developing Socialism with Chinese Characteristics and constructing harmonious society, such as the emphasizing labor is the impetus to Socialism with Chinese Characteristics, the respecting on labors especially physical labors has positive reference to the construction of harmonious labor relationship, the idea that’Labor is Glorious’in Mao’s times is benefit to the construction of Core Values of Socialism. On the other hand, Mao’s mistakes on labor also have reference to us. For example, in the relationship of mental and physical labor, we must emphasize the transformation of mental labor from physical; in the knowledge economy, we should especially emphasize the rule of modern science and technology in improving the labor productivity; we should better give more emphasize on’labor theory of value’and’distribution according to work’.