Critique of Khrushchev's "Potato and Beef-style Communist Theory"

—Starting from the Russian Communist Party's 19th Congress 

Criticism of Khrushchev's Rehabilitation of Stalin

By Hao Guisheng · July 22, 2025 

After reading the Russian Communist Party's 19th Congress resolution criticizing Khrushchev's rehabilitation of Stalin, the author believes that while it has highlights, it also contains serious defects and shortcomings.

Recently, a major event occurred in the history of the world communist movement: the "Resolution on Comprehensively and Thoroughly Restoring the Historical Justice of Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin" passed by the Russian Communist Party's 19th Congress on July 5, 2025. The resolution highly evaluated Stalin's enormous role in Soviet socialist modernization construction, especially in the Soviet Patriotic War, and focused on criticizing and exposing Khrushchev's criticism and wholesale negation of Stalin at the 20th and 22nd Congresses of the CPSU. After this resolution was published, it caused an extremely significant social response internationally and in contemporary China. The author believes that this resolution, at a stage when the world socialist cause is at a low ebb, is like a thunderclap that will surely reawaken the determination and confidence of Communist Party members and oppressed peoples and nations in various countries around the world to oppose capitalism and take the socialist path. It particularly provides great encouragement and inspiration for contemporary Chinese Communists and the Chinese people to unswervingly follow the scientific socialist path guided by Chairman Mao and oppose capitalist restoration.

We are Marxists, and we must also conduct dialectical materialist analysis of this resolution. The greatest highlight of this resolution is its high affirmation of Comrade Stalin's historical achievements, its criticism of Khrushchev's wholesale negation of Comrade Stalin under the name of criticizing "personality cult," and its exposure of Khrushchev's extreme individualism, fanaticism and divisive tendencies and the extremely serious harm this negation caused to the Soviet Union's socialist cause and the international communist movement. However, after reading this resolution, the author believes it also has serious defects and shortcomings: First, it lacks Marxist theoretical analysis and exposure of the historical and class roots of Khrushchev's negation of Stalin. Second, it basically does not involve or criticize the series of anti-Marxist revisionist viewpoints that Khrushchev spread and advocated at the 20th and 22nd CPSU congresses and during that period, such as negating proletarian revolution and proletarian dictatorship, negating class and class struggle in the socialist historical stage, advocating the party of the whole people and state of the whole people, and distorting the scientific meaning of communism. Third, its view that the Chinese Communist Party's "wise evaluation of Mao Zedong's merits and demerits" is correct is wrong. This resolution considers the Chinese Communist Party resolution's evaluation of Mao Zedong's merits and demerits to be correct, and by comparison, Khrushchev's wholesale negation of Stalin is wrong. But while China's resolution did not wholesale negate Mao Zedong, its wholesale negation of the theory of continuing revolution under proletarian dictatorship—the most core, essential, and outstanding part of Mao Zedong Thought—is equally not seeking truth from facts. The author will elaborate on this issue specifically in the future.

After the 20th and 22nd CPSU congresses, Khrushchev was not merely opposing Stalin. The essence of his opposition to Stalin was opposition to Marxism and socialism. He was the second representative figure in the history of the world communist movement who, after Bernstein—the first representative of revisionism—continued to comprehensively revise Marxism in philosophy, economics, and scientific socialism. The Chinese Communists represented by Chairman Mao began comprehensively exposing and criticizing Khrushchev's revisionist line after the 20th CPSU Congress, such as in "On the Historical Experience of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat" and "More on the Historical Experience of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat" in 1956, "A Proposal Concerning the General Line of the International Communist Movement" in 1963, and the "Nine Commentaries," which comprehensively exposed and criticized Khrushchev's revisionist line. Particularly the scientific evaluation of Stalin in the second commentary and "On Khrushchev's Phoney Communism and Its Historical Lessons for the World" in the ninth commentary are extremely rich and profound in content. They not only exposed and criticized the essence, harm, and roots of Khrushchev's errors, but more importantly, comprehensively and deeply elaborated a series of basic viewpoints of Marxist philosophy, economics, and scientific socialism. This represents a comprehensive exposition and rich development of Marxist theory by Chinese Communists represented by Mao Zedong. This content also constitutes extremely important content of Chairman Mao's theory of continuing revolution under proletarian dictatorship and is the third milestone in the history of Marxist development.

