After the May 4th Movement, the camp of the New Culture Movement was obviously divided, and there was a debate between Marxists and anti-Marxists. Hu Shi, a bourgeois reformist, published the article "Study more problems and talk less about ism", which provoked the dispute between "problems and ism".

Hu Shi opposed the spread of Marxism in China and fundamentally changed China society by means of political revolution. He advocates studying problems one by one and improving them bit by bit.

To this end, Li Dazhao published the article "Re-discussion of Problems and Doctrine", pointing out that in view of the reality in China at that time, it was impossible to rely solely on "little by little improvement", and social problems "must be fundamentally solved before we can hope to solve all specific problems one by one."

This debate is the first round of struggle between Marxism and anti-Marxism in China, which marks the open split between Marxists and reformists within the United front of the New Culture Movement. As a result of the debate, early Marxists became more convinced that only scientific socialism could save China, and a large number of progressive young people began to distinguish between true and false socialist theories and embarked on the road of scientific socialism. ?

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19 19 in July and August, there was an argument between them about "problems and ism", which was also called "debate" in recent years. But realistically speaking, the so-called "debate" or "argument" between the two men was actually conducted in a calm atmosphere.

Li Dazhao wrote an open letter to Hu Shi, refuting Hu Shi's point of view, that is, the article "Re-discussion on Problems and Doctrine", which was very polite and humble throughout. For example, it says at the beginning: "Sir, when I was out of Beijing, I read mr. yi's paper entitled" Study more problems and talk less about doctrine "published in the third issue of this newspaper, and I had some thoughts.

Some may have been invented with Mr. Wang's ideas, and some are our confessions to society. Now write him down one by one. Please correct me, sir. "At the end of the article, there are words like' If there is anything wrong, please advise'. Obviously, the two men argued for the purpose of discussing the theory, rather than attacking each other for no reason.

During their communication for more than ten years, there have been arguments with different views, more than this time. They never speak ill of each other or slander each other, even if they sometimes have heated arguments. Friendship is always the most important thing. Therefore, it can be said that between Hu Shi and Li Dazhao, there are only debates between scholars and contests between gentlemen.