Ai Ssu-ch'i 艾思奇 Ai Ssu-ch'i (1905-22 March 1966), ideologue, became prominent in the Chinese Communist movement as a popularizer of Marxist-Leninist theories in such works as his Ta-chung che-hsueh [philosophy for the masses] and in his articles in the Communist party magazine Hsueh-hsi [study].

Virtually nothing is known of Ai Ssu-ch'i's family background or his childhood other than that he was born in T'engch'ung on the Burma border of Yunnan and that his ancestral home reportedly was in Chekiang province. It may be surmised that the family must have been in reasonably comfortable circumstances and that as a boy Ai received a formal education, for it is known that he went to Japan and studied philosophy there.

On his return to China, probably in the early 1930's, Ai Ssu-ch'i made his debut in the world of letters as one of the editors of Tu-shu sheng-huo [intellectual life], a leftist publication which was founded at Shanghai in 1933 and which became very popular among young students throughout China. Ai Ssu-ch'i's associates at that time included Chang Han-fu, later to be a vice minister of foreign affairs at Peking; Liu Shih, who figured prominently in the National Salvation Association organized at Shanghai early in 1935; and Li Kung-p'u, a leader of the same association who was among the so-called seven gentlemen of the group imprisoned by the National Government.

In 1934 Ai Ssu-ch'i attracted attention with a series of articles in Tu-shu sheng-huo in which he defended orthodox Marxism against the polemics of Yeh Ch'ing (Jen Cho-hsuan, q.v.), whom the leaders of the Chinese Communist party labeled a Trotskyist. The controversy revolved around the claim that dialectical materialism is an absolute and fixed truth beyond scientific proof, a belief to which Yeh Ch'ing did not subscribe. Ai held that Marxism is superior to science and that it alone is the theory of society and the law of social change. Unlike other philosophies, it cannot perish, Ai asserted.

Ai became a member of the Chinese Communist party in 1935. He then began writing on Marxism-Leninism in the vernacular for the benefit of the less intellectual, and during the next few years he produced some of the works which brought him popularity. In 1936 he published Ssu-hsiang fang-fa lun [on methods of thinking], which elucidated the theory that dialectical materialism is the only scientific method of thought, and Che-hsueh chiang-hua [philosophical talks], which formed the conceptual basis of much of his later work. He was also cotranslator with Cheng I-li of a popular manual on Marxism called Hsin che-hsueh ta-kang [outline of the new philosophy], published in June 1936. In the same year Ai Ssu-ch'i wrote what is perhaps his most widely read treatise, Ta-chung che-hsueh [philosophy for the masses]. Over the years this book went through more than 30 printings, became one of the most popular volumes on Marxism in China, and was endorsed by the Chinese Communist party as a suitable introduction to the study of Marxism- Leninism. In this book Ai Ssu-ch'i demonstrated his ability to make abstract concepts palatable by utilizing vocabulary drawn from proverbs and traditional Chinese literature. This technique proved very useful in introducing impressionable young students to Marxism- Leninism.

