On Criticism/Self Criticism
“Some comrades, when they have committed a mistake and been criticised, do not try to learn a lesson from it in a positive way, but on the contrary think they can no longer “hold their heads up” and become passive and apathetic in their work, which only adds new mistakes to the former ones. As for the comrades who, after being criticized, bear a grudge and seek revenge on those who have criticized them, they are doing something expressly forbidden by Party discipline, something we must resolutely guard against. Party cadres must be especially strict with themselves and serve as models for the masses and Party members. When criticizing someone, they must of course uphold principle, but should also pay attention to method: investigate, seek truth from facts, never speak or act lightly or as a result of hearsay, or reprimand someone for nothing. Regarding criticisms formulated by the Party members and the masses, they must have proletarian largeness of mind, listen to them with modesty, draw conclusions from the suggestions of others, derive from them material for their political education, correct their shortcomings and mistakes and do their work well.” — A Basic Understanding of the Communist Party of China
The purpose of criticism and self-criticism is to advance our work, develop our comrades, and erase errors that are detrimental to our movement and our work. We all commit mistakes because to err is human. To act as if a person is immune from mistakes is metaphysical, not materialist. The less mistakes we make, of course, the better, but we should not be afraid to err. Errors teach, if they are recognized, summed up, and used as lessons.
Common abuses of the concept of criticism are: using un-constructive criticism to destroy comrades that we have personal disagreements with, using it to “gang up on” a comrade, and rejecting criticism simply because of who makes it. Let’s use a personal example. Many people have come to the conclusion that my mother is a “landlord”, or one who derives most of their income from exploitation of tenants. Even if my mother was a landlord, I’m not her. I’m a college student that will probably not make much upon graduation and will move out of my mother’s house shortly thereafter. I’m not afraid of manual labor, nor do I think the degree that I’m to receive should entitle me to privileges over and above that of an average black worker. The error in making statements such as this regarding individuals’ assumed class backgrounds despite them working actively to transform their outlook is that it’s petty and un-constructive. I’m not going to ask my non-Communist family members to liquidate assets, etc. so that I can get “credibility” from neo-bloodline theory adherents on the internet, most of which I have never met and never will. Most of the theoreticians that we study came from privileged backgrounds, and if there is an opportunity that I can take to make money for the movement, I will do so without question. As would Engels.
But one can perfectly well be at one and the same time a stock exchange man and a socialist and therefore detest and despise the class of stock exchange men. Would it ever occur to me to apologize for the fact that I myself was once a partner in a firm of manufacturers.. There’s a fine reception waiting for anyone who tries to throw that in my teeth!
And if I could be certain of making a million on the stock exchange tomorrow, and thus put an ample supply of funds at the disposal of the party in Europe and America, to the stock exchange I should promptly go. — Letter to Bernstein, 1883.
This is an example of bad criticism developed through personal animosity/desire to “shit on someone’s head” and that which offers no real course for rectification. Another error in the deployment of criticism is that it oftentimes is used as a form of abuse. By abuse, I mean psychological torment. If someone that has fallen out of favor with one or two leaders of a collective or organization makes a mistake no matter how trivial, or threatens their coveted “leadership”, scurrilous and erroneous criticisms are deployed with the intention not of improving their practice, but of hounding them out of the organization. This goes along with a pattern of social isolation, harassment, banning from certain events and mediums of communication, and badmouthing behind their backs. This is the definition of psychological abuse, and is present in many left organizations. This is unprincipled behavior and oftentimes drives good comrades away from ML/Maoist political organizing. Furthermore, when we are criticized in good faith, and the criticism is correct, or even partially correct, we must unite with it in good faith, and participate in a rectification process. Criticism offered without a way out or to transform one’s errors is criticism issued with the intent to destroy and can not be taken in good conscience. If someone or an organization is really interested in your transformation, they will offer advice or develop a process to hold you accountable without making you feel as if you are some kind of pariah or someone with a contagious disease. Shunning and ordering others to avoid an individual that has been criticized is a form of psychological abuse, and is unconstructive. No Communist organization should behave in this fashion. This, of course, does not apply to those who have committed sexual assault or other things of that nature, since we are not in state power and do not have access to courts, etc.
To abuse the concept of criticism to isolate or attack comrades is not proletarian, it is akin to the behavior of bourgeois/fascist type parties and formations. We are all familiar with how the alt-right political formations such as the Traditionalist Workers’ Party routinely fall apart over things such as money or in TWP’s case, an affair. This is not how leftist political formations that seek for themselves the role of “vanguard”, behave. On the other side of the coin lie anarchist type formations and affinity groups where criticism/self-criticism are ignored all together. If something bad is heard about one person or another, the response depends on how well they are liked or what types of resources they have to contribute to the “organization”. As a result, we see rapists and others running amok because they have clout and money. This is liberalism. The answer to both forms is to study how revolutionary parties have used the weapons of criticism and self-criticism in the past, to combat thoroughly our liberalism (also, stop abusing Combat Liberalism or taking it out of context to hide your own liberalism), develop criticism/self criticism procedures that start from the desire for unity but do not sugarcoat or spare feelings, promote a culture of friendly but sharp criticism self-criticism, and curing the sickness and saving the patient. Right now, many people seem wont to “doctor” people to death, meaning harassing them with criticism for things that they haven’t even done hoping that they will leave organizing, or to prove a point. Some even take this to the extremes of wrecking and behind the back gossip. Mao teaches us to be open and aboveboard, not to conspire and intrigue. This means that if you have something to say to someone, say so directly with the intention of helping them, not with the intention of causing them psychological distress. Bourgeois media, of course, see Communists as being “brainwashers”, “indoctrinators”, and “torturers”. We should not give them ammunition through our own practice. We must love our comrades, love them so much that we help them rectify their mistakes and be better communists through principled application of criticism and self-criticism. Learn from Grenada.
- Criticism is carried on in a principled way. It is not aimed at ridiculing people but is used to lift up the standard of work of the Organization.
- Criticism points out to the individual, the weaknesses in his area of work.
- in Revolutionary Organisations, anyone or body can be criticised by any other individual or body. In other words, no one is exempt from criticism.
- periods should be set aside in regular meetings for criticisms and self-criticism.
- Self-criticism is also important in that every comrade should criticise himself when he falls short in his work.
In other words, comrades, we the members of the NJM NYO [National Youth Organisation] should at all times maintain in our work, the revolutionary principles of criticism and self-criticism.
Some comrades abuse the principle in that they use it as a way to get at a comrade with whom they might have some personal falling out. This we cannot allow.
Others react to criticism in a petty-bourgeois way in that they do not accept it. They are never willing to accept they are wrong and always tend to see criticism in a personal way.
Comrades, our approach to criticism and self-criticism must be in keeping with the lofty ideals of our Revolutionary organization — NJM NYO. We must in every way seek to ensure that Petty-bourgeois ideas and attitudes do not seep out into our ranks but that our revolutionary working class ideas and attitudes remain of the purest kind.
