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One of the most significant aspects of our current situation, it should be noted, is the “crisis of meaning”. Perspectives on life and the world, often of a scientific temper, have so proliferated that we face an increasing fragmentation of knowledge. This makes the search for meaning difficult and often fruitless. Indeed, still more dramatically, in this maelstrom of data and facts in which we live and which seem to comprise the very fabric of life, many people wonder whether it still makes sense to ask about meaning. The array of theories which vie to give an answer, and the different ways of viewing and of interpreting the world and human life, serve only to aggravate this radical doubt, which can easily lead to scepticism, indifference or to various forms of nihilism. (St. John Paul II, Fides et Ratio [Faith & Reason]), Encyclical (14 September 1998) ¶ 81).
The Catholic Church and the Chinese Communist Party have relatively little in common. What they do appear to have a lot in common is a substantial opposition to nihilism. For the Catholic Church, the focus is on relativism and anomie (Durkheim)-- the dictatorship of relativism («PRO ELIGENDO ROMANO PONTIFICE» , Homily of Joseph Ratzinger, Dean of the College of Cardinals, Vatican Basilica (Monday 18 April 2005) "We are building a dictatorship of relativism that does not recognize
anything as definitive and whose ultimate goal consists solely of one's
own ego and desires. "), and thus of a moral, social, cultural, and perhaps personal suicide.
Chinese Marxist-Leninism travels a similar path bit with both Leninist and Chinese characteristics. While one might best understand an important strand of nihilism in S. John Paul II's Fides et Ratio, and perhaps Durkheim's conception of anomie, one approaches Chinese Leninist notions through the evolving theory of historical nihilism, a theory that has come into its own in the current historical stage of Chinese (ideological) development since the founding of the Chinese Marxist-Leninist state. One gets a sense of that development, and its complexities, in a recently published essay--1949～1989年《人民日报》对历史虚无主义的解析 [Analysis of Historical Nihilism in the People's Daily from 1949 to 1989] authored by Wang Jin, then a PhD candidate at the Central Committee's Party School, and edited by Wen Shifang of the Party History Research Office of the Central Committee Party School, Beijing (本文作者王瑾，博士研究生，中共中央党校中共党史教研部；文世芳，编辑，中共中央党史研究室). The abstract sets the parameters of analysis.
摘要：虚无主义概念传入中国后，演化出几种不同类型，主要有：否定一切、消极颓废的虚无主义；以世界主义面目出现的民族虚无主义；否定民族文化的民族虚无主义。在虚无主义的基础上，1974年历史虚无主义的概念被提出，1979年陈云作为党和国家领导人第一次提出历史虚无主义，1983年有人从如何正确认识党的历史、如何正确评价党的领袖的角度提出邓小平既反对教条主义又反对历史虚无主义，1989年江泽民旗帜鲜明地提出反对历史虚无主义。从概念演化可见，历史虚无主义的意识形态色彩越来越浓，否定党的领导和社会主义制度的政治图谋越来越明显。反对历史虚无主义，必须加强对党的历史的认同，坚定对党的历史的自信，敢于承认问题、批判错误，要坚定“四个自信”，在不断推进中国特色社会主义伟大事业中，科学把握革命与传统的辩证关系，巩固唯物史观的指导地位。[Abstract: After the concept of nihilism was introduced into China, it evolved into several different types, mainly: nihilism that denies everything and is negative and decadent; national nihilism that appears in the form of cosmopolitanism; national nihilism that denies national culture. On the basis of nihilism, the concept of historical nihilism was proposed in 1974. In 1979, Chen Yun, as a leader of the Party and the country, first proposed historical nihilism. In 1983, someone proposed that Deng Xiaoping opposed both dogmatism and historical nihilism from the perspective of how to correctly understand the history of the Party and how to correctly evaluate the leaders of the Party. In 1989, Jiang Zemin clearly proposed to oppose historical nihilism. From the evolution of the concept, it can be seen that the ideological color of historical nihilism is becoming stronger and stronger, and the political plot to deny the leadership of the Party and the socialist system is becoming more and more obvious. To oppose historical nihilism, we must strengthen our recognition of the Party’s history, strengthen our confidence in the Party’s history, dare to admit problems and criticize mistakes, and firmly uphold the “four self-confidences”. In the process of continuously advancing the great cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, we must scientifically grasp the dialectical relationship between revolution and tradition and consolidate the guiding position of historical materialism.]
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Fides et Ratio. . . .
Like much else, the concept of Nihilism is foreign and requires Sinification; it also requires transposition to the cognitive cages of Marxist-Leninism (as it had to the cognitive cages of Catholicism in the 20th century). A distinction is made between "Nihilism that denies everything and is passive and decadent [否定一切、消极颓废的虚无主义]; Nihilism that appears in the form of cosmopolitanism [以世界主义面目出现的民族虚无主义]; and Nihilism that denies an alignment between nation/state and culture [否定民族文化的民族虚无主义]. It is from out of these that the popular (and then ideologically significant notion of historical nihilism emerged in the early 21st century. "Through a systematic review of the People's Daily, it can be found that while criticizing various forms of nihilism, the concept of historical nihilism has gradually emerged, and its connotation has gradually approached the specific concept of current historical nihilism." [通过对《人民日报》的系统梳理可以发现，在对形形色色的虚无主义进行批判的同时，历史虚无主义的概念逐渐出笼，其内涵逐步接近当前历史虚无主义的特定概念。]. This development is traced from the late 1950s.
The authors suggest that part of the problem, and one that confounded during the Cultural Revolution, was the relationship between revolution and tradition--that is at the heart of the difficulties of historical nihilism, and especially so in China's new era. Reconciling both overcomes the dangers of historical nihilism "Therefore, to oppose historical nihilism, we must strengthen our recognition of the party's history, strengthen our confidence in the party's history, dare to admit problems and dare to criticize mistakes. The most fundamental thing is to strengthen the "four confidences" and scientifically grasp the dialectical relationship between revolution and tradition in the continuous advancement of the great cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and consolidate the guiding position of historical materialism." [因此，反对历史虚无主义，必须加强对党的历史的认同，坚定对党的历史的自信，敢于承认问题、敢于批判错误，最根本的是要坚定“四个自信”，在不断推进中国特色社会主义伟大事业中，科学把握革命与传统的辩证关系，巩固唯物史观的指导地位。]
Ultimately, the problem of historical nihilism is at its core, the problem of history, in the way that mimics the problem of nihilism in Catholic thinking, which is that of the problem of "relativism". In both cases the foundation must be grounded in the embrace of a firm structure of meaning--and to invest that meaning with a faith in its certainties. That is the necessary antidote to Durkheim's anomie or more radically of Nietzsche's radical critique of fixity in meaning or value (as opposed to the non-existence of meaning; and yet one might also note that Nietzsche did not reject meaning, or even the embrace of a meaning universe, only that its exogenous fixity was rejected). Fixity, in this sense, references the idea that something is unalterable, and as unalterable can serve as solid basis for the rationalization of the world around us, derive principles and ordering premises, objectives, and build authoritative structures of social collectives in politics, religion, morals, etc. A faith in the fixity of a core object provides the basis for the rationalization of the collective order and a means for understanding its relation to everything else.
And thus the problem of history and its contradiction in the concept of nihilism, as naturalized within Chinese Marxist-Leninism. That is, that the problem of nihilism is the problem of fixity, and that the problem of history is the corruption of the concept that history is itself not fixed.
The problem of history has never been limited to history, and the problem of culture has never been limited to culture. As a political trend of thought, historical nihilism is a reflection of objective existence, reflecting the value conflicts and social contradictions in social development. The motives of those who advocate historical nihilism vary greatly. Hostile forces at home and abroad want to discredit the party's history, damage the party's image, and erode the party's ruling foundation. There are also some people who are dissatisfied with reality and use history to make things; some have different views and pursuits on academic issues; some are sensational to increase the so-called "popularity" and seek economic benefits; some are attracted and misled by unconventional ideas and viewpoints because of their lack of historical knowledge and lack of independent cognitive judgment ability, and follow the crowd at will. These problems boil down to the lack of correct understanding and necessary confidence in the path, theory, system and culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics. [ 历史的问题从来都不止于历史，文化的问题从来都不止于文化。历史虚无主义作为一种政治思潮，是对客观存在的反映，折射出社会发展中存在的价值冲突、社会矛盾等问题。主张历史虚无主义的人动机千差万别。国内外敌对势力是要抹黑党的历史，损害党的形象，侵蚀党的执政根基。还有一些人，有的是对现实不满，借历史说事；有的是对学术问题有不同看法、不同追求；有的是为增加所谓“知名度”和谋取经济利益，哗众取宠；有的是因为历史知识匮乏，又没有独立认知判断能力，被标新立异的思想观点吸引和误导，人云亦云，随意跟风。这些问题归结起来就是对中国特色社会主义道路、理论、]
Nihilism can be overcome by history; history is fixed; history is fixed because of its facticity; that facticity reveals the fact of historical development; the fact of historical development reveals in history the correctness of a faith in Marxism and its dialectics with and as historical historical facticity. And at the heart of this is the dialectics of revolution and history--from historical nihilism to the dialectical revolution of history or historical revolution as a necessary dialectics. "Nihilism that denies everything and is passive and decadent
[否定一切、消极颓废的虚无主义]; Nihilism that appears in the form of cosmopolitanism
[以世界主义面目出现的民族虚无主义]; and Nihilism that denies an alignment between
nation/state and culture [否定民族文化的民族虚无主义] all deny the fundamental fixity of history (the way that relativism might deny the historical truth of Jesus) and in that fundamental sense undermine the foundations of an undeniable stability within which a radical critique of the solid is impossible--or at least within which it is possible to build strong stable conceptual cages. The latter might be the way Nietzsche might have characterized it--not that either is wrong, but that both build stable self referencing structures within which human communities might operate.
