Philosophical Annotations and Marginalia
Mao Zedong
Source: Mao Zedong zhexue pizhuji [The philosophical annotations of Mao Zedong] (Beijing: Zhongyang wenxian chubanshe, 1988), pp. 1‒189. The translation is of a selection only of the most significant and coherent of Mao’s annotations on two Soviet texts on philosophy. The annotations date from November 1936 to July 1937. Page numbers in round brackets refer to Mao Zedong zhexue pizhuji; those in square brackets refer to the Chinese translations of the Soviet texts which Mao was annotating. Translated by Nick Knight.
Annotations on M. Shirokov and A. Aizenberg et al., A Course on Dialectical Materialism, translated by Li Da and Lei Zhongjian (third edition).
| [pp. 14‒15] | |
| (p. 6) | The essence of dialectics, namely the law (faze) of the unity of opposites. |
| [pp. 193‒196] | |
| (p. 14) | Materialist dialectics is the determining element of Marxism. |
| The objective world develops, and so too does subjective knowledge. | |
| (pp. 15‒16) | Reflection is not a passive absorption of the object, but an active process. In production and class struggle, knowledge is an active element which leads to the transformation of the world. |