Combat Liberalism by Mao Zedong

The essay warns against a tendency called “liberalism” — a softness, vacillation, and reluctance to criticize mistakes — that undermines organizational discipline, revolutionary initiative, and ties with the masses; it argues that indulgence, passivity, and failure to carry out criticism and self-criticism breed bureaucratism and weaken struggle. It calls for firm, principled discipline, active criticism and self-criticism, adherence to the mass line, and a balance between resolute struggle and flexible tactics so the movement can maintain unity, mobilize popular support, and defeat its enemies.