摘要：虚无主义概念传入中国后，演化出几种不同类型，主要有：否定一切、消极颓废的虚无主义；以世界主义面目出现的民族虚无主义；否定民族文化的民族虚无主义。在虚无主义的基础上，1974年历史虚无主义的概念被提出，1979年陈云作为党和国家领导人第一次提出历史虚无主义，1983年有人从如何正确认识党的历史、如何正确评价党的领袖的角度提出邓小平既反对教条主义又反对历史虚无主义，1989年江泽民旗帜鲜明地提出反对历史虚无主义。从概念演化可见，历史虚无主义的意识形态色彩越来越浓，否定党的领导和社会主义制度的政治图谋越来越明显。反对历史虚无主义，必须加强对党的历史的认同，坚定对党的历史的自信，敢于承认问题、批判错误，要坚定“四个自信”，在不断推进中国特色社会主义伟大事业中，科学把握革命与传统的辩证关系，巩固唯物史观的指导地位。
关键词：虚无主义 革命 传统 《人民日报》
虚无主义作为外来词汇，传入中国已久。在如何对待历史问题上，20世纪二三十年代中国社会进行了讨论，一种对历史采取虚无态度的思想随之出现。历史虚无主义违背唯物主义的基本观点，中国共产党始终对其采取批判的态度，但因虚无主义概念存在模糊性、复杂性，不同历史阶段对历史虚无主义的界定并不一致，因此论争重点也随着历史条件改变而不断演化。《人民日报》作为中共中央机关报，对历史虚无主义的阐释、讨论和批驳，基本反映出中国共产党对历史虚无主义的态度，实质上也体现出党坚持用唯物史观来认识和记述历史的思想脉络。
本文拟以1949～1989年《人民日报》对历史虚无主义的态度来梳理中国共产党执掌全国政权后是如何在革命与传统、继承与发展中实现辩证的扬弃，巩固唯物史观的指导地位，并力图在总结历史经验的基础上为当前旗帜鲜明地反对历史虚无主义思潮提供历史借鉴。
一、虚无主义的原意、类型与表现
要了解历史虚无主义，必须先厘清虚无主义。虚无主义是一个舶来品，概念模糊且衍生出各种不同类型。在《人民日报》刊发的文章中，有虚无主义、民族虚无主义、法律虚无主义等种种用法，概括起来，其主要含义可以归纳为以下三种。
(一)否定一切、消极颓废的虚无主义
虚无主义一词最早出现于屠格涅夫的小说《父与子》里，小说的主人公巴扎罗夫代表了19世纪五六十年代俄国社会上出现的新人物——革命的平民知识分子的某些典型特征：正直、热情、鄙视反动统治阶级、否定一切旧事物，巴扎罗夫因而被称为“虚无主义者”。后来，虚无主义被引申为否定一切、消极颓废的态度。【《虚无主义》，《教学参考》 1979年第1期。】这一原意在新中国成立后的各个历史时期都被使用过。在1957年反右派运动中，怀疑一切、不满一切、否定一切和消极颓废的虚无主义思想成为冯雪峰、丁玲等人的主要“罪状”之一。【罗毅：《任何力量都不能使我国青年同共产党和社会主义分离开》，《人民日报》1957年7月16日；邵荃麟：《文艺上两条路线的大斗争》，《人民日报》1957年9月7日。】有人认为：“在鲁迅那些杂文和小说里面也还保留有进化论的残余，甚至虚无主义的色彩”【邵荃麟：《“五四”文学的发展道路》，《人民日报》1959年5月4日。】。1961年《人民日报》批评日本的《谢天谢地》小调，“包含着一种虚无主义、自暴自弃的情绪”【江奇：《绝望的呻吟和狂嚎》，《人民日报》1961年5月14日。】。
在哲学问题上的相对主义和不可知论也往往被冠以虚无主义的称号。在关锋、冯友兰等论及庄老之学时都用了虚无主义一词。关锋认为庄子的相对主义把对立面的相互转化看成绝对的无条件的，“这样就走到了相对主义和虚无主义”。【关锋：《关于庄子的相对主义》，《人民日报》1960年12月2日。】杨岭认为如果不承认“动中有静”，“那就会陷入不可知论和虚无主义的泥坑”。【杨岭：《动中有静》，《人民日报》1960年12月30日。】冯友兰认为老子所说的“道”是“有”和“无”的统一，可是庄子所说的“全”不包括“有”，甚至也不包括“无”，“由这个‘全’庄子达到了彻底的虚无主义”。【冯友兰：《论庄子》，《人民日报》1961年2月26日。】
无视法律，否定法律的重要性，则被称之为“法律虚无主义”。1955年，有人在介绍维辛斯基的法律思想时指出，维辛斯基针对法律虚无主义的谬论，系统地阐明了马克思列宁主义关于国家和法的基本理论，特别是关于国家消亡问题的理论。【张尚鷟：《介绍维辛斯基的“国家和法的理论问题”》，《人民日报》1955年12月8日。】1957年，在中国政治法律学会召开的座谈会上，有人对一部分领导干部的法律虚无主义思想提出批评，认为他们“忽视宪法，认为以党代政是当然的，党的命令高于法令，党员个人的言语自认是‘金科玉律’。这都是违反法制的”【《法学界人士在中国政治法律学会召开的座谈会上提出对我国法律制度的意见》，《人民日报》 1957年5月29日。】。后来，直至“文化大革命”，鲜有人再对法律虚无主义进行批判。“文化大革命”结束后，在对历史的反思中，制度和法制建设受到社会各界的重视，1978～1980年，《人民日报》发表了大量批驳法律虚无主义的文章。
(二)以世界主义面目出现的民族虚无主义
新中国成立初期，《人民日报》在确立社会主义的国际和民族关系理念时，对民族虚无主义进行了批判。这种批判主要反映出社会主义和资本主义两种制度之间意识形态的斗争：一方面将资本主义的世界主义与民族虚无主义进行批判，另一方面则将社会主义的国际主义和民族主义相结合。当时苏联等社会主义国家，首先是“破”资本主义的世界主义与民族虚无主义，这种情况在《人民日报》上有充分体现。1949年7月，《人民日报》刊登了4月7日苏联《真理报》批判世界主义的文章，文中提出：“在这个斗争里，马列主义理论是强大的精神武器，它经常揭穿民族主义沙文主义，以及民族的虚无主义和资产阶级的世界主义。”【君强译、曹汀校：《世界主义美国反动派的思想武器》，《人民日报》1949年7月29日。】9月，《人民日报》发文指出：“在对被压迫民族进行最残酷剥削的政策中，在帝国主义资产阶级的扩张主义的侵略当中，隐藏着宣扬民族虚无主义的资产阶级世界主义的泉源”。【〔苏〕切尔诺夫著、周南节译、曹汀校：《资产阶级的世界主义及其反动作用》，《人民日报》 1949年9月30日。】1950年，《人民日报》继续批判资本主义的世界主义，指出：“世界主义的思想认为民族主义的观念是陈腐的，它提倡人们对祖国漠不关心，提倡民族虚无主义，并认为民族与国家独立的观念本身就是虚构”；【《〈争取持久和平，争取人民民主〉中文版第五十五期介绍》，《人民日报》 1950年9月27日。】“民族虚无主义和世界主义是资产阶级的、帝国主义的观念，它跟那领导着劳动大众，作为人民利益的代表和民族独立的忠实保卫者的无产阶级，是完全无关的，是他们所不能容忍的”【长冬：《介绍〈论苏联的爱国主义〉(群众书店出版)》，《人民日报》1950年12月13日。】。
(三)否定民族文化的民族虚无主义
《人民日报》对虚无主义的批驳，大部分是针对不重视民族文化传承的问题，实质上批判的是民族虚无主义，涉及面很广，包括传统文学、国画、戏曲、书法、文物、中医等方面。
在如何认识民族文化问题上，反对民族虚无主义和崇洋媚外，强调民族文化自信、自尊。1954年，有人在批判俞平伯的红楼梦研究时指出：“对祖国优秀的文化遗产持虚无主义的否定态度，这正是‘五四’以后洋场绅士的本色。从这种反动的虚无主义的否定论出发，必然会引导到丧失民族自信心。”【李希凡、蓝翎：《走什么样的路？——再评俞平伯先生关于“红楼梦”研究的错误观点》，《人民日报》1954年10月24日。】虽然这种批判超出了学术范畴，但揭示出新中国成立后与“五四”时期对待传统的不同态度，以及对民族文化的态度关系到民族自信心的实质。在对胡适、胡风等人的批判中，有人指出：“胡适是帝国主义奴化思想的传播者。他在许多文章里散布民族自卑感，散布亲美崇美思想……对于自己祖国的文化遗产，他却抱着虚无主义的否定态度”；【王若水：《清除胡适的反动哲学遗毒—兼评俞平伯研究红楼梦的错误观点和方法》，《人民日报》1954年11月5日。】“在文艺问题上，胡适与胡风之间，有一点是完全共鸣的，这就是对于民族文艺遗产的虚无主义的态度。”【茅盾：《必须彻底地全面地展开对胡风文艺思想的批判》，《人民日报》1955年3月8日。】“文化大革命”期间，对民族虚无主义和崇洋媚外思想的批判更为猛烈。在批判“全盘西化的洋奴哲学”时，认为对“洋奴思想”不能掉以轻心，否则会使人盲目崇拜外国资产阶级文化，对民族文化则采取虚无主义态度；只有批判民族虚无主义，才能提高民族自尊心。【《贯彻“古为今用，洋为中用”的方针》，《人民日报》 1969年10月18日；初澜：《应当重视这场讨论》，《人民日报》1974年1月14日；朝华：《无标题音乐没有阶级性吗？》，《人民日报》1974年1月14日。】
在如何对待民族文化问题上，反对民族虚无主义和复古主义两种极端倾向，强调批判地继承。1956年，“双百”方针提出后，如何正确对待民族文化成为学术界讨论的重要内容。在中共八大上，林枫强调必须利用中华民族丰富的文化遗产为社会主义建设服务，“对民族文化遗产采取轻视甚至一概抹煞的态度是错误的。这种民族虚无主义的态度是今天在对待民族文化遗产问题上的主要偏向”。【林枫：《关于我们国家培养建设人材的问题》，《人民日报》1956年9月29日。】还有人明确提出：“一方面，要反对民族虚无主义；一方面，也要反对封建复古主义。”【朱伯昆：《我们在中国哲学史研究中所遇到的一些问题》，《人民日报》1956年10月14日。】1956年底，《人民日报》发表社论《致文化工作者》，倡导中国文化艺术工作者全力以赴，在为建设社会主义服务的前提下，发展民族的文化艺术，指出：“现在轻视我们民族的优秀的、丰富的文化遗产的虚无主义倾向仍然很严重，而这种倾向是创造社会主义的民族的新文化的大敌”，并提出了创造社会主义新文化必须处理好与民族传统文化的关系这一根本问题。【《致文化工作者》，《人民日报》1956年12月28日。】
新中国成立后，中华民族以全新的姿态屹立于世界东方。如何对待民族文化是新中国成立伊始就面临的问题，对民族虚无主义的批驳也是贯穿始终的一个议题。要调动人民的积极性和热情建立一个繁荣富强的新中国，需要弘扬革命的乐观主义和大无畏的革命英雄主义精神，以人民的磅礴之力迅速恢复和发展生产，巩固新生政权，实现民族振兴。虚无主义原意中的消极、颓废思想，与新政权所肩负的历史使命和广大人民群众建设新家园的精神状态格格不入，因此需要对虚无主义进行批判。
二、历史虚无主义概念的提出与演化
在学界的叙述中，往往将历史虚无主义当作新近诞生的名词。笔者曾以中国知网数据为主要考察对象，对历史虚无主义的提出与演化做了初步梳理，将学术界对历史虚无主义论争分为1956～1988年、1989～1999年、2000年至今三个阶段，并认为新世纪出现了2000年、2005年、2013年至今三次高潮。【文世芳、王瑾：《历史虚无主义论争演变及启示》，《中国社会科学报》2015年9月25日；文世芳、王瑾：《新世纪历史虚无主义的论争及启示》，《中共云南省委党校学报》2015年第6期。】但是，因关于历史虚无主义问题的很多重要文章都是在《人民日报》刊发的，并未被中国知网收录，不利于对历史虚无主义问题进行溯源。通过对《人民日报》的系统梳理可以发现，在对形形色色的虚无主义进行批判的同时，历史虚无主义的概念逐渐出笼，其内涵逐步接近当前历史虚无主义的特定概念。
(一)历史虚无主义概念的完整提出
1958年，关锋在讨论过去与将来的关系时指出：“共产党人是历史唯物主义者，是坚决反对工作中和科学研究中的割断历史的非历史主义和虚无主义的”。【关锋：《谈“过去”和“将来”》，《人民日报》1958年3月20日。】1964年，柯庆施在关于繁荣社会主义戏剧的讲话中，认为对中外文学艺术的优秀遗产都要继承，对继承应该持有正确的态度，“我们既不是历史的虚无主义者，也不膜拜于遗产，而是对遗产采取批判地继承的态度”【柯庆施：《大力发展和繁荣社会主义戏剧，更好地为社会主义的经济基础服务(在一九六三年底到一九六四年初华东地区话剧观摩演出会上的讲话，发表时作了若干修改补充)》，《人民日报》1964年8月16日。】。1974年，在批林批孔运动中历史虚无主义被完整地提出来。有人指出：“我们要用马克思主义这个锐利武器，对整个民族文化遗产作历史的、阶级的分析，剔除其封建性的糟粕，吸收其民主性的精华。既要反对全盘否定的历史虚无主义，又要反对无批判的兼收并蓄。运用对立统一规律研究历史，要透过历史现象，总结阶级斗争中带有规律性的东西，特别要总结历史上复辟与反复辟的经验教训，帮助我们提高无产阶级专政下继续革命的自觉性”。【哲刚：《进一步提高批林批孔的自觉性——学习〈关于正确处理人民内部矛盾的问题〉的体会》，《人民日报》1974年11月29日。】根据笔者所掌握的材料，这是最早提出的完整的历史虚无主义概念。这里的“历史的虚无主义”和“历史虚无主义”都是指对民族文化遗产否定的态度。但是历史虚无主义概念提出后，当时并未引起重视，其他文章也未再继续使用这一词语，直到“文化大革命”结束，在揭批和清算“四人帮”的错误时，历史虚无主义才再一次被提出，并被广泛使用。
(二)对否认民族文化传统的历史虚无主义进行批判
在批判“四人帮”对民族文化遗产的“彻底扫荡论”时，有人将其定性为“形而上学和历史虚无主义”。文章认为，“四人帮”把文化遗产一概说成是“剥削阶级政治愿望和思想感情的反映”，是为“剥削阶级服务的”，“不仅一笔抹煞了优秀的人民文化的历史进步作用，而且把剥削阶级上升时期和没落时期混淆起来，从根本上歪曲了马克思主义的辩证唯物主义和历史唯物主义，是一种不折不扣的形而上学和历史虚无主义”，并且指出：“这种虚无主义并不是什么新鲜玩艺儿，外国有过，中国也有过”，“四人帮”不过拾人牙慧，用马克思主义词句略加粉饰而已。【袁震宇：《古为今用，还是古为“帮”用？——比判“四人帮”对待文化遗产的修正主义谬论》，《人民日报》1977年7月14日。】
有人则将“四人帮”在文化领域的倒行逆施批判为“一套不折不扣的文化专制主义、历史虚无主义和主观唯心主义”，指出“四人帮”在“大破封资修的旧文化”、“创造新的无产阶级的阶级文化”的幌子下，割断历史，打倒一切，否定一切，这些做法是“虚无主义态度，与马克思主义毫无共同之处”。【谷山：《列宁对“无产阶级文化派”的批判》，《人民日报》1977年9月1日。】