This article today does not comprehensively expose and criticize Khrushchev's revisionism, but starting from the Russian Communist Party's 19th Congress rehabilitation of Stalin, focuses on criticizing Khrushchev's "potato and beef-style communist theory."

I. The Erroneous Essence of Khrushchev's "Potato and Beef-style Communism"

Khrushchev was a member of the Soviet Communist Party and also General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. He naturally knew the concept of "communism" very well. But from his life history, he was obviously not a mature, genuine Marxist-Leninist. His vicious attacks on Stalin and wholesale negation of Stalin demonstrate his extremely deficient and low level of worldview, outlook on life, and Marxist theoretical understanding. This was particularly manifested in his understanding of "communism." The Soviet Union was indeed the first country in human history to enter the first stage of communism—socialism. But Marxism holds that humanity's transition from socialism to ultimately eliminating private ownership, eliminating classes, and realizing communist society with distribution according to need requires a considerable historical period. Soviet socialist construction indeed achieved extremely great results during Stalin's era and played a decisive role in the victory against fascism in World War II. Khrushchev's emphasis on Communists continuing to build socialism and communism was undoubtedly correct. Therefore, at the 20th CPSU Congress, he proposed "comprehensive construction of communism" in the Soviet Union. But precisely on the question of what exactly "communism" is, Khrushchev fell into the revisionist quagmire. According to Marxist views, communism has two meanings: first, high-stage communism with highly developed productive forces, elimination of private ownership, elimination of classes, elimination of the state, and realization of distribution according to need; second, low-stage communism, i.e., the socialist stage, where productive forces have also developed greatly, but disparities between rich and poor, urban and rural areas, and mental and physical labor still exist, class struggle still exists, and the danger of capitalist restoration still exists. Although the Soviet Union's socialist construction achievements were extremely great, it absolutely could not be said that it had entered the high stage of communism. But Khrushchev's comprehensive construction of "communism" considered it the high stage of "communism" in the "developed stage of socialism," "communism" without classes and class struggle, "communism" of the "party of the whole people" and "state of the whole people" that abolished proletarian dictatorship. This is typically anti-Marxist revisionist viewpoint. Another important manifestation of this distortion of "communism" was defining the scientific meaning of "communism" only from the perspective of productive force development, material living standards, and economics. His "potato and beef" communism interpreted "communism" from this angle. In 1959, when Khrushchev returned from the United States and got off the plane, he exclaimed how rich Americans really were, so he proposed a slogan to build communism in the Soviet Union by 1980, and interpreted communism as "letting Soviet people eat good dishes like potato and beef stew anytime."

First, this viewpoint of Khrushchev's is a distortion and fundamental betrayal of scientific socialism. Historical materialism emphasizes that social development is the contradictory movement process of productive forces and production relations, economic base and superstructure—it is the comprehensive development of economy, politics, and culture. No society develops its productive forces and economy in isolation, let alone communist society. Scientific communism has its precise meaning. According to the basic theory of Marxism-Leninism, communist society is a society that has thoroughly eliminated classes and class differences, a society where all people possess high communist ideological consciousness and moral qualities, a society where all people have high labor enthusiasm and consciousness, a society with extremely abundant social products, a society that implements the principle of "from each according to ability, to each according to need," and a society where the state has withered away. Khrushchev only viewed "extremely abundant social products" and "improvement of material production levels" as the main or even sole content of communism—this is obviously extremely one-sided and a distortion and fundamental negation of Marxism's scientific communist doctrine.

