Thirty years ago an article called Practice Is the SoleCriterion for Testing Truth, aimed at emancipating Chinese people'sminds, ignited a nationwide "Debate on Standards for Judging theTruth". This article changed the author's fate and also served asan important guide for China, a country then standing at acrossroads.
The year of 2008 is the 30th anniversary of China's reform andopening up.
Thirty years ago, 43-year-old Hu Fuming, an associate professorat the Philosophy Department at Nanking University, wrote thehistoric article Practice Is the Sole Criterion for Testing Truth.This article, aimed at emancipating Chinese people's minds, gaverise to a nationwide "Debate on Standards for Judging theTruth".
This article challenged the "two whatevers" (which refers to thestatements that "we will resolutely uphold whatever policydecisions Chairman Mao made, and unswervingly follow whateverinstructions Chairman Mao gave") and ushered China into an era ofreform and opening up.
When the article was first published on theGuangmingDaily, some people called it "ridiculous" while some otherspraised it as "a bomb that completely destroyed the reactionaryideological system of the Gang of Four".
This article changed Hu Fuming's fate, transforming him from auniversity professor into a statesman. To some extent this articlealso acted as a significant guide for China, a country then at acrossroads.
After the "Gang of Four" was smashed at the end of the "CulturalRevolution", China stood at a historic juncture. Like many otherordinary people, Hu Fuming celebrated these great events with hisfriends. As a Party member and a philosophy researcher, he feltquite clearly that "China was at a critical turningpoint".
Hu had enthusiastically written articles criticizing the absurdtheories and reactionary ideas of the Gang of Four. Starting fromthe end of 1976, Hu Fuming began seriously considering China'sfate: although the Gang of Four had been smashed, China was stillconfronted with harsh political situations. Excessive personaladmiration was still rife within the Party; many unjust, false orwrong cases had not yet been rectified.
How to smash the "Gang of Four" from its very roots? Whathindered readdressing unjust, false and erroneous cases? Finally HuFuming came to the conclusion that the key to the above problemswas to break through the bondage of the "two whatevers". He decidedto write an article criticizing them. But after reconsideration, hechose "Practice is the sole criterion for testing truth" as themain theme for his article.
The author's recollection on writing thisarticle
"This article reflected the voice of the Chinese people and theentire Party as well. I just voiced what people had wanted to say.Someone had to speak out or write articles criticizing the "twowhatevers". Whether you believe it or not this was how it happenedhistorically," Hu Fuming explained.
"When I was planning to write the article to criticize the "twowhatevers", I was very worried.
And at that time I didn't realize that Hua Guofeng advocatedthem in the name of holding high the banner of Mao Zedong Thought.Criticizing "two whatevers" meant denying Chairman Mao and MaoZedong Thought. This was a great crime at that time.
I could consult with neither my colleagues nor my families. ButI decided to write the article anyway.
I suffered a lot during the "Cultural Revolution" and I wasworried I'd be punished again. So I didn't say that the "twowhatevers" were wrong; that would have been a declaration of waragainst them. I simply tried to avoid using the term. Instead Ichose other terms such as "genius theory" to replace "twowhatevers".
Finally, I choose "Practice is the sole criterion for testingtruth" as both the title and theme of my article.
Because I had learned from their works that Marx, Engels, Leninand Mao Zedong always used practice to verify their theories to:uphold the correct ones; abandon the wrong ones; and correct anyincomplete ones. They admitted that they were just ordinary people.Sometimes they made mistakes, so not all of their theories orpolicies were correct.
When I began writing the article in 1977, in late June, my wifefell ill. I wrote down an outline for this article while lookingafter her in the hospital. I finished it at the end of July andposted it to Wang Qianghua, an editor with theGuangmingDaily in September.
I got no response from theGuangming Daily for three tofour months. But in January 1978 theGuangming Daily sentthe article back and told me to revise it.
I sent back my corrected copy and then they returned it againfor further revisions.
After I edited this article about 6 to 7 times, Yang Xiguang,the chief editor of theGuangming Daily, told me that itwould be published in theTheoretical Trends first andthen in theGuangming Daily, and in thePeople'sDaily and theLiberation Daily. Actually, Hu Yaobangapproved the final version. Even with all these corrections thebasic ideas of my article were not altered at all.
I was prepared to go to prison for writing this article. Whenthe article was finally published on May 11, 1978, I felt veryworried. But later, while listening to Deng Xiaoping's speech atthe All-army Conference on Political Work on June 2 I noted thatDeng pointed out the need to unite theory with practice. I feltrelieved and so did my wife. She had been worrying about me afterthis article was published.
This article has changed the direction of my life. In 1979 thegovernment decided to transfer me to the Publicity Department ofthe Central Committee of the CPC (Communist Party of China) andlater said to transfer me to the Party School of the CentralCommittee of the CPC. I declined because I thought I was moresuited as a university teacher.
But in November 1982 I received a transfer and began to act asthe vice director of the Publicity Department of the CPC JiangsuProvincial Committee. Later I was elected as a CPC Jiangsu StandingCommittee member at the Jiangsu Party congress at the end of1984."
(China.org.cn by Zhang Ming'ai, January 19, 2008)