后来，在真理标准问题的讨论中，如何认识文艺的传统、如何看待文化遗产也成为重要的内容。茅盾指出：“文艺作品在其公之于世的历史阶段，既然发生过巨大的教育作用，那么，作为这一历史阶段的上层建筑的组成部分，它就有其历史价值，就会被人所欣赏喜爱，不承认这一点，那就是历史虚无主义而不是历史唯物主义了。”【茅盾：《作家如何理解实践是检验真理的唯一标准》，《人民日报》1978年12月5日。】改革开放初期，虽然依旧带有“文化大革命”时期语言的印迹，但是理论界已将历史虚无主义作为历史唯物主义的对立面进行学术上的批判。
1979年1月，停刊十多年的《曲艺》复刊，在第一期开设了“陈云同志谈评弹工作”栏目，刊发了《陈云同志对当前评弹工作的几点意见》、《陈云同志给吴宗锡同志的信》等。在给吴宗锡的信中，陈云着重阐述了说新书和说传统书的辩证关系，指出“闭目不理有几百年历史的传统书，是一种历史虚无主义”【《在〈曲艺〉杂志复刊第一期上发表陈云同志对评弹工作的意见》，《人民日报》1979年1月15日。】。就目前材料所见，这是党和国家领导人第一次提到完整的历史虚无主义概念。不过，这时候的历史虚无主义依然是针对传统文化的否定态度而言的。此后，历史虚无主义一词的使用较为宽泛，如1982年11月，在纪念郭沫若诞辰90周年时，侯外庐提出郭沫若尊重历史的发展，用科学标准去评价历史和历史人物，“既要反对复古主义，又要反对历史虚无主义”；【侯外庐：《“只顾攀登莫问高”——纪念郭沫若同志诞辰九十周年》，《人民日报》1982年11月29日。】1983年，有人指出：“我们不是历史虚无主义者，不应该对文化遗产采取全盘否定的态度，而应该采取批判继承的态度。”【布路：《历史偏见应予抛弃》，《人民日报》1983年5月11日。】
(三)当前意义上历史虚无主义概念的提出
“文化大革命”结束后，要解放思想、实事求是，就不能不涉及毛泽东晚年所犯错误，当时全党和全国人民都很关注这个极其敏感而又非常棘手的问题。一方面，不纠正毛泽东晚年错误，就迈不开新的步伐；另一方面，不科学评价毛泽东的历史地位，就会引起思想混乱，影响安定团结的局面。当时，党内外有两种思想倾向：一种是受“两个凡是”的影响很深，认为批评毛泽东的缺点错误，就是“砍旗”、“丢刀子”；一种是因为毛泽东晚年犯了错误，就想全盘否认毛泽东的历史地位，否认毛泽东思想的科学价值和指导作用。为了统一思想，有必要对历史问题做一权威总结。在《关于建国以来党的若干历史问题的决议》起草过程中，邓小平确定了科学评价毛泽东和毛泽东思想的基本原则。李德生高度赞扬邓小平科学评价毛泽东和毛泽东思想的贡献，认为邓小平坚持了两条战线作战，“一方面同教条主义作斗争，一方面同历史虚无主义作斗争”【李德生：《伟大的转变卓越的贡献——学习〈邓小平文选〉》，《人民日报》1983年7月4日。】。这也是当时党内不少人的想法。项南也明确指出，邓小平“排除了不加分析的全盘肯定的教条主义干扰，又严厉驳斥了完全否定历史的虚无主义态度”，“运用历史唯物主义的观点，对一位无产阶级革命领袖进行实事求是的评价，对这样一个十分重大而敏感的问题，作出了圆满的处理，这在国际共运史上，是少见的范例”。【项南：《敢于实事求是——在〈邓小平文选〉学习讨论会上的发言》，《人民日报》1983年9月12日。】如果说之前的历史虚无主义主要针对民族传统文化的态度，那么这里提出的“历史虚无主义”、“历史的虚无主义”则带有明显的意识形态色彩，与当前历史虚无主义的实质基本一致，主要特指对党的历史、党的领袖的不公正、不客观、不科学的态度。笔者认为，就目前材料所见，这是最早与当前历史虚无主义概念实质基本一致的提法。
但是在此之后，历史虚无主义仍主要针对对待历史文化传统的不正确态度。直到1986年底，历史虚无主义问题的意识形态化倾向才凸显出来。随着改革开放的推进，中国与世界的交流越来越密切，西方各种信息通过不同渠道涌入中国，在如何看待中国与西方发达资本主义国家的差距，如何看待中国社会主义建设中的挫折和成就，如何看待民族文化和外来文化等问题上，出现了一些错误思想，在思想领域造成了一些混乱。针对这一情况，1986年全国对外宣传工作会议指出：我国对外宣传一定要实事求是，对成绩和缺点要有正确估计，既不要过度美化，也不要妄自菲薄。会议特别强调：“要防止另一种倾向，即有的人搞历史虚无主义和民族虚无主义，把我们自己说得一钱不值。说我们一切都好，完美无缺，这不实事求是；说我们一切都不行，这更不实事求是”【徐学江：《胡启立在全国对外宣传工作会议上强调我国对外宣传一定要实事求是对成绩和缺点要有正确估计，要大力改进文风》，《人民日报》1986年12月4日。】。这里将历史虚无主义和民族虚无主义做了明确的区分。1987年3月29日，中共中央发出《关于坚决妥善地做好报纸刊物整顿工作的通知》，强调对六个方面进行重点整顿，第二个方面就是：“思想政治方向不端正，背离四项基本原则，宣传和支持资产阶级自由化观点，宣传极端个人主义、民族虚无主义、反爱国主义，妨碍民族团结，违反外事纪律，而地位重要、影响较广的报刊。”【《十二大以来重要文献选编》下，中央文献出版社2011年版，第276页。】笔者认为，就目前材料所见，这应该是中共中央文件中最早明确提出反对民族虚无主义的规定。
1989年是国际共产主义运动“大气候”和中国国内“小气候”发生巨大变化的一年。东欧剧变使国际共产主义运动遭到巨大挫折，中国国内发生的政治风波也严重冲击着人们的思想，国际国内敌对势力借机掀起一股反社会主义、共产主义运动的潮流。在政治风波平息之后，中共中央领导一再强调反对民族虚无主义、历史虚无主义。1989年9月，江泽民强调：“任何割断历史，采取虚无主义的态度，借口‘改革’而否定党的优良传统的做法，都是错误的”。【《江泽民思想年编(1989～2008)》，中央文献出版社2010年版，第8页。】在庆祝中华人民共和国成立40周年大会的讲话中，他再次指出：“要特别注意反对那种全盘否定中国传统文化的民族虚无主义和崇洋媚外思想”。【《十三大以来重要文献选编》中，人民出版社2011年版，第75页。】12月29日，江泽民在党建理论研究班上发表讲话时提出：“一个时期以来，资产阶级自由化思潮的泛滥，资产阶级的‘民主’、‘自由’、‘人权’口号的蛊惑，利己主义、拜金主义、民族虚无主义和历史虚无主义的滋长，严重侵蚀党的肌体，把党内一些人的思想搞得相当混乱”。【《十三大以来重要文献选编》中，人民出版社2011年版，第75页。】这是中共中央总书记第一次明确反对历史虚无主义，并认为它割断历史，借口“改革”否定党的优良传统，“严重侵蚀党的肌体”，将其对党和国家的危害性阐释得十分清楚。
通过对《人民日报》的系统梳理发现，历史虚无主义概念演化的脉络已然清楚：1974年提出完整的历史虚无主义概念；1977年“四人帮”的“文化扫荡论”被批判为历史虚无主义；1979年陈云作为党和国家领导人第一次提出历史虚无主义；1983年李德生等从如何正确认识党的历史、如何正确评价党的领袖的角度提出了邓小平既反教条主义又反对历史虚无主义；1986年有人从民族自信角度提出反对历史虚无主义；1989年江泽民旗帜鲜明地提出反对历史虚无主义。从概念演化可以发现，历史虚无主义主要经历了由虚无民族传统文化到虚无党的领袖、虚无历史和文化的过程，意识形态色彩越来越浓，否定党的领导和社会主义制度的政治图谋也越来越明显。
三、科学把握革命与传统的辩证关系，巩固唯物史观的指导地位
通过对1949～1989年《人民日报》关于虚无主义和历史虚无主义的梳理和剖析，可以发现中国共产党自始至终反对历史虚无主义，之所以出现在历史问题上的失误，甚至出现“文化大革命”中虚无主义被滥用的现象，除了其概念本身的模糊性外，一个关键问题是因“左”的思想影响在处理革命与传统关系上出现了偏差。处理好革命与传统的关系，需要充分自信，自信才能从容、理性。因此，反对历史虚无主义，必须加强对党的历史的认同，坚定对党的历史的自信，敢于承认问题、敢于批判错误，最根本的是要坚定“四个自信”，在不断推进中国特色社会主义伟大事业中，科学把握革命与传统的辩证关系，巩固唯物史观的指导地位。
(一)坚持用事实说话，增强对党的历史的认同
从历史虚无主义的演化来看，新中国成立以后在历史领域经历的曲折，主要是在处理革命与传统关系上曾出现偏差，当缺少对民族文化、民族历史坚定的自信，在“左”的思想影响下，民族文化虚无主义、民族历史虚无主义就有了生存发展的空间。
当前意义上的历史虚无主义是一种政治思潮，是一种对社会主义制度和党的领导存有异见、具有明显政治诉求的不良思潮，主要是对中国革命史、新中国成立后的社会主义革命和建设史以及改革开放史存有错误态度，以中国革命、建设和改革中的失误，甚至以捏造出的一些“错误”为根据，得出一些迷惑性、危害性很大的结论。习近平总书记深刻意识到这种逻辑背后的意蕴和险恶用心，旗帜鲜明地指出：“中国共产党人是马克思主义者，坚持马克思主义的科学学说，坚持和发展中国特色社会主义，但中国共产党人不是历史虚无主义者，也不是文化虚无主义者”，“在带领中国人民进行革命、建设、改革的长期历史实践中，中国共产党人始终是中国优秀传统文化的忠实继承者和弘扬者。”【习近平：《在纪念孔子诞辰2565周年国际学术研讨会暨国际儒学联合会第五届会员大会开幕会上的讲话》，《人民日报》2014年9月25日。】
从对党的文献和《人民日报》的梳理来看，中国共产党始终坚持反对历史虚无主义。我们必须具有这种坚定的历史自信。从《人民日报》对形形色色的虚无主义和历史虚无主义的态度来看，中国共产党自始至终都对虚无主义加以批判，将历史虚无主义当作马克思主义历史观的对立面进行否定。毛泽东曾明确提出：“所谓‘全盘西化’的主张，乃是一种错误的观点。形式主义地吸收外国的东西，在中国过去是吃过大亏的。”【《毛泽东选集》第2卷，人民出版社1991年版，第707页。】《在延安文艺座谈会上的讲话》中他进一步指出：“要破坏那些封建的、资产阶级的、小资产阶级的、自由主义的、个人主义的、虚无主义的、为艺术而艺术的、贵族式的、颓废的、悲观的以及其他种种非人民大众非无产阶级的创作情绪”，【《毛泽东选集》第3卷，人民出版社1991年版，第874页。】即明确表示要将虚无主义加以批判。在研究中国历史的根本立场上，毛泽东指出：“我们这个民族有数千年的历史，有它的特点，有它的许多珍贵品。对于这些，我们还是小学生。今天的中国是历史的中国的一个发展；我们是马克思主义的历史主义者，我们不应当割断历史。从孔夫子到孙中山，我们应当给以总结，承继这一份珍贵的遗产。这对于指导当前的伟大的运动，是有重要的帮助的。”【《毛泽东选集》第2卷，人民出版社1991年版，第707页。】这里，即明确表示中国共产党人是马克思主义者，也是历史主义者，与历史虚无主义是不相容的。1956年，陆定一也指出：“我们要有民族自尊心，我们决不能做民族虚无主义者。我们反对所谓‘全盘西化’的错误主张。但这决不是说我们应该自大，拒绝学习外国的好东西。我国还是一个很落后的国家，我们要花很大的努力向外国学习许多东西，我们的国家才能富强。民族自大，无论在什么情况下都是不对的”，【陆定一：《百花齐放，百家争鸣——一九五六年五月二十六日在怀仁堂的讲话》，《人民日报》1956年6月13日。】旗帜鲜明地表示要反对历史虚无主义和“全盘西化”两种极端倾向。
最为根本的是，实践发展赋予了我们对党的历史、民族文化自信的底气。新中国成立后短短几十年的时间，中国共产党领导人民群众实现了从“站起来”到“富起来”到“强起来”的历史递进发展，因此，习近平总书记自信地表示：“当今世界，要说哪个政党、哪个国家、哪个民族能够自信的话，那中国共产党、中华人民共和国、中华民族是最有理由自信的”。【习近平：《在庆祝中国共产党成立95周年大会上的讲话》，《人民日报》2016年7月2日。】新中国成立后，五千多年文明发展中孕育的中华优秀传统文化得到了继承与发展，在党和人民实践斗争中孕育的革命文化和社会主义先进文化也展现出强大生命力与优越性。中华优秀传统文化、革命文化和社会主义先进文化经受住了经济社会转型、市场经济条件、全球化浪潮的重大考验，展现出前所未有的生命力，批驳了“中华文明是农耕文明”、“不能适应工业文明、不能适应市场经济，在全球化浪潮中会遭遇挫折”等主观臆断。
(二)坚定对党的历史的自信，敢于承认问题、敢于批判错误
既然历史虚无主义者拿党史国史中的曲折和失误做文章，以支流否定主流、个别否定整体、问题否定成就，那么我们一方面要弘扬主旋律、传播正能量，大力宣传主流、整体和成就，另一方面也不能无视问题、回避矛盾。总之，只有敢于承认问题，才能敢于批判错误；要一手抓科学总结历史经验教训，一手抓批判错误思想倾向。对党的历史具有坚定的自信，才能成熟、理性、从容、辩证地处理好历史问题，具体而言，就是在意识形态斗争中警惕“左”、右两种倾向，既旗帜鲜明地反对历史虚无主义，又要注意区分思想认识问题、学术方法问题与政治问题的界限。
历史虚无主义者常以此发难——既然中国共产党坚定地反对历史虚无主义，那么如何解释历史上曾错误地将学术问题不恰当地泛化为政治问题，“文化大革命”中将很多文化传统批判为“封、资、修”，发生“破四旧”这样的运动？实际上，这是两个不同层面的问题，并不相互矛盾。党坚定地反对历史虚无主义，并非说在处理历史问题上没有失误和错误。但是，这些失误和错误是在特定的历史环境下发生的，具有复杂的历史因素，历史当事人的认识和行动也受到时代条件的局限，所以不能简单地以今天的认识水平审判历史，苛责前人。正如习近平总书记所指出的：“我们党对自己包括领袖人物的失误和错误历来采取郑重的态度，一是敢于承认，二是正确分析，三是坚决纠正，从而使失误和错误连同党的成功经验一起成为宝贵的历史教材。”【《十八大以来重要文献选编》上，中央文献出版社2014年版，第694页。】在承认问题的基础上，深刻总结历史教训，将思想统一到如何避免错误，如何促进中华文明、社会主义文化的繁荣昌盛上来，这才是应该有的科学、理性的态度，才能通过总结历史开辟未来。