Second, this viewpoint of Khrushchev's copied the American bourgeois lifestyle and used America as a model. As the "Nine Commentaries" said, his communism "is essentially a variant of bourgeois socialism... He does not view the working class struggle for communism as a struggle for the thorough liberation of themselves and all humanity, but describes it as struggling 'for a plate of good potato and beef stew.' In Khrushchev's mind, there is not even a shadow of scientific communism—there is only bourgeois philistine society." Khrushchev "elevated learning American capitalist management methods and bourgeois lifestyles to the status of national policy. He said he had 'great respect' for American achievements. He greatly envied the American way of life, insisting that the American people under monopoly capital rule and enslavement 'lived quite well.' He also hoped to use American loans to build communism. He repeatedly expressed willingness to 'get loans from the devil.'"

Third, this viewpoint of Khrushchev's negated the proletarian thought of politics in command. "Potato and beef-style communism" in real life manifested as immediate partial economic interests and material interests taking primary position—essentially putting economic construction above political construction in the relationship between economy and politics, implementing "material incentive," "profit in command," and "money in command" thinking in guiding ideology. Lenin pointed out long ago that politics cannot but take first place compared to economics. Chairman Mao, based on Lenin's thought, repeatedly pointed out that politics is the lifeline of all economic work. Chairman Mao's "politics in command" in the "Anshan Constitution" was actually severe criticism of the "profit in command" thinking in the Soviet "Magnitogorsk Constitution."

Finally, this viewpoint of Khrushchev's was essentially using the "communist" banner to comprehensively restore capitalism in the Soviet Union. Khrushchev's advocacy of this viewpoint was completely consistent with his advocacy of the party of the whole people, state of the whole people, and abolition of class struggle and proletarian dictatorship—it was actually using the "communist" banner to peddle bourgeois ideology and lifestyle and comprehensively restore capitalism in the Soviet Union. Therefore, his "communism," as the "Nine Commentaries" said, "received appreciation from imperialism and the monopoly bourgeoisie." Then-US Secretary of State Rusk said: "As 'potato and beef' and second trousers and this type of issue become more important in the Soviet Union, I think a moderating force has appeared on the current stage." Then-British Prime Minister Home also said: "Mr. Khrushchev also said that Russian-brand communism puts education and potato and beef first. This is good. Potato and beef communism is better than war communism, and I'm pleased that this confirms our view: fat and comfortable Communists are better than thin and hungry Communists." This thinking of Khrushchev's was also the result of peaceful evolution by Dulles and others toward socialist countries. Analyzed with Chairman Mao's thought, he was the first capitalist roader in power within the Soviet Party.

During the Sino-Soviet great debate of the 1960s, the Chinese Communist Party had already severely criticized and exposed the essence and harmfulness of Khrushchev's "potato and beef-style communism." At that time, Khrushchev actually rebutted. Khrushchev said: The Chinese "actually doubt the right of our party and our people to build communism," and "CCP leaders, targeting our party's declaration that striving for a good life for the people is our task, hint at some kind of 'bourgeoisification' and 'degeneration' of Soviet society." This shows how far Khrushchev had gone on his anti-Marxist revisionist path!

II. The Historical Roots of Khrushchev's "Potato and Beef-style Communism"

Any kind of erroneous social thought has its profound historical and social roots. Khrushchev's "potato and beef-style" communist theory also has its historical roots. These historical roots are essentially the continuation and development of opportunist and revisionist currents in the history of Marxist development that denied class struggle and advocated economism.

