n710  2318  17 Jan 79
 
The following is from the London Telegraph Foreign Service.

By NIGEL WADE
Daily Telegraph, London
    PEKING - While some young Chinese are beginning to think for
themselves about Communism, most of them still feel that it is too
dangerous to get involved in politics, according to a dissident.
    His account of political attitudes among Chinese students and young
workers is one of the most revealing ever given to a foreigner since
the Communists took control of China 30 years ago.
    In an interview this week, he estimated the number of active
dissidents at a few hundred in Peking and perhaps a thousand in all
of China. The young man is a student in his early 20s who is busily
involved in meetings, writing posters and contributing articles to
unofficial newspapers.
    We met privately for about 45 minutes and he spoke with passion
of his need to make his own assessment of Communist theories that
have been dinned into him since birth. Others feel the same, he said,
but many take the Communist system for granted.
    He also described the different attitudes taken by young people
toward Marxism-Leninism and the teachers of the late chairman Mao
Tse-tung. Here is what he told me, written down as he spoke.
    ''There are some who say that Marxism-Leninism and Mao's thoughts
are absolutely bad. Why? Because facts in our country and all the
Communist countries in the world show that all these countries have
made poor economic progress. The living standards of their people are
very low and there is no democracy or freedom.
    ''Others say Marxism-Leninism and the teachings of Mao are a
fundamental weapon. They say this because they have not thought
about things deeply. They form opinions out of habit, conditioned
by circumstances under which they live and by constant propaganda.
    ''But we must begin this work. The leaders of our party and
government are also doing this work. But if they do it without the
support and help of the people I think they cannot succeed.
    ''Every day we hear Marxism-Leninism quoted, but we do not know
what this theory is and whether it is good for our life and our
society. We are compelled to believe this theory and we do not
observe our life and society from our own point of view.
    ''Now, with the April Fifth Movement (stemming from a riot by
supporters of the late Premier Chou En-lai on April 5, 1976) and
with the Democracy Wall movement, many young Chinese are
beginning to think whether Marxism -Leninism is absolutely right.
    They begin to approach Marxism-Leninism as one object for study
and not as the one and only instrument for observing life and
society. I myself cannot conclude whether Marxism-Leninism is
absolutely right or absolutely wrong. I want to study and explore.
    ''I think the leaders of our country are exploring too. In building
a modern society they have no experience. They cannot use classical
Marxism-Leninism to find a way of building a new Modernized society.
They admit this themselves. I know this from reading our newspapers
and magazines.
    ''Many of my friends do not like to study society and our life.
They say such a thing is not safe. They think it is dangerous. Most
of my friends say so. They say to study physics or mathematics or
chemistry is safe. ''They feel the problems of society are too
complex to be clarified. They think that to study and find the way
to build a new China is too difficult and too dangerous.
    ''They accept this one great theory of Marxism-Leninism as they
accept that the sun is red and the table is made of wood.
    ''Another widely held view is that classical Marxism-Leninism is
good and correct and the idea of Marxism-Leninism is beautiful but
that we have yet to achieve the Marxist-Leninist ideal. People who
feel like this say present conditions in China are not the utopia
described by Marx, Engels or Lenin and that we have not followed
the good example of the Paris Commune.
    ''My ability and experience do not enable me to reach such a
concrete and final conclusion. Even people who do make such
conclusions cannot find complete solutions to our country's problems.
They cannot find a new approach to modernize China. All of them
admit this. 
    ''They can only propose various small reforms. None is the perfect
answer. All of us lack deep theory and rich experience. Our power
is not great and we are weak in organization. One good thing is that
now we are beginning to study and observe Marxism-Leninism from a
doubting angle. I think this is a very good thing, a very good
beginning.
    ''Whether Marxist theory is good or bad cannot be learned from
force-fed propaganda. We must study and explore ourselves.
    ''We Chinese always believe our leaders too deeply but do not
believe in ourselves. If the people of a country only believe their
leaders but do not believe in themselves I do not think the country
can modernize and I do not think the prospects for the country are
very bright.
    ''Perhaps the circumstances of life in China limit my people
and my companions in studying these things deeply.
    ''A lot of my friends convert their efforts to literature. I like
literature, too, but I think literature is not a powerful weapon to
solve the problems of our country. The more powerful weapons are
political fighting and economic works.
    ''Literature is another kind of weapon to fight for a prosperous
China. They are parallel, but only a few companions agree with me.
Maybe there are a lot of people who agree with me or have wiser
opinions than me but I have not met them.
    ''I used to like studying natural sciences and I liked social
sciences too. Now, since many of my companions do not think studying
social science and finding the way to modernize our country is safe,
I must do this work. And I will be very glad to gather many people
who think as I do and to study and explore together.
    ''I do not feel afraid. My friends are young workers. They say
they fear nothing. Their circumstances of life are not too
good and not too bad.
    ''If things go on as they are their lives will not be very
interesting but will not be very bad either. They do not see very
bright prospects for their lives. But neither is the outlook very
dark. In a word, they think their life is very boring.
    ''They do not think this life is one that absolutely cannot be
endured, but they do not think it very interesting or bright.
    ''Most of them have not made up their minds to study and explore
deeply over a long time and some of them admit as much to me. They
often say 'I have not thought much until now.'
    ''Many of them have a very strong ability to organize men. But
there are only a few intellectuals to join them. Very few,
particularly intellectuals whose work is to study society.