深入总结历史经验教训可以发现，1949～1989年，《人民日报》对虚无主义和历史虚无主义进行了五次集中批判，分别是20世纪50年代初期对胡适、胡风、俞平伯等人的批判；1957年反右派运动中对丁玲、冯雪峰、艾青等人的批判；“文化大革命”中对吴晗、翦伯赞等历史学家的批判；“文化大革命”后对“四人帮”的批判和对流毒的清理；1989年对非马克思主义者否定民族文化、否定党和国家历史的批判。前三次因历史局限，将学术问题上升为政治问题，出现了虚无主义被滥用的现象；后两次则将被颠倒了的历史又纠正过来，拨乱反正，并不断推进社会主义事业向前发展。为什么前三次出现这种现象，正如邓小平所指出的：“有右的东西影响我们，也有‘左’的东西影响我们，但根深蒂固的还是‘左’的东西”，“‘左’带有革命的色彩，好像越‘左’越革命。‘左’的东西在我们党的历史上可怕呀！一个好好的东西，一下子被他搞掉了。”【《邓小平文选》第3卷，人民出版社1993年版，第375页。】他还强调：“要批判‘左’的错误思想，也要批判右的错误思想”。【《邓小平文选》第2卷，人民出版社1994年版，第379页。】如果两种极端走向泛滥，必然影响目前辩证、科学地处理革命和传统关系的良好形势，也必然影响中华文明、中华民族复兴的大好势头。
(三)坚定“四个自信”，巩固唯物史观的指导地位
历史虚无主义几经批判而不息，意识形态领域的斗争和不同政治诉求的推波助澜是主因，深刻的历史文化和时代背景也不容忽视。近代以来，由于封建制度的腐朽没落，中华民族的发展和中华文明遭受到前所未有的挑战。广大先进分子为了探求民族复兴的真理进行了各种尝试，从学习器物到学习制度，从学习制度到学习文化。在这一历史过程中，中国人经历了犹豫、徘徊、彷徨、痛苦和失望，一些人甚至认为中华传统文化不适应现代工业社会，不能引领中国走向现代化。中国共产党成立后，领导人民实现了新民主主义革命的胜利，一种新的历史文化自信渐次产生，正如毛泽东所说：“自从中国人学会了马克思列宁主义以后，中国人在精神上就由被动转入主动。从这时起，近代世界历史上那种看不起中国人，看不起中国文化的时代应当完结了。伟大的胜利的中国人民解放战争和人民大革命，已经复兴了并正在复兴着伟大的中国人民的文化。”【《毛泽东选集》第4卷，人民出版社1991年版，第1516页。】
进入改革开放和社会主义现代化建设新时期，中国主动走向世界，对外开放，经济社会快速发展起来。时代的发展提出了新的历史文化命题：构建起市场经济条件下的、全球化浪潮中的、多元文化激烈碰撞下的新的民族历史文化自信。新的历史文化自信，主要是指对中华传统文化、革命文化和社会主义先进文化的自信。中华传统文化和革命文化已经过长时段的考验，但依然需要在新的经济社会环境中不断适应和促进时代的发展。社会主义先进文化，在几十年的社会主义革命和建设实践中已充分展示出巨大的活力和优越性，但是其得到巩固和深度认同，成为融入民族血脉的文化基因，则有赖于培育这种文化的社会、经济、制度的不断发展，亦即中国特色社会主义道路、理论和制度的不断完善，从而夯实社会主义文化自信的基础。
历史的问题从来都不止于历史，文化的问题从来都不止于文化。历史虚无主义作为一种政治思潮，是对客观存在的反映，折射出社会发展中存在的价值冲突、社会矛盾等问题。主张历史虚无主义的人动机千差万别。国内外敌对势力是要抹黑党的历史，损害党的形象，侵蚀党的执政根基。还有一些人，有的是对现实不满，借历史说事；有的是对学术问题有不同看法、不同追求；有的是为增加所谓“知名度”和谋取经济利益，哗众取宠；有的是因为历史知识匮乏，又没有独立认知判断能力，被标新立异的思想观点吸引和误导，人云亦云，随意跟风。这些问题归结起来就是对中国特色社会主义道路、理论、制度和文化缺少正确的认识、缺乏必要的自信，要解决这些问题，最根本的还是要不断推进社会主义伟大实践和伟大事业，深化改革，在发展中解决问题，在发展中树立和巩固自信。面对日益复杂的国际斗争，国内战略机遇期与改革攻坚期叠加、发展黄金期与矛盾凸显期交织，在反对历史虚无主义问题上，不能简单化为历史问题、文化问题，必须从中国特色社会主义道路、理论、制度和文化高度上着眼。只有坚定“四个自信”，才能更加从容、智慧、科学地在革命与传统、继承与发展中实现辩证的扬弃，将社会主义特性、民族特性、时代特性结合起来，毫不动摇地巩固唯物史观的指导地位。毫无疑问，这将是一个长期的艰巨的过程，需要我们坚持不懈地共同努力。
（本文作者王瑾，博士研究生，中共中央党校中共党史教研部，100091；文世芳，编辑，中共中央党史研究室，100080）
Analysis of Historical Nihilism in the People's Daily from 1949 to 1989
March 14, 2018 17:39:07 Source: Contemporary Chinese History Research Author: Wang Jin Wen Shifang
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Abstract: After the concept of nihilism was introduced into China, it evolved into several different types, mainly: nihilism that denies everything and is negative and decadent; national nihilism that appears in the form of cosmopolitanism; national nihilism that denies national culture. On the basis of nihilism, the concept of historical nihilism was proposed in 1974. In 1979, Chen Yun, as a leader of the Party and the country, first proposed historical nihilism. In 1983, someone proposed that Deng Xiaoping opposed both dogmatism and historical nihilism from the perspective of how to correctly understand the history of the Party and how to correctly evaluate the leaders of the Party. In 1989, Jiang Zemin clearly proposed to oppose historical nihilism. From the evolution of the concept, it can be seen that the ideological color of historical nihilism is becoming stronger and stronger, and the political plot to deny the leadership of the Party and the socialist system is becoming more and more obvious. To oppose historical nihilism, we must strengthen our recognition of the Party’s history, strengthen our confidence in the Party’s history, dare to admit problems and criticize mistakes, and firmly uphold the “four self-confidences”. In the process of continuously advancing the great cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, we must scientifically grasp the dialectical relationship between revolution and tradition and consolidate the guiding position of historical materialism.
Keywords: nihilism, revolution, tradition People’s Daily
Nihilism, as a foreign word, has been introduced into China for a long time. In the 1920s and 1930s, Chinese society discussed how to deal with historical issues, and a nihilistic attitude towards history emerged. Historical nihilism violates the basic viewpoints of materialism, and the Communist Party of China has always adopted a critical attitude towards it. However, due to the ambiguity and complexity of the concept of nihilism, the definition of historical nihilism in different historical stages is not consistent, so the focus of the debate has also evolved with the change of historical conditions. As the official newspaper of the CPC Central Committee, the interpretation, discussion and refutation of historical nihilism by People’s Daily basically reflects the attitude of the Communist Party of China towards historical nihilism, and in essence also reflects the ideological context of the Party’s insistence on using historical materialism to understand and record history.
This article intends to use the attitude of the People's Daily towards historical nihilism from 1949 to 1989 to sort out how the Communist Party of China achieved dialectical transcendence in revolution and tradition, inheritance and development after taking power in the country, consolidate the guiding position of historical materialism, and strive to provide historical reference for the current trend of opposing historical nihilism on the basis of summarizing historical experience.
1. The original meaning, types and manifestations of nihilism
To understand historical nihilism, we must first clarify nihilism. Nihilism is an imported product with a vague concept and derived from various types. In the articles published in the People's Daily, there are various usages such as nihilism, national nihilism, and legal nihilism. In summary, its main meanings can be summarized into the following three types.
(I) Nihilism that denies everything and is passive and decadent