An extremely important content of the opportunist currents that appeared during Marx and Engels' time—such as Lassalle, Bakunin, the Zurich Triumvirate, British trade unionism—was using Marx's theory of productive forces as a pretext to confine working-class struggle merely to the economic sphere. The main representative figure among them was Bernstein, one of the Zurich Triumvirate. After Engels' death, he became a leader of the Second International and began systematically spreading and advocating his revisionist viewpoint that "the movement is everything." He mainly confined working-class struggle to fighting for immediate, partial, material, and economic interests, while great goals like eliminating private ownership and eliminating classes and communism could all be abandoned. This erroneous current, at the beginning of the 19th century, manifested among some young Russian intellectuals who accepted Marxism but were influenced by the revisionist viewpoint of "the movement is everything" and began advocating economism among workers. They believed "the workers' movement motto is struggle for improved economic conditions," "According to Marx and Engels' doctrine, the economic interests of various classes have decisive historical significance, so the proletariat's struggle for its own economic interests should have primary significance for its class development and liberation struggle." "Adding one kopeck to every ruble of wages is more practical and valuable than socialism and any politics." This economism first worshipped the spontaneity of the workers' movement, falsely claiming that spontaneous workers' movements could peacefully reach the shores of socialism. Second, it denied the guiding role of revolutionary theory in the workers' movement, opposed instilling scientific socialist thought into the worker masses, and opposed combining Marxism with the workers' movement. Third, it opposed establishing a unified proletarian revolutionary party and opposed party leadership of the workers' movement. Fourth, it separated the working class's economic struggle from political struggle, only engaging in economic struggle while opposing political struggle.

Lenin wrote a series of articles criticizing Bernstein's revisionist viewpoint that "the movement is everything." He said: "'The movement is everything, the ultimate aim is nothing'—this catchword of Bernstein's expresses the essence of revisionism better than many long dissertations. To determine one's conduct from case to case, to adapt oneself to the events of the day and to the chopping and changing of petty politics, to forget the primary interests of the proletariat and the basic features of the whole capitalist system, of capitalist evolution as a whole, to sacrifice these primary interests for the real or assumed advantages of the moment—such is the policy of revisionism." Regarding Russian economism, Lenin said this was "nothing but a new variant of opportunism," repeating "the arguments of the Bernstein trend in German Social-Democracy," and they were "the freedom of the opportunist trend within Social-Democracy, the freedom to convert Social-Democracy into a democratic party of reform, the freedom to introduce bourgeois ideas and bourgeois elements into the socialist movement." Lenin also pointed out that this viewpoint borrowed from Bernstein actually "corrupts the socialist consciousness of the working masses (and socialist consciousness is the only basis that can guarantee our victory), and what is obtained in exchange is some high-sounding schemes for petty reforms, reforms so petty that much more could be obtained from bourgeois governments!" Lenin believed "from the fact that economic interests play a decisive role, it should not be concluded that the economic (i.e., trade union) struggle is of prime importance, because the most essential and 'decisive' interests of classes can be satisfied only by radical political changes in general; in particular, the basic economic interests of the proletariat can be satisfied only by a political revolution that will substitute the dictatorship of the proletariat for that of the bourgeoisie." Lenin particularly emphasized that in socialist movement practice, "Without revolutionary theory there can be no revolutionary movement. This idea cannot be insisted upon too strongly at a time when the fashionable preaching of opportunism goes hand in hand with an infatuation for the narrowest forms of practical activity." "We wish to say only that only a party guided by an advanced theory can fulfill the role of a vanguard fighter." The working class by its own efforts can only develop trade-union consciousness, while Social-Democratic consciousness among workers can only be brought from outside. To achieve this, uncompromising struggle against the bourgeois ideological system is necessary.

Therefore, "potato and beef communism" is essentially the continuation and development of the Second International's Bernstein "movement is everything" revisionist thought. If there is a difference, it is that while Bernstein advocated his economism, he waved the Marxist banner while abandoning the great goal of communism. But Khrushchev's revisionism directly used the banner and goal of "communism," distorting the meaning of communism as purely economic interests, material life, and purely economic and productive force development. Khrushchev's revisionism had extremely serious influence and harm in the history of the international communist movement. If Bernstein's revisionism was the first representative figure in the history of Marxist development, then Khrushchev was the second representative figure of revisionism development. Later figures like Brezhnev and Gorbachev essentially continued down Khrushchev's revisionist path and were also the ideological-theoretical roots of the Soviet Union's ultimate dissolution.

