[homesick] To oppose historical nihilism, we must always seek truth from facts.

　　Author: Chen Hui Scholar of Marxism College of East China Normal University, and Wang Jin, researcher of Socialism with Chinese characteristics Thought Research Center of Shanghai Supreme Leader in New Era.

　　General Secretary of the Supreme Leader once pointed out that "we should be alert to and resist the influence of historical nihilism, resolutely resist and oppose the erroneous views and tendencies on the issue of party history", and in the report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, we emphasized "implementing the responsibility system for ideological work, strengthening the construction and management of positions, paying attention to distinguishing between political principles, ideological understanding and academic viewpoints, and clearly opposing and resisting all kinds of erroneous views". The important exposition of the General Secretary reminds us that opposing historical nihilism should not only be justified and clear-cut, but also always adhere to seeking truth from facts.

　　First, oppose historical nihilism and always seek truth from facts when examining relevant basic issues.Historical nihilism is a social trend of thought characterized by denying the objective history and ignoring historical facts. A basic problem of historical nihilism is the form of expression. People usually think that historical nihilism, that is, "nihilistic" real history, is not entirely true. There is another form of historical nihilism, which is to "make the false history real".

　　Regarding the "nihilistic" real history, it is an individual, a group or a group that "stigmatizes" the real history and does not give it due respect and affirmation without following the principle of seeking truth from facts; The "truthfulness" of false history means that individuals, groups or groups take their own history as the object and needs as the orientation, expand the success of history indefinitely based on one-sided untrue words, and artificially create some "brilliant achievements" fabricated out of thin air.

　　Although these two forms of expression seem to be absolutely opposite, they are both aimed at confusing right and wrong and denying history, and their nature and function are exactly the same. No matter what form of historical nihilism is faced with, we must always adhere to the principle of seeking truth from facts and strictly resist and oppose it.

　　Second, we should always seek truth from facts by opposing historical nihilism and treating relevant academic issues.To oppose historical nihilism, we should treat relevant academic issues correctly and separate political issues from academic issues and ideological issues. Some mistakes and different opinions in academic research are mostly due to the different theories, methods, historical materials and understandings of researchers, not the result of historical nihilism, and can not be regarded as historical nihilism. It is normal for different opinions to appear in academic research, but historical nihilism is essentially a political trend of thought with strong political inclination and intention, not an academic school or an academic viewpoint. So, how to distinguish normal academic research from historical nihilism? The first is to look at the size of the scope. Historical nihilists take the history they want to be nihilistic and beautified as the object, not a local event or just a historical node. The second is to see whether it is true or not. Academic research, especially historical researchers, regard historical truth as life, and once they find that they deviate from historical truth, they will immediately correct themselves. In contrast, for historical nihilists, the truth of history is in their imagination and lacks objective evidence. The third is to look at subjective attitude. Intentional historical nihilists aim to shake people’s beliefs and confuse people’s thoughts, which is really selfish. Normal academic researchers aim to pursue the truth, reveal the truth and increase their knowledge. The fourth is to look at the political stance. Whether it caters to and echoes the hostile forces at home and abroad and the social ideological trend encouraged by them, and whether it harms the party’s leadership, national territorial integrity, sovereignty and people’s interests. In a word, judging whether the relevant academic issues are historical nihilism,We should proceed from reality, analyze specific problems and always seek truth from facts.

　　Third, to oppose historical nihilism and solve the truth-related problems, we must always adhere to seeking truth from facts.Resisting and opposing historical nihilism is a serious political struggle, which is related to the leadership of the party and the security of state power, and must be highly valued. So, how to resist and oppose historical nihilism? Seeking truth from facts is the key.

　　First of all, we should always adhere to the political stance of seeking truth from facts in opposing historical nihilism. Specifically, we should adhere to Socialism with Chinese characteristics’s position and safeguard the unity of the party, the country and the nation; Firmly grasp the theme and main line of historical development and profoundly reveal the mainstream and essence of historical development. In short, it is necessary to strictly abide by political discipline and rules, strengthen political determination, and strengthen political stance. In addition, to oppose historical nihilism, we should put a correct understanding of history, an objective evaluation of history and scientific research into the track of institutionalization and rule of law. The Communist Party of China (CPC)’s Regulations on Disciplinary Actions, Several Guidelines on Inner-Party Political Life under the New Situation, and the Supreme People’s Court all make clear provisions against historical nihilism.

　　Secondly, opposing historical nihilism should always adhere to the academic position of seeking truth from facts. We should focus on several basic principles, such as the principle of historical overall research, historical dialectics, historicism and objectivity. We should base our historical conclusions on accurate historical data and in-depth and meticulous research and analysis, and insist on understanding and describing history with historical materialism. Not only that, but also against historical nihilism, we should pay attention to multi-pronged approach. "Revere history, pursue history", abandon biased and narrow views and one-hole views, adhere to the historical general trend and strategic overall situation, and make realistic objective narrative and scientific explanation.