The term nihilism first appeared in Turgenev's novel Fathers and Sons. The protagonist of the novel, Bazarov, represented some typical characteristics of the new characters that emerged in Russian society in the 1850s and 1860s - the revolutionary civilian intellectuals: integrity, enthusiasm, contempt for the reactionary ruling class, and denial of all old things. Bazarov was therefore called a "nihilist". Later, nihilism was extended to mean an attitude of denying everything and being passive and decadent. [Nihilism, Teaching Reference, No. 1, 1979.] This original meaning has been used in various historical periods since the founding of New China. In the Anti-Rightist Movement in 1957, the nihilistic thought of doubting everything, being dissatisfied with everything, denying everything and being passive and decadent became one of the main "crimes" of Feng Xuefeng, Ding Ling and others. [Luo Yi: "No force can separate our country's youth from the Communist Party and socialism", People's Daily, July 16, 1957; Shao Quanlin: "The Great Struggle between Two Lines in Literature and Art", People's Daily, September 7, 1957.] Some people believe that "there are still remnants of evolutionism and even nihilism in Lu Xun's essays and novels" [Shao Quanlin: "The Development Path of May Fourth Literature", People's Daily, May 4, 1959.] In 1961, People's Daily criticized Japan's "Thank God" minor tune, "containing a nihilistic and self-destructive mood" [Jiang Qi: "Desperate Groans and Howls", People's Daily, May 14, 1961.] .
Relativism and agnosticism in philosophical issues are often called nihilism. Guan Feng, Feng Youlan and others used the term nihilism when discussing Zhuangzi and Laozi's teachings. Guan Feng believes that Zhuangzi's relativism regards the mutual transformation of opposites as absolute and unconditional, "so it leads to relativism and nihilism". [Guan Feng: "On Zhuangzi's Relativism", People's Daily, December 2, 1960.] Yang Ling believes that if "movement contains stillness", "then one will fall into the quagmire of agnosticism and nihilism". [Yang Ling: "Movement contains stillness", People's Daily, December 30, 1960.] Feng Youlan believes that the "Tao" mentioned by Laozi is the unity of "existence" and "nothingness", but the "whole" mentioned by Zhuangzi does not include "existence" or even "nothingness", "through this 'whole' Zhuangzi has reached complete nihilism". [Feng Youlan: "On Zhuangzi", People's Daily, February 26, 1961.]
Ignoring the law and denying the importance of the law is called "legal nihilism". In 1955, when introducing Vyshinsky’s legal thought, someone pointed out that Vyshinsky systematically expounded the basic theories of Marxism-Leninism on the state and law, especially the theory on the problem of the withering of the state, in response to the fallacy of legal nihilism. [Zhang Shangyu: "Introducing Vyshinsky's "Theoretical Problems of the State and Law", People's Daily, December 8, 1955.] In 1957, at a symposium held by the Chinese Society of Political Science and Law, someone criticized the legal nihilism of some leading cadres, saying that they "ignored the Constitution, believed that it was natural for the party to replace the government, that the party's orders were higher than the laws, and that the words of individual party members were considered to be "golden rules". This is all against the rule of law" ["Legal scholars put forward opinions on my country's legal system at a symposium held by the Chinese Society of Political Science and Law", People's Daily, May 29, 1957.] Later, until the "Cultural Revolution", few people criticized legal nihilism. After the end of the "Cultural Revolution", in the reflection on history, the construction of institutions and legal systems received attention from all walks of life. From 1978 to 1980, the People's Daily published a large number of articles criticizing legal nihilism.
(II) National nihilism in the form of cosmopolitanism
In the early days of the founding of New China, the People's Daily criticized national nihilism when establishing the socialist concept of international and national relations. This criticism mainly reflects the ideological struggle between the two systems of socialism and capitalism: on the one hand, it criticizes capitalist cosmopolitanism and national nihilism, and on the other hand, it combines socialist internationalism and nationalism. At that time, socialist countries such as the Soviet Union first "broke" capitalist cosmopolitanism and national nihilism, and this situation was fully reflected in the People's Daily. In July 1949, the People’s Daily published an article criticizing cosmopolitanism published on April 7 by the Soviet newspaper Pravda, which stated: “In this struggle, Marxist-Leninist theory is a powerful spiritual weapon that often exposes nationalist chauvinism, as well as national nihilism and bourgeois cosmopolitanism.” [Translated by Jun Qiang and edited by Cao Ting: “The Ideological Weapons of the Cosmopolitan American Reactionaries”, People’s Daily, July 29, 1949.] In September, the People’s Daily published an article pointing out: “The source of bourgeois cosmopolitanism that promotes national nihilism is hidden in the policy of the most brutal exploitation of oppressed nations and in the expansionist aggression of the imperialist bourgeoisie.” [[Soviet Union] Chernov, translated by Zhou Nanjie and edited by Cao Ting: “Bourgeois Cosmopolitanism and Its Reactionary Role”, People’s Daily, September 30, 1949. 】In 1950, the People's Daily continued to criticize capitalist cosmopolitanism, pointing out that "cosmopolitan thought believes that the concept of nationalism is outdated, it advocates people's indifference to the motherland, advocates national nihilism, and believes that the concept of national and state independence is itself fictitious"; ["Introduction to the 55th issue of the Chinese version of "Striving for Lasting Peace and People's Democracy", People's Daily, September 27, 1950. 】"National nihilism and cosmopolitanism are bourgeois and imperialist concepts. They have nothing to do with the proletariat, which leads the working masses, represents the interests of the people and is a loyal defender of national independence. They are intolerable to them" [Chang Dong: "Introduction to "On Soviet Patriotism" (published by Mass Bookstore)", People's Daily, December 13, 1950. 】.