III. The Extremely Serious Influence and Harm of Khrushchev's "Potato and Beef-style Communism" on Contemporary China

This "potato and beef-style communist" revisionist thought of Khrushchev's received extremely severe exposure and criticism during Chairman Mao's era. But as an anti-Marxist erroneous current, it did not disappear. Particularly after Chairman Mao's death, with the thorough negation of Chairman Mao's later theories and practices, "potato and beef-style communist" currents revived and became rampant again in the Chinese Communist Party and society under the name of "Chinese characteristics." Its main manifestations are:

First, using the theory of productive forces only to interpret "the essence of socialism." Chairman Mao led the Chinese Communist Party and Chinese people to unswervingly take the socialist path. Chinese revisionists first had to revise the essence of scientific socialism. In Marxism, the essence of socialism economically is public ownership of means of production, planned economic system, and distribution according to work; politically it is proletarian dictatorship, people being masters, and party leadership; ideologically it is guidance by Marxism. Chinese revisionists, under the banner of "correcting chaos and liberating thought," tampered with the essence of scientific socialism to "liberating and developing productive forces, eliminating exploitation, eliminating polarization, and achieving common prosperity." Socialism is first and foremost an economic and political system—its essence can only be defined from production relations and political systems. How can its essence be understood from the perspective of productive forces? Without "eliminating private ownership," how can we talk about eliminating exploitation, eliminating polarization, and achieving common prosperity? This has similarities with Khrushchev's "potato and beef-style communism."

Second, interpreting the essential characteristics of future communism as "letting people live good lives." Since "reform and opening-up," certain domestic "Marxist masters," to cater to certain power holders' erroneous current of not talking about eliminating private ownership or class struggle, have also interpreted the scientific meaning of "communism" from the perspective of productive forces and economic development. For example, at the First World Marxism Congress held at Peking University in 2015, the former director of Peking University's School of Marxism gave a speech titled "The True Essence of Marxism is Letting Workers Live Good Lives." Certain academic journals also published large amounts advocating that communism is letting people "eat well, drink well, play well."

Third, erroneous interpretation and expression of the party's basic line. Since reform and opening-up, multiple party congresses have defined the party's basic line as "leading and uniting people of all ethnic groups nationwide, taking economic construction as the center, adhering to the Four Cardinal Principles, adhering to reform and opening-up, self-reliance, hard work and entrepreneurship, to build our country into a prosperous, democratic, and civilized modern socialist power." Officials and most people simplify this basic line to "one center, two basic points." The author has written multiple articles commenting on this basic line. This basic line and its simplified expression have multiple errors: First, elevating "economic construction as the center" to a position higher than the goal of "prosperous, democratic, and civilized modern socialist power." Second, treating the "Four Cardinal Principles" as means for "economic construction as the center" is wrong—it should not be the latter guiding the former, but the former guiding the latter. In the author's view, the complete expression of the party's basic line should be "guided by the Four Cardinal Principles, leading and uniting people of all ethnic groups nationwide, taking economic construction as the center, adhering to self-reliance and hard work, adhering to reform and opening-up, to build our country into a prosperous, democratic, and civilized modern socialist power!"

Fourth, advocating profit in command and money in command, seriously corroding people's ideological souls. "Potato and beef-style communism" essentially also advocates "material incentive," "profit in command," and "money in command" thinking. Since reform and opening-up, Yu Zuomin, former party secretary of Tianjin's Daqiuzhuang, proposed "Look up and forward, look down at money; only by looking at money can you look forward." Shenzhen, the front line of reform and opening-up, hung large banners everywhere saying "Time is money." Not only private enterprises, but almost all state-owned enterprises, and even party and government organs, schools, hospitals, etc., all implement money-in-command thinking. In January 2023, a banner hung in a year-end summary meeting room of a certain department in a major Guangdong hospital read "Welcome the New Year with tiger-like vigor, the operating room is full of money."

