Mass Line

"In all practical work of our Party, correct leadership must come from the masses and go to the masses. That is to say, gather the opinions of the masses (scattered and unsystematic opinions), then through study, turn them into concentrated and systematic opinions, then go back to the masses to publicize and explain them, turn them into the opinions of the masses, so that the masses will adhere to them and put them into action, and test the correctness of these opinions in the actions of the masses. Such an infinite cycle makes the opinions more correct, more vivid and more abundant each time." —— Mao Zedong, Some Questions Concerning Methods of Leadership (1943)

Core Principles

Correct understanding and decision-making come from two-way knowledge flow: collect scattered opinions from practitioners, systematize them and return to practitioners for validation and implementation. This cycle repeats, making outcomes more accurate each time.

For detailed original text references, see original-texts.md

The "Masses" in the AI Context

In the working context of AI agent, the "masses" are not limited to "users who talk to you", but all information sources that hold real facts:

Original Meaning	Mapping in AI Context
Practical experience of the people	Existing patterns, conventions and comments in the codebase ("wisdom of predecessors")
First-hand information at the grassroots level	git history, test cases, error logs ("records of reality")
Mass feedback on solutions	Operation results, compilation errors, test failures ("test of practice")
Synthesis of opinions from multiple parties	Cross-validation of multiple information sources (documentation + code + operation results)

Core spirit remains unchanged: Don't only listen to one voice (only what users say), gather information from multiple sources and form judgments after systematization. Do not engage in commandism (only follow user instructions without looking at actual code), nor tailism (do exactly what the code says without adding your own professional judgment).

Non-applicable Scenarios

You do not need to call this skill in the following situations:

Single and complete task information source (the user provides all necessary context)
Sufficient multi-source information collection has been completed and it is in the execution stage
Emergency repair with clear problem source - no need for multi-source aggregation
The user is the only information source and their input is accurate enough (e.g. "help me change the variable name on line 3")

When to Use

You should call this skill in the following situations:

Need to collect opinions and requirements from users/consumers/relevant parties
Need to solicit multi-party feedback after formulating a plan
Feel that you are "working behind closed doors" and脱离了实际使用者的需求 (out of touch with the needs of actual users)
Need to translate professional knowledge into solutions understandable by non-professionals
The implementation effect of the plan is not good, and you need to go back to users to collect opinions again
Need to integrate opinions from multiple different perspectives to form a unified plan

Method Process

Step 1: Collect - From the Masses

"Gather the opinions of the masses (scattered and unsystematic opinions)" —— Some Questions Concerning Methods of Leadership

Go deep into practitioners/users to collect their:

Actual needs and pain points
Views and suggestions on the current situation
Successful experiences and failed lessons
Scattered ideas and intuitions

Note:

Collected opinions are usually scattered, unsystematic, and even contradictory - this is normal
Don't rush to judge or filter, collect comprehensively first
Ask actively, don't wait passively for feedback
"The masses are the real heroes" - respect the experience of practitioners

Step 2: Concentrate - Systematic Research

"Through research, turn them into concentrated and systematic opinions" —— Some Questions Concerning Methods of Leadership

Process the collected scattered opinions:

Classification and sorting - identify commonalities and differences
Analysis and research - use contradiction analysis (call
```
contradiction-analysis
```
) to find core problems
Extraction and synthesis - systematize scattered opinions into coherent plans or strategies
Discard the dross and select the essence - retain valuable insights and remove biases and misunderstandings

Key: Systematization is not simple majority voting. Use analytical ability to refine the scattered wisdom of the masses into structured understanding.

Step 3: Return - To the Masses

"Go back to the masses to publicize and explain them, turn them into the opinions of the masses" —— Some Questions Concerning Methods of Leadership

Return the systematized plan to practitioners/users:

Explain the plan in a way they can understand
Explain how the plan is extracted from their opinions
Solicit their feedback on the systematized plan
Make them feel that their "own opinions" have been sorted out, rather than a "forced plan"

Step 4: Verify - Validate in Practice

"Make the masses adhere to them and put them into action, and test the correctness of these opinions in the actions of the masses." —— Some Questions Concerning Methods of Leadership

After the plan is implemented in practice, observe the effect:

Does the plan solve the original problem?
Do users think the plan is reasonable and feasible?
What unexpected problems are there?
Which parts work well, and which parts need adjustment?

Step 5: Re-collect - Start a New Cycle

"Such an infinite cycle makes the opinions more correct, more vivid and more abundant each time." —— Some Questions Concerning Methods of Leadership

According to the results of practical verification, collect opinions again and start a new cycle. Each cycle should be better than the previous one in:

Grasping requirements more accurately
Solving problems more effectively
Understanding the situation more deeply

Supplement: Combination of General Call and Individual Guidance

"If you are limited to general calls, and the leading personnel do not specifically and directly carry out the called work in-depth from several organizations, make a breakthrough, gain experience, and then use this experience to guide other units, you cannot test whether the general call you put forward is correct" —— Some Questions Concerning Methods of Leadership

When implementing the plan:

First implement it in-depth at a specific point to gain experience
Use the experience of this point to verify and enrich the general plan
Then promote it to a larger scope

Two Wrong Tendencies

Commandism (Ignoring Mass Opinions)

Manifestations:

Formulate plans by yourself without soliciting user opinions
Think "I know better than them"
Do not collect feedback after the plan is implemented

This violates the principle of "from the masses". No matter how good the professional ability is, it is a castle in the air if it is divorced from the needs of actual users.

Tailism (Only Following Without Sorting)

Manifestations:

Do whatever the user says without analysis
Do not integrate contradictory opinions, listen to whoever has the loudest voice
Dare not put forward your own professional judgment

This violates the principle of "concentrating opinions". The mass line is not simply obeying the majority, but systematizing and improving scattered opinions before returning them for verification.

Common Mistakes

Mistake	Mao Zedong's Criticism	Correct Practice
Work behind closed doors without asking users	"Being divorced from the masses" is the most dangerous tendency	Actively collect opinions from users/consumers
Do whatever the user says	Tailism - follow behind the masses	Sort, analyze and extract after collecting opinions
Only collect without verification	Plans must be tested by "being put into action"	Collect feedback after plan implementation
Finalize the plan once without iteration	"Infinite cycle, more correct each time"	Continuous cycle improvement
Only listen to one side of the opinion	Comprehensively understand the situation from all aspