Congratulation Message to the Fourth Congress of Chinese Literature and Art Workers

On October 30, 1979, Deng Xiaoping delivered his congratulation message on behalf of the Central Committee of the CPC and the State Council to the Fourth Congress of Chinese Literature and Art Workers. Contained in Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping Vol. 2.

The congratulations gave a positive overall appraisal of the literary and artistic work since the founding of New China, pointing out that in the 17 years before the “Cultural Revolution”, our literary and artistic line was basically correct and our achievements in literary and artistic work were remarkable. During the 10 years when they (Lin Biao and the “Gang of Four”) ran riot, many outstanding works were proscribed, and many writers and artists framed and persecuted. A great number of our comrades and friends in literary and art circles resisted or fought against Lin Biao and the “Gang of Four” with dignity and honour. Since the “Gang of Four” was smashed, the Party’s policy concerning intellectuals has been implemented in literary and art circles under the guidance of the Central Committee of the Party. Numerous literary and art works that were popular in the past are once more available to the public. Writers and artists, with their minds at ease, are again enthusiastic and creative. These works have played a positive role in emancipating the mind, inspiring the spirit, inspiring the people to work together and marching towards the four modernizations. Looking back over the last three years, I think that our writers and artists, like workers in other fields, have scored considerable achievements.

Congratulations that our country has entered a new period, a period of socialist modernization construction. While working for a socialist civilization which is materially advanced, we should build one which is culturally and ideologically advanced by raising the scientific and cultural level of the whole nation and promoting a rich and diversified cultural life inspired by high ideals. The writers and artists, together with the educators, theorists, journalists, political workers and other comrades concerned, should carry out a protracted and effective struggle in the ideological sphere against all ideas and habits that obstruct the four modernizations. They should criticize the ideology of the exploiting classes and the conservative, narrow-minded mentality characteristic of small producers, criticize anarchism and ultra-individualism, and overcome bureaucracy. They should revive and carry forward the revolutionary traditions of our Party and people, cultivate fine morals and customs, and contribute to the building of a socialist civilization with a high cultural and ideological level.

The congratulatory speech pointed out that we must adhere to the principle put forward by Comrade Mao Zedong — that literature and art should serve the broadest masses and, first of all, the workers, peasants and soldiers. We must always uphold the principles of “letting a hundred flowers bloom”, “weeding through the old to bring forth the new” and “making the past serve the present and foreign things serve China”. We should encourage the unhampered development of different forms and styles in literature and art, as well as the free discussion of theories of literature and art among exponents of different views and schools of thought. Lenin once said that in literature “greater scope must undoubtedly be allowed for personal initiative, individual inclination, thought and fantasy, form and content”. With the four modernizations as our common objective, the path before literature and art should become broader and broader. Guided by the correct principles for creative work, writers and artists should deal with an ever-wider range of themes, increasingly vary their means of expression, and dare to blaze new trails. We must guard against or overcome the tendency to be formulistic and abstract, which produces monotonous, stiff, mechanical and stereotyped writing.

The congratulatory speech put forward specific requirements for literary and artistic workers. First, writers and artists who are responsible to the people should always keep their faces turned towards the masses and constantly improve their skills, doing their best to avoid slipshod work, seriously considering the likely impact of their works on society and trying to provide the people with the best mental nourishment; second, writers and artists should conscientiously study Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought so as to enhance their own ability to understand and analyse life and to see through appearances to the essence; third, writers and artists also need to constantly improve their professional skills. They should earnestly study, assimilate and expand upon all that is best in the literary and artistic techniques of every land and every age and perfect art forms with the distinctive features of our own nation and our own time. Only those writers and artists who defy difficulties, who study and practice diligently, and who dare to explore new ground can scale the artistic heights. The congratulatory speech pointed out that special stress must be laid on the training of talented writers and artists. Through improved ideological and administrative work, we should create the necessary conditions for persons of outstanding talent to emerge and mature. It emphasized that Party committees at all levels should give good leadership to literary and art work.

Leadership doesn’t mean handing out administrative orders and demanding that literature and art serve immediate, short-range political goals. It means understanding the special characteristics of literature and art and the laws of their development and creating conditions for them to flourish. That is, it means creating conditions that help writers and artists to improve their skills and to produce fine works and performances truly worthy of our great people and era. At present, it is particularly important to help writers and artists to continue emancipating their minds, to break the mental shackles fastened on them by Lin Biao and the “Gang of Four” and to keep to the correct political orientation. We must do everything — including providing appropriate material conditions — to ensure that our writers and artists can give full expression to their insight and talent. We maintain that leaders should exchange views with them as equals, and that those among them who are Party members should set an example through their own creations and unite with their non-Party colleagues so that all can advance together. The bureaucratic style of work must be dropped. There must be no more issuing of administrative orders regarding the creation and criticism of literature and art. To think that such a practice upholds Party leadership can only produce results opposite to those intended. It is essential to adhere to the ideological line of dialectical materialism, and to analyse both positive and negative experience in the development of our literature and art over the past 30 years. We must get rid of all stereotypes and conventions and study new situations and solve new problems in conformity with the characteristics of the new historical period China is in. The preposterous ways of Lin Biao and the “Gang of Four” undermined the Party’s leadership in literature and art and destroyed their vitality. In the production of literature and art, which involves complex mental labor, it is essential that writers and artists follow their own creative spirit. What subjects they should choose for their creative work and how they should deal with those subjects are questions that writers and artists themselves must examine and gradually resolve through practice. There should be no arbitrary meddling in this process.