Fifth, a certain major figure called for China to get rich by following America. In an article by reporter Yao Yang about economic growth models published in Outlook magazine on September 23, 2009, it mentioned that in the 1980s, when a certain major figure first governed and first visited America, an American reporter asked "Why is America the first country you visit as vice premier?" This major figure replied: "You see that after the war, all those who followed America became rich, and after the war, all those who opposed America are still poor." Isn't this exactly the same tune as Khrushchev's?

Emphasizing improving people's material living standards in socialist modernization construction is not wrong in itself—what's wrong is highlighting only this point without talking about political and cultural construction, without talking about proletarian dictatorship, without talking about eliminating private ownership or eliminating classes, and moreover, under this guidance of the theory of productive forces only, engaging in privatization and marketization reforms. Practice is the fundamental and ultimate standard for testing truth. Objectively speaking, China today has indeed achieved considerable results in economic construction, and people's material living standards have greatly improved. But we must also acknowledge objective facts: the gap between rich and poor has widened, the urban-rural gap has widened, the coastal-inland gap has widened, social morals have deteriorated, corruption is extremely serious, and feudalist-capitalist ideological concepts like private ownership concepts, money supremacy, and power supremacy have become rampant disasters. The moral quality of the entire society, especially various levels of power holders and intellectuals, has sharply declined, becoming deformed, one-sided, and unidimensional people to varying degrees. Contemporary big capitalists like Xu Jiayin are still eating human flesh and drinking human blood, capitalist roaders within the party are still taking that path, and the entire society's democratic civilization construction and moral standards have suffered extremely serious damage. Just as Chairman Mao predicted: "satellites in the sky, red flags falling to earth." This is the extremely serious harm of Khrushchev's "potato and beef-style communism" to contemporary China.

IV. Enlightenment for Contemporary Chinese Communists from Criticizing Khrushchev's "Potato and Beef-style Communism"

The Russian Communist Party's 19th Congress criticism of Khrushchev's rehabilitation of Stalin is absolutely correct, but genuine Communists and Marxists should not stop at restoring Stalin's reputation. On this foundation, they should continue exposing and criticizing the deep theoretical roots of Khrushchev's negation of Stalin, deeply study and promote the series of basic theories of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought, and carry the struggle against revisionism to the end!

1. The struggle against revisionism must be elevated to the extremely important strategic position of adhering to the socialist path and opposing capitalist restoration.

An extremely important content of Chairman Mao's theory of continuing revolution is pointing out that classes and class struggle always exist in the socialist historical stage, and the danger of capitalist restoration exists. An important reason leading to capitalist restoration is revisionist currents appearing within the Communist Party—Khrushchev was the revisionist representative within the CPSU. This was true for the Soviet Union, and also for China. Therefore, when Chairman Mao was alive, he repeatedly warned us: "What if revisionism appears in the Central Committee? It's very likely—this is most dangerous." "We must guard against revisionism, especially guard against revisionism appearing in the Central Committee." Chinese-style Khrushchev-type figures might emerge. "When revisionism comes to power, capitalism comes to power, and moreover it's the worst capitalism—fascism." Historical development completely confirmed Chairman Mao's predictions—China indeed experienced revisionism and produced the third representative figure of revisionism in the history of Marxist development. The extremely serious economic, political, and cultural capitalist restoration phenomena in contemporary Chinese society are certainly greatly influenced by Khrushchev's revisionism, but the more important internal reason is that China's revisionist representative figure's comprehensive revision and distortion of Marxism is no less than Khrushchev's, and his destructive effect on Marxism and the socialist cause exceeds Khrushchev's. Therefore, criticizing modern revisionism requires both criticizing Khrushchev's revisionism and more importantly criticizing China's revisionist representative figure and the subsequent series of systematic revisionist currents with "Chinese characteristics" and their influence on contemporary China.