(III) National nihilism that denies national culture
Most of the criticisms of nihilism in the People's Daily are aimed at the problem of not paying attention to the inheritance of national culture. In essence, it criticizes national nihilism, which covers a wide range of aspects, including traditional literature, Chinese painting, opera, calligraphy, cultural relics, and traditional Chinese medicine.
On the issue of how to understand national culture, it opposes national nihilism and worship of foreign things, and emphasizes national cultural self-confidence and self-esteem. In 1954, someone criticized Yu Pingbo's research on Dream of the Red Chamber and pointed out: "The nihilistic and negative attitude towards the excellent cultural heritage of the motherland is the true nature of the foreign gentleman after the May Fourth Movement. Starting from this reactionary nihilistic negation theory, it will inevitably lead to the loss of national self-confidence." [Li Xifan and Lan Ling: "What kind of road to take? - Re-evaluation of Mr. Yu Pingbo's erroneous views on the study of "Dream of the Red Chamber", People's Daily, October 24, 1954. 】Although this criticism goes beyond the scope of academics, it reveals the different attitudes towards tradition after the founding of the People's Republic of China and during the May Fourth Movement, as well as the attitude towards national culture, which is related to the essence of national self-confidence. In the criticism of Hu Shi, Hu Feng and others, some people pointed out: "Hu Shi is a disseminator of imperialist enslavement ideas. In many of his articles, he spreads national inferiority complex and pro-American and pro-American ideas... He holds a nihilistic negative attitude towards the cultural heritage of his own country"; [Wang Ruoshui: "Eliminating the Remnant of Hu Shi's Reactionary Philosophy - Commenting on Yu Pingbo's Wrong Views and Methods in Studying Dream of the Red Chamber", People's Daily, November 5, 1954. 】"On the issue of literature and art, there is one point that Hu Shi and Hu Feng completely resonate with, that is, the nihilistic attitude towards the national literary and artistic heritage." [Mao Dun: "It is necessary to thoroughly and comprehensively launch a criticism of Hu Feng's literary and artistic thoughts", People's Daily, March 8, 1955. 】During the "Cultural Revolution", the criticism of national nihilism and worship of foreign things was even more fierce. When criticizing the "Westernization of the Western Slave Philosophy", he believed that "Western slave thinking" should not be taken lightly, otherwise it would make people blindly worship foreign bourgeois culture and adopt a nihilistic attitude towards national culture; only by criticizing national nihilism can we improve national self-esteem. ["Implementing the policy of "making use of the past for the present and making use of the foreign for China", People's Daily, October 18, 1969; Chu Lan: "We should attach importance to this discussion", People's Daily, January 14, 1974; Chao Hua: "Is untitled music classless?", People's Daily, January 14, 1974. ]
On how to treat national culture, he opposed the two extreme tendencies of national nihilism and retroism, and emphasized critical inheritance. In 1956, after the "Double Hundred" policy was proposed, how to correctly treat national culture became an important topic of discussion in the academic community. At the Eighth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Lin Feng emphasized that the rich cultural heritage of the Chinese nation must be used to serve socialist construction. "It is wrong to take an attitude of contempt or even total negation of national cultural heritage. This attitude of national nihilism is the main tendency in dealing with the issue of national cultural heritage today." [Lin Feng: "On the issue of cultivating talents for construction in our country", People's Daily, September 29, 1956.] Others have clearly stated: "On the one hand, we must oppose national nihilism; on the other hand, we must also oppose feudal restorationism." [Zhu Bokun: "Some problems we encounter in the study of the history of Chinese philosophy", People's Daily, October 14, 1956.] At the end of 1956, People's Daily published an editorial "To Cultural Workers", advocating that Chinese cultural and artistic workers go all out to develop national culture and art on the premise of serving the construction of socialism, pointing out: "The nihilistic tendency of despising our nation's excellent and rich cultural heritage is still very serious, and this tendency is the biggest enemy of creating a new national culture of socialism", and put forward the fundamental issue of the need to properly handle the relationship between the creation of a new socialist culture and the national traditional culture. 【"To Cultural Workers", People's Daily, December 28, 1956. 】
After the founding of New China, the Chinese nation stood tall in the east of the world with a brand new attitude. How to treat national culture was a problem faced at the beginning of the founding of New China, and the refutation of national nihilism was also an issue that ran through the whole process. To mobilize the enthusiasm and passion of the people to build a prosperous and strong new China, it is necessary to promote revolutionary optimism and fearless revolutionary heroism, and use the people's great power to quickly restore and develop production, consolidate the new regime, and realize national rejuvenation. The negative and decadent ideas in the original meaning of nihilism are incompatible with the historical mission of the new regime and the mental state of the broad masses of the people in building a new homeland, so nihilism needs to be criticized.
2. The Proposal and Evolution of the Concept of Historical Nihilism
In the academic community, historical nihilism is often regarded as a newly born term. The author has used CNKI data as the main research object to make a preliminary review of the proposal and evolution of historical nihilism, and divided the academic debate on historical nihilism into three stages: 1956-1988, 1989-1999, and 2000 to the present. It is believed that there have been three climaxes in the new century from 2000, 2005, and 2013 to the present. [Wen Shifang and Wang Jin: "Evolution and Enlightenment of the Debate on Historical Nihilism", "China Social Sciences Daily", September 25, 2015; Wen Shifang and Wang Jin: "The Debate and Enlightenment of Historical Nihilism in the New Century", "Journal of the Party School of Yunnan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China", Issue 6, 2015. 】However, since many important articles on the issue of historical nihilism were published in the People's Daily, they have not been included in CNKI, which is not conducive to tracing the source of historical nihilism. Through a systematic review of the People's Daily, it can be found that while criticizing various forms of nihilism, the concept of historical nihilism has gradually emerged, and its connotation has gradually approached the specific concept of current historical nihilism.
(I) The complete proposal of the concept of historical nihilism
In 1958, Guan Feng pointed out when discussing the relationship between the past and the future: "Communists are historical materialists and are firmly opposed to non-historicism and nihilism that cuts off history in work and scientific research." [Guan Feng: "On "Past" and "Future", "People's Daily", March 20, 1958. In 1964, Ke Qingshi, in his speech on the prosperity of socialist drama, believed that the excellent heritage of Chinese and foreign literature and art should be inherited, and the correct attitude should be taken towards inheritance. "We are neither historical nihilists nor worshippers of heritage, but we adopt a critical attitude towards inheritance." [Ke Qingshi: "Vigorously Develop and Prosper Socialist Drama to Better Serve the Economic Foundation of Socialism (Speech at the East China Drama Observation and Performance Conference from the End of 1963 to the Beginning of 1964, with Some Modifications and Supplements Made When Published), People's Daily, August 16, 1964.] In 1974, historical nihilism was fully proposed in the campaign to criticize Lin Biao and Confucius. Someone pointed out: "We should use Marxism as a sharp weapon to make a historical and class analysis of the entire national cultural heritage, eliminate its feudal dross and absorb its democratic essence. We should oppose both the historical nihilism of total negation and the uncritical eclecticism. We should use the law of the unity of opposites to study history, look through historical phenomena, summarize the things with regularity in class struggle, and especially summarize the lessons learned from restoration and anti-restoration in history, so as to help us improve our consciousness of continuing the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat." [Zhe Gang: "Further Raising the Consciousness of Criticizing Lin Biao and Confucius - Experience in Studying "On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People", People's Daily, November 29, 1974.] According to the materials I have, this is the earliest complete concept of historical nihilism. The "historical nihilism" and "historical nihilism" here both refer to the attitude of negation towards national cultural heritage. However, after the concept of historical nihilism was proposed, it did not attract much attention at the time, and other articles did not continue to use this term. It was not until the end of the "Cultural Revolution" that historical nihilism was once again proposed and widely used when exposing and clearing up the mistakes of the "Gang of Four".
(II) Criticizing historical nihilism that denies national cultural traditions
When criticizing the "Gang of Four" for their "complete sweeping away" of national cultural heritage, some people characterized it as "metaphysics and historical nihilism". The article believes that the "Gang of Four" described cultural heritage as "a reflection of the political aspirations and thoughts and feelings of the exploiting class" and "served the exploiting class". "Not only did they negate the historical and progressive role of the excellent people's culture, but they also confused the period of the exploiting class's rise and decline, fundamentally distorting Marxist dialectical materialism and historical materialism. It is an out-and-out metaphysics and historical nihilism." It also pointed out that "this nihilism is not new. It has existed in foreign countries and in China." The "Gang of Four" just picked up other people's ideas and slightly embellished them with Marxist phrases. [Yuan Zhenyu: "Use the past for the present, or use the past for the "gang"? - Comparison of the revisionist fallacies of the "Gang of Four" in dealing with cultural heritage", People's Daily, July 14, 1977. ]
Some people criticized the "Gang of Four" for their perverse actions in the cultural field as "an out-and-out cultural authoritarianism, historical nihilism and subjective idealism", pointing out that the "Gang of Four" severed history, overthrew everything and denied everything under the guise of "smashing the old culture of feudalism, capitalism and revisionism" and "creating a new proletarian class culture". These practices were "nihilistic attitudes that had nothing in common with Marxism". [Gu Shan: "Lenin's Criticism of the 'Proletarian Cultural Faction'", People's Daily, September 1, 1977.]
Later, in the discussion of the standard of truth, how to understand the tradition of literature and art and how to view cultural heritage also became important contents. Mao Dun pointed out: "Since literary and artistic works have played a huge educational role in the historical stage when they were made public, then as a component of the superstructure of this historical stage, they have their historical value and will be appreciated and loved by people. If you don't recognize this, it is historical nihilism rather than historical materialism." [Mao Dun: "How writers understand that practice is the only criterion for testing truth", "People's Daily", December 5, 1978. ] In the early days of reform and opening up, although it still bears the imprint of the language of the "Cultural Revolution", the theoretical community has already criticized historical nihilism as the opposite of historical materialism in academic terms.
