Chairman Mao Zedong Oppose Book Worship Page 6

Section IV. Without Investigating the Actual Situation, There is Bound to be an Idealist Appraisals of Class Forces and an Idealist Guidance in Work, Resulting Either in Opportunism or in Putschism

Do you doubt this conclusion? Facts will force you to accept it. Just try and appraise the political situation or guide the struggle without making any investigation, and you will see whether or not such appraisal or guidance is groundless and idealist and whether or not it will lead opportunist or putschist errors. Certainly it will. This is not because of failure to make careful plans before taking action but because of a failure to study the specific social situation carefully before making the plans, as often happens in our Red Army guerilla units. Officers of the Li Kuei type do not discriminate when they punish the men for offenses. As a result, the offenders feel they have been unfairly treated, many disputes ensue, and the leaders lose all prestige. Does this not happen frequently in the Red Army?

We must wipe out idealism and guard against all opportunist and putschist errors before we can succeed in winning over the masses and defeating the enemy. The only way to wipe out idealism is to make the effort and investigate the actual situation.