2. Communists must "seriously study books and learning, understand and master Marxism."

Lenin said there can be no revolutionary movement without revolutionary theory. Without the guidance of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought, it's impossible to carry the struggle against revisionism and preventing capitalist restoration to the end. So when Chairman Mao was alive, he repeatedly and earnestly warned the entire party: "Our party doesn't have many who understand Marxism-Leninism." "We must educate cadres to understand some Marxism-Leninism—understanding more would be even better—that is, we must engage in Marxism-Leninism, not revisionism." An important reason for the rampant spread of contemporary Chinese revisionism and various capitalist erroneous currents is that after Chairman Mao's death, the party's atmosphere of studying Marxism-Leninism sharply declined, the entire party's theoretical quality level in Marxism-Leninism sharply declined, and people couldn't distinguish what is Marxism-Leninism and what is revisionism, what is socialism and what is capitalism. Everyone can carefully observe current official media and power holders' speeches—how much contains genuine Marxist-Leninist-Mao Zedong Thought positions, viewpoints, and methods? Especially not talking about class struggle and class analysis methods. Therefore, the urgent task is organizing the entire party to study basic theories and works of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought and launching a Marxist-Leninist study movement throughout the party and society. Especially party schools at all levels and university Schools of Marxism should play exemplary leading roles.

3. Persist in linking theory with practice, consciously using Marxist-Leninist positions, viewpoints, and methods to criticize various manifestations of contemporary Chinese revisionist and capitalist currents.

In articles like "Reform Our Study" and "Rectify the Party's Style of Work," Chairman Mao repeatedly emphasized that the purpose of mastering Marxism lies entirely in application—if you can use theory to explain one or two practical problems, you'll receive praise and achieve results. The more you explain, the greater your achievement. In today's study movement of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought, we must closely combine specific viewpoints, phenomena, and harms of contemporary revisionism and capitalist restoration for deep exposure and criticism. Learn and master basic Marxist positions, viewpoints, and methods through analysis, comparison, and contrast. Khrushchev's "potato and beef-style communism" and various "Chinese characteristic" "potato and beef-style communist" arguments are all directly connected to their distortion and negation of Marxist class struggle viewpoints. Contemporary China's negation, distortion, and vicious attacks on Marxist class struggle thought are extremely rampant, particularly prominent in official media and online. Without understanding and truly mastering Marxist class struggle viewpoints, it's absolutely impossible to genuinely expose and criticize various erroneous currents of revisionism and capitalism.

4. Persist in "fighting self and criticizing revisionism," consciously transform the subjective world, and forge oneself into a genuine communist fighter who defends socialism and opposes capitalist restoration.

In the "Nine Commentaries," after deeply exposing and criticizing Khrushchev's revisionism, Chairman Mao summarized the experience by saying: "To ensure that our party and state do not change color, we need not only correct lines and policies, but also to cultivate and train millions of successors to the proletarian revolutionary cause." He proposed five basic conditions for revolutionary successors: First, they must be genuine Marxist-Leninists, not revisionists like Khrushchev who wave Marxist-Leninist banners. Second, they must be revolutionaries who wholeheartedly serve the vast majority of people in China and the world. Third, they must be proletarian politicians capable of uniting with the vast majority of people. Fourth, they must be model implementers of the party's democratic centralism. Fifth, they must be modest and prudent, guard against arrogance and rashness, be rich in self-critical spirit, and brave in correcting shortcomings and errors in their work. Chairman Mao's five basic conditions for proletarian revolutionary successors have extremely important practical significance in contemporary China. In persisting to oppose revisionism and capitalist restoration, every Communist Party member and young comrade with communist ideals, beliefs, and aspirations should consciously develop and improve themselves according to these five basic conditions, consciously "fight self and criticize revisionism," consciously transform their worldview, transform basic Marxist theory into their own quality and capability—especially the ability to distinguish genuine from false Marxism and genuine from false socialism—and carry Chairman Mao's great cause of continuing revolution under proletarian dictatorship opposing revisionism and capitalist restoration to the end!

July 22, 2025