In January 1979, Quyi, which had been suspended for more than ten years, resumed publication. In the first issue, it opened the column "Comrade Chen Yun Talks about Pingtan Work", and published "Comrade Chen Yun's Opinions on Current Pingtan Work" and "Comrade Chen Yun's Letter to Comrade Wu Zongxi". In his letter to Wu Zongxi, Chen Yun emphasized the dialectical relationship between talking about new books and talking about traditional books, pointing out that "turning a blind eye to traditional books with hundreds of years of history is a kind of historical nihilism" ["Comrade Chen Yun's Opinions on Pingtan Work Published in the First Issue of the Reopening of Quyi Magazine", People's Daily, January 15, 1979. ] As far as the current materials can be seen, this is the first time that the leaders of the Party and the country have mentioned the complete concept of historical nihilism. However, historical nihilism at this time still refers to the negative attitude towards traditional culture. Since then, the term historical nihilism has been used more broadly. For example, in November 1982, when commemorating the 90th anniversary of Guo Moruo's birth, Hou Wailu proposed that Guo Moruo respected the development of history and used scientific standards to evaluate history and historical figures, "both opposing retroism and historical nihilism"; [Hou Wailu: ""Just Climbing, Don't Ask How High" - Commemorating the 90th Anniversary of Comrade Guo Moruo's Birth", People's Daily, November 29, 1982. 】In 1983, someone pointed out: "We are not historical nihilists. We should not take a completely negative attitude towards cultural heritage, but should take a critical inheritance attitude." [Bu Lu: "Historical Prejudice Should Be Abandoned", "People's Daily", May 11, 1983. 】
(III) The concept of historical nihilism in the current sense
After the end of the "Cultural Revolution", in order to emancipate the mind and seek truth from facts, it is necessary to involve the mistakes made by Mao Zedong in his later years. At that time, the whole party and the people of the whole country were very concerned about this extremely sensitive and very thorny issue. On the one hand, if Mao Zedong's mistakes in his later years were not corrected, new steps could not be taken; on the other hand, if Mao Zedong's historical status was not scientifically evaluated, it would cause ideological confusion and affect the situation of stability and unity. At that time, there were two ideological tendencies inside and outside the party: one was deeply influenced by the "two whatevers" and believed that criticizing Mao Zedong's shortcomings and mistakes was "cutting the flag" and "throwing the knife"; the other was because Mao Zedong made mistakes in his later years, he wanted to completely deny Mao Zedong's historical status and deny the scientific value and guiding role of Mao Zedong Thought. In order to unify thoughts, it is necessary to make an authoritative summary of historical issues. During the drafting process of the "Resolution on Certain Historical Issues of the Party Since the Founding of the People's Republic of China", Deng Xiaoping established the basic principles for scientifically evaluating Mao Zedong and Mao Zedong Thought. Li Desheng highly praised Deng Xiaoping's contribution to the scientific evaluation of Mao Zedong and Mao Zedong Thought, and believed that Deng Xiaoping insisted on fighting on two fronts, "fighting dogmatism on the one hand and historical nihilism on the other hand" [Li Desheng: "Great Transformation and Outstanding Contribution - Studying "Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping", "People's Daily", July 4, 1983. ] This was also the idea of many people in the party at that time. Xiang Nan also clearly pointed out that Deng Xiaoping "eliminated the interference of dogmatism that affirmed everything without analysis, and severely refuted the nihilistic attitude of completely denying history", "using the viewpoint of historical materialism to make a realistic evaluation of a proletarian revolutionary leader, and made a satisfactory handling of such a very important and sensitive issue, which is a rare example in the history of the international communist movement." 【Xiang Nan: "Dare to Seek Truth from Facts - Speech at the Study and Discussion Meeting of "Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping", People's Daily, September 12, 1983. 】If the previous historical nihilism was mainly aimed at the attitude towards national traditional culture, then the "historical nihilism" and "historical nihilism" proposed here have obvious ideological colors, which are basically consistent with the essence of current historical nihilism, and mainly refer to the unfair, non-objective and unscientific attitude towards the party's history and party leaders. The author believes that, based on the current materials, this is the earliest formulation that is basically consistent with the essence of the current concept of historical nihilism.
However, after this, historical nihilism still mainly targets the incorrect attitude towards historical and cultural traditions. It was not until the end of 1986 that the ideological tendency of the problem of historical nihilism became prominent. With the advancement of reform and opening up, China's exchanges with the world have become increasingly close, and various Western information has poured into China through different channels. On issues such as how to view the gap between China and Western developed capitalist countries, how to view the setbacks and achievements in China's socialist construction, and how to view national culture and foreign culture, some wrong ideas have emerged, causing some confusion in the ideological field. In response to this situation, the 1986 National Conference on Foreign Propaganda Work pointed out that my country's foreign propaganda must seek truth from facts, and have a correct assessment of achievements and shortcomings, neither over-glorifying nor belittling ourselves. The conference particularly emphasized: "We must prevent another tendency, that is, some people engage in historical nihilism and national nihilism, and say that we are worthless. To say that everything about us is good and perfect is not seeking truth from facts; to say that everything about us is not good is even less seeking truth from facts" [Xu Xuejiang: "Hu Qili stressed at the National Conference on Foreign Propaganda Work that my country's foreign propaganda must seek truth from facts, have a correct assessment of achievements and shortcomings, and must vigorously improve the style of writing", People's Daily, December 4, 1986. ] Here, a clear distinction is made between historical nihilism and national nihilism. On March 29, 1987, the CPC Central Committee issued the "Notice on Resolutely and Properly Carrying out the Rectification of Newspapers and Periodicals", emphasizing the need to focus on six aspects of rectification. The second aspect is: "Newspapers and periodicals with important status and wide influence that have improper ideological and political orientation, deviate from the Four Cardinal Principles, propagate and support bourgeois liberal views, propagate extreme individualism, national nihilism, anti-patriotism, hinder national unity, and violate foreign affairs discipline." [Selected Important Documents Since the 12th National Congress, Volume 2, Central Literature Publishing House, 2011 edition, page 276. ] The author believes that, based on the current materials, this should be the earliest document of the CPC Central Committee that clearly puts forward the provision against national nihilism.
1989 was a year in which the "macroclimate" of the international communist movement and the "microclimate" in China underwent tremendous changes. The dramatic changes in Eastern Europe caused a huge setback to the international communist movement, and the political turmoil in China also severely impacted people's thinking. International and domestic hostile forces took the opportunity to set off a trend of anti-socialist and communist movements. After the political turmoil subsided, the CPC Central Committee leaders repeatedly stressed the opposition to national nihilism and historical nihilism. In September 1989, Jiang Zemin stressed: "Any attempt to sever history, adopt a nihilistic attitude, and deny the fine traditions of the Party under the pretext of 'reform' is wrong." [Jiang Zemin's Thoughts (1989-2008), Central Literature Publishing House, 2010 edition, page 8.] In his speech at the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, he once again pointed out: "We must pay special attention to opposing the national nihilism and the worship of foreign things that completely deny Chinese traditional culture." [Selected Important Documents Since the 13th National Congress, People's Publishing House, 2011 edition, page 75. 】On December 29, Jiang Zemin made a speech at the Party Building Theory Research Class and pointed out: "For a period of time, the spread of bourgeois liberal ideas, the instigation of bourgeois slogans of 'democracy', 'freedom' and 'human rights', and the growth of egoism, money worship, national nihilism and historical nihilism have seriously eroded the body of the Party and made the thoughts of some people in the Party quite confused." [Selected Important Documents Since the 13th National Congress, People's Publishing House, 2011 edition, page 75. 】This is the first time that the General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee has clearly opposed historical nihilism, and believed that it cuts off history, denies the fine traditions of the Party under the pretext of "reform", and "seriously erodes the body of the Party", explaining its harmfulness to the Party and the country very clearly.
Through the systematic combing of the People's Daily, it is found that the evolution of the concept of historical nihilism is already clear: in 1974, a complete concept of historical nihilism was proposed; in 1977, the "cultural sweep theory" of the "Gang of Four" was criticized as historical nihilism; in 1979, Chen Yun, as a leader of the Party and the country, first proposed historical nihilism; in 1983, Li Desheng and others proposed that Deng Xiaoping opposed both dogmatism and historical nihilism from the perspective of how to correctly understand the history of the Party and how to correctly evaluate the Party's leaders; in 1986, someone proposed to oppose historical nihilism from the perspective of national self-confidence; in 1989, Jiang Zemin clearly proposed to oppose historical nihilism. From the evolution of the concept, it can be found that historical nihilism has mainly experienced a process from nihilism of national traditional culture to nihilism of the Party's leaders, history and culture. The ideological color is getting stronger and stronger, and the political plot of denying the Party's leadership and the socialist system is becoming more and more obvious.
3. Scientifically grasp the dialectical relationship between revolution and tradition and consolidate the guiding position of historical materialism
Through the sorting and analysis of nihilism and historical nihilism in the People's Daily from 1949 to 1989, it can be found that the Communist Party of China has always opposed historical nihilism. The reason for the mistakes on historical issues and even the abuse of nihilism in the "Cultural Revolution" is that, in addition to the ambiguity of the concept itself, a key problem is that the influence of "leftist" thinking has led to deviations in handling the relationship between revolution and tradition. To handle the relationship between revolution and tradition well, full confidence is needed, and confidence can be calm and rational. Therefore, to oppose historical nihilism, we must strengthen our recognition of the party's history, strengthen our confidence in the party's history, dare to admit problems and dare to criticize mistakes. The most fundamental thing is to strengthen the "four confidences" and scientifically grasp the dialectical relationship between revolution and tradition in the continuous advancement of the great cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and consolidate the guiding position of historical materialism.
(I) Adhere to speaking with facts and strengthen the recognition of the party's history
From the evolution of historical nihilism, the twists and turns in the historical field after the founding of New China were mainly due to the deviation in handling the relationship between revolution and tradition. When there was a lack of firm confidence in national culture and national history, under the influence of "leftist" ideas, national cultural nihilism and national historical nihilism had room for survival and development.