After the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese war in 1937, Ai Ssu-ch'i was among the first group of literary-intellectual figures to migrate to Yenan, where the Chinese Communists had consolidated their forces. Arriving with Ai or at about the same time were other intellectuals who afterwards established themselves in the Chinese Communist movement, notably Ch'en Po-ta, Chou Yang, and Hu Ch'iao-mu. Mao Tse-tung was then striving to consolidate control over the Chinese Communist party. Yet, Mao's efforts to establish his position as a Marxist theorist met covert criticism, if not open challenge, from members of the Chinese party who had studied in Moscow. Such men as Chang Wen-t'ien, Ch'en Shao-yi, Ch'in Pang-hsien (qq.v.), and others reportedly viewed Mao as a t'u-kung [country Communist] who had no sophisticated knowledge of Marxism-Leninism. Mao therefore enlisted Ai Ssu-ch'i, Ch'en Po-ta, Hu Ch'iao-mu, and a few others to assist in the exposition of his own brand of Marxism- Leninism. The resulting body of doctrine came to be referred to as the thought of Mao Tsetung (q.v.), which purportedly combines the universal truth of Marxism-Leninism with the practice of the Chinese revolution. Having been admitted to the entourage of Mao Tse-tung, Ai played a significant role in the transmission of current Soviet writings on Marxist philosophy, many of which were just then being translated from the Russian. Ai and others supervised the translation of the article on dialectical materialism from the BoVshaia Sovetskaia Entsiklopedüa [great soviet encyclopedia], for example. After 1937 Ai Ssu-ch'i became increasingly active as a teacher in Communist education and indoctrination institutes. He lectured at the North Shensi Institute and also at the Yenan headquarters of the K'ang-ta [anti-Japanese military and political university], which was responsible for indoctrination of cadres. He also taught Marxist philosophy at the more intellectual Yenan University. During this period Ai also produced several books : Che-hsueh yü sheng-huo [philosophy and life], an attempt to reply to criticism of Marxism for its alleged lack of moral principles; Li-lun yü shih-chien [theory and practice] ; and Che-hsueh hsuan-chi [philosophical extracts]. In 1939, in collaboration with Wu Li-p'ing, he wrote K'o-hsueh li-shih-kuan chiao-ch''eng [introduction to the scientific concept of history]. During these years Ai Ssu-ch'i was a member of the Communist party research institute. He first edited a supplement in the Chinese Communist party organ, the Yenan Chieh-fang jih-pao [liberation daily news] , and later became an editor of that newspaper. In 1940 he edited a new magazine, Chung-kuo wen-hua [Chinese culture], the inaugural issue of which featured Mao Tse-tung's essay, "New Democracy." By 1943, Ai Ssu-ch'i was also a member of the government council of the Shensi-Kansu- Ninghsia Border Area Government.

After the Sino-Japanese war ended in 1945, the Nationalists and the Chinese Communists resumed their civil warfare. Little is known of ~Ai Ssu-ch'i's activities during the early part of this period. By 1948, when the tide was turning against the Nationalists, the Communists had established their headquarters at Shih-chiachuang in Hopei province. North China University was organized in that area, and Ai Ssu-ch'i was appointed professor of philosophy. Also in 1948 his She-hui fa-chan chien-shih [short history of social development] was published.

As complete national victory approached, the Chinese Communists in September 1949 convened the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference to create a new national government. Ai Ssu-ch'i attended that meeting as a delegate from the group of social science workers in the country. After the establishment of the Central People's Government, Ai Ssu-ch'i was made a member of the cultural and educational affairs committee of the Government Administration Council, the predecessor of the State Council.

In September 1949 the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist party launched the magazine Hsueh-hsi [study], as the principal theoretical journal of the party. It also served as a basic textbook to be used by the party in connection with its initial intensive "study" program designed to indoctrinate the populace in the essential principles of Marxism and the thought of Mao Tse-tung. Ai Ssu-ch'i frequently contributed to this journal. His other publications of the period, often based upon articles originally written for Hsueh-hsi, dealt with historical materialism, the history of social development, and the objectives and basic methods of study. For a period in 1952, however, Ai Ssu-ch'i apparently "strayed toward error," and he was forced to recant some statements which were construed as being too favorable toward the bourgeoisie. He wrote of his mistakes in an article which appeared in the 16 March 1952 issue of Hsueh-hsi; then, publication of the magazine was suspended for six months.

Later, Ai Ssu-ch'i began writing again in Hsueh-hsi and continued to be a leader in the sinification of traditional Marxism-Leninism. In addition to many short pamphlets, Ai published essays. Two of note were his attack on Hu Shih (q.v.), Hu Shih shih-yung-chu-i p'i-p'an [critique of Hu Shih's pragmatism], and his She-hui li-shih shou-hsien shih kung-ch'an-che ti li-shih [social history is primarily the history of the Communist]. His Pien-cheng wei-wu-chu-i chiang-k'o t'i-kang [lectures on the principles of dialectical materialism] was published in Peking in 1957.

Ai Ssu-ch'i was an influential figure in the field of philosophy in the People's Republic of China. In 1949 he was appointed a vice chairman of the preparatory committee for the China Philosophical Society. When that organization was inaugurated, he was made first vice president. In 1955 he was appointed a member of the department of philosophy and social sciences at the Academy of Sciences at Peking, and he was a professor at the Marx- Lenin Institute of the Chinese Communist party. He was elected a deputy, representing Kweichow province, to the First National People's Congress in 1954, and to the Second Congress in 1959. He was not reelected in 1964, however. He died on 22 March 1966. Ai Ssu-ch'i never rose high in the ranks of the Chinese Communist party itself. His only important party post was that of director of the philosophy pedagogic research office in the Higher Party School.