Historical nihilism in the current sense is a political trend of thought, a bad trend of thought that has different opinions on the socialist system and the leadership of the party and has obvious political demands. It mainly has a wrong attitude towards the history of the Chinese revolution, the history of socialist revolution and construction after the founding of New China, and the history of reform and opening up. It draws some confusing and harmful conclusions based on the mistakes in the Chinese revolution, construction and reform, and even some fabricated "mistakes". General Secretary Xi Jinping is deeply aware of the implications and sinister intentions behind this logic, and clearly pointed out: "The Chinese Communists are Marxists, adhering to the scientific doctrine of Marxism, and adhering to and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics, but the Chinese Communists are not historical nihilists, nor are they cultural nihilists." "In the long-term historical practice of leading the Chinese people in revolution, construction, and reform, the Chinese Communists have always been the faithful inheritors and promoters of China's excellent traditional culture." [Xi Jinping: "Speech at the Opening Ceremony of the International Academic Symposium to Commemorate the 2565th Anniversary of the Birth of Confucius and the Fifth Members' Conference of the International Confucian Association", People's Daily, September 25, 2014. ]
From the review of the party's documents and the People's Daily, the Communist Party of China has always insisted on opposing historical nihilism. We must have this firm historical confidence. Judging from the attitude of the People's Daily towards various forms of nihilism and historical nihilism, the Communist Party of China has always criticized nihilism and negated historical nihilism as the opposite of the Marxist historical view. Mao Zedong once clearly stated: "The so-called 'total Westernization' is a wrong view. China has suffered a lot from the formalistic absorption of foreign things in the past." [Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Volume 2, People's Publishing House, 1991 edition, page 707.] In his "Speech at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art", he further pointed out: "We must destroy those feudal, bourgeois, petty-bourgeois, liberal, individualistic, nihilistic, art for art's sake, aristocratic, decadent, pessimistic and other creative emotions that are not of the masses and the proletariat." [Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Volume 3, People's Publishing House, 1991 edition, page 874.] That is, he clearly stated that nihilism should be criticized. In the fundamental position of studying Chinese history, Mao Zedong pointed out: "Our nation has thousands of years of history, its own characteristics, and many precious things. We are still primary school students in terms of these. Today's China is a development of historical China; we are Marxist historicists, and we should not cut off history. From Confucius to Sun Yat-sen, we should summarize and inherit this precious legacy. This is of great help in guiding the current great movement." [Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Volume 2, People's Publishing House, 1991 edition, page 707.] Here, it is clearly stated that the Chinese Communists are Marxists and historicists, which is incompatible with historical nihilism. In 1956, Lu Dingyi also pointed out: "We must have national self-esteem, and we must not be national nihilists. We oppose the wrong proposition of so-called "total Westernization". But this does not mean that we should be arrogant and refuse to learn good things from foreign countries. Our country is still a very backward country. We must spend a lot of effort to learn many things from foreign countries so that our country can become prosperous and strong. National arrogance is wrong under any circumstances." [Lu Dingyi: "Let a hundred flowers bloom, let a hundred schools of thought contend - Speech in Huairen Hall on May 26, 1956", "People's Daily", June 13, 1956.] clearly stated that we must oppose the two extreme tendencies of historical nihilism and "total Westernization".
The most fundamental thing is that practical development has given us the confidence in the party's history and national culture. In just a few decades after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Communist Party of China has led the people to achieve a historical progressive development from "standing up" to "getting rich" to "becoming strong". Therefore, General Secretary Xi Jinping confidently stated: "In today's world, if we talk about which political party, which country, and which nation can be confident, then the Communist Party of China, the People's Republic of China, and the Chinese nation have the most reason to be confident." [Xi Jinping: "Speech at the Celebration of the 95th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China", People's Daily, July 2, 2016. ] After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the excellent traditional Chinese culture nurtured in the development of civilization for more than 5,000 years has been inherited and developed, and the revolutionary culture and advanced socialist culture nurtured in the practical struggle of the Party and the people have also shown strong vitality and superiority. The excellent traditional Chinese culture, revolutionary culture and advanced socialist culture have withstood the major tests of economic and social transformation, market economy conditions, and the wave of globalization, showing unprecedented vitality, and refuting subjective assumptions such as "Chinese civilization is an agricultural civilization" and "cannot adapt to industrial civilization and market economy, and will encounter setbacks in the wave of globalization."
(II) Firmly believe in the history of the Party, dare to admit problems and dare to criticize mistakes
Since historical nihilists make a fuss about the twists and turns and mistakes in the history of the Party and the country, using tributaries to negate the mainstream, individuals to negate the whole, and problems to negate achievements, we must, on the one hand, promote the main theme, spread positive energy, and vigorously publicize the mainstream, the whole and achievements, and on the other hand, we must not ignore problems and avoid contradictions. In short, only by daring to admit problems can we dare to criticize mistakes; we must scientifically summarize historical experiences and lessons on the one hand and criticize wrong ideological tendencies on the other. Only by having firm confidence in the history of the Party can we handle historical issues maturely, rationally, calmly and dialectically. Specifically, we must be vigilant against the "left" and "right" tendencies in the ideological struggle, and we must clearly oppose historical nihilism, and pay attention to distinguishing the boundaries between ideological cognition issues, academic method issues and political issues.
Historical nihilists often use this as an excuse to attack the Communist Party of China. Since the Communist Party of China firmly opposes historical nihilism, how can we explain the fact that academic issues were wrongly generalized into political issues in history, and that many cultural traditions were criticized as "feudal, capitalist, and revisionist" during the Cultural Revolution, and that there was a movement called "destroying the four olds"? In fact, these are two different issues and are not contradictory. The Party's firm opposition to historical nihilism does not mean that there were no mistakes and errors in dealing with historical issues. However, these mistakes and errors occurred in a specific historical environment and had complex historical factors. The understanding and actions of the historical parties were also limited by the conditions of the times. Therefore, we cannot simply judge history with today's level of understanding and criticize our predecessors. As General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out, "Our Party has always taken a solemn attitude towards its own mistakes and errors, including those of its leaders. First, it dares to admit them, second, it correctly analyzes them, and third, it resolutely corrects them, so that mistakes and errors, together with the Party's successful experiences, become valuable historical teaching materials." [Selected Important Documents Since the 18th National Congress, Volume 1, Central Literature Publishing House, 2014 edition, page 694. 】On the basis of recognizing the problem, we should deeply summarize the historical lessons and unify our thoughts on how to avoid mistakes and how to promote the prosperity of Chinese civilization and socialist culture. This is the scientific and rational attitude that should be adopted, and only by summarizing history can we open up the future.
From the in-depth summary of historical experience and lessons, we can find that from 1949 to 1989, the People's Daily carried out five concentrated criticisms of nihilism and historical nihilism, namely, the criticism of Hu Shi, Hu Feng, Yu Pingbo and others in the early 1950s; the criticism of Ding Ling, Feng Xuefeng, Ai Qing and others in the Anti-Rightist Movement in 1957; the criticism of historians such as Wu Han and Jian Bozan in the "Cultural Revolution"; the criticism of the "Gang of Four" and the cleansing of the poison after the "Cultural Revolution"; and the criticism of non-Marxists who denied national culture and the history of the Party and the country in 1989. In the first three times, due to historical limitations, academic issues were elevated to political issues, and nihilism was abused; in the second two times, the reversed history was corrected, the chaos was corrected, and the socialist cause was continuously promoted. Why did this phenomenon occur in the first three times? As Deng Xiaoping pointed out, "There are right things that influence us, and there are "left" things that influence us, but the deep-rooted ones are still "left" things." "'Left' has a revolutionary color, and it seems that the more 'left', the more revolutionary. 'Left' things are terrible in the history of our party! A good thing was destroyed by him in an instant." [Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, Volume 3, People's Publishing House, 1993 edition, page 375. ] He also emphasized: "We must criticize the wrong ideas of 'left' and the wrong ideas of the right." [Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, Volume 2, People's Publishing House, 1994 edition, page 379. ] If the two extremes become rampant, it will inevitably affect the current good situation of dialectically and scientifically handling the relationship between revolution and tradition, and will inevitably affect the good momentum of Chinese civilization and the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
(III) Firmly uphold the "four self-confidences" and consolidate the guiding position of historical materialism
Historical nihilism has been criticized repeatedly. The struggle in the ideological field and the instigation of different political demands are the main reasons. The profound historical culture and the background of the times cannot be ignored. Since modern times, due to the decay and decline of the feudal system, the development of the Chinese nation and Chinese civilization have suffered unprecedented challenges. In order to explore the truth of national rejuvenation, the majority of advanced elements have made various attempts, from learning objects to learning systems, from learning systems to learning culture. In this historical process, the Chinese people have experienced hesitation, wandering, hesitation, pain and disappointment. Some people even believe that traditional Chinese culture is not suitable for modern industrial society and cannot lead China to modernization. After the founding of the Communist Party of China, it led the people to achieve the victory of the new democratic revolution, and a new historical and cultural self-confidence gradually emerged. As Mao Zedong said: "Since the Chinese learned Marxism-Leninism, the Chinese have turned from passive to active in spirit. From this time on, the era of looking down on the Chinese and Chinese culture in modern world history should be over. The great victory of the Chinese People's Liberation War and the Great People's Revolution has revived and is reviving the great culture of the Chinese people." [Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Volume 4, People's Publishing House, 1991 edition, page 1516. ]
Entering the new era of reform and opening up and socialist modernization, China took the initiative to go to the world, open up to the outside world, and develop rapidly in economy and society. The development of the times has put forward a new historical and cultural proposition: to build a new national historical and cultural self-confidence under the conditions of market economy, in the wave of globalization, and under the fierce collision of multiple cultures. The new historical and cultural self-confidence mainly refers to the confidence in Chinese traditional culture, revolutionary culture and advanced socialist culture. Chinese traditional culture and revolutionary culture have been tested for a long period of time, but they still need to constantly adapt to and promote the development of the times in the new economic and social environment. Advanced socialist culture has fully demonstrated its great vitality and superiority in decades of socialist revolution and construction practice. However, its consolidation and deep recognition, and becoming a cultural gene integrated into the national blood, depends on the continuous development of the society, economy, and system that cultivates this culture, that is, the continuous improvement of the path, theory, and system of socialism with Chinese characteristics, so as to consolidate the foundation of socialist cultural confidence.
The problem of history has never been limited to history, and the problem of culture has never been limited to culture. As a political trend of thought, historical nihilism is a reflection of objective existence, reflecting the value conflicts and social contradictions in social development. The motives of those who advocate historical nihilism vary greatly. Hostile forces at home and abroad want to discredit the party's history, damage the party's image, and erode the party's ruling foundation. There are also some people who are dissatisfied with reality and use history to make things; some have different views and pursuits on academic issues; some are sensational to increase the so-called "popularity" and seek economic benefits; some are attracted and misled by unconventional ideas and viewpoints because of their lack of historical knowledge and lack of independent cognitive judgment ability, and follow the crowd at will. These problems boil down to the lack of correct understanding and necessary confidence in the path, theory, system and culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics. To solve these problems, the most fundamental thing is to continuously promote the great practice and great cause of socialism, deepen reform, solve problems in development, and establish and consolidate confidence in development. Faced with increasingly complex international struggles, the domestic strategic opportunity period overlaps with the reform breakthrough period, and the golden period of development is intertwined with the period of prominent contradictions. In the issue of opposing historical nihilism, it cannot be simply reduced to historical and cultural issues. It must be focused on the path, theory, system and culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Only by strengthening the "four confidences" can we more calmly, wisely and scientifically realize the dialectical transcendence in revolution and tradition, inheritance and development, combine socialist characteristics, national characteristics and characteristics of the times, and unswervingly consolidate the guiding position of historical materialism. There is no doubt that this will be a long and arduous process that requires our unremitting joint efforts.
(The author of this article is Wang Jin, a doctoral student, the Party History Teaching and Research Department of the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, 100091; Wen Shifang, editor, Party History Research Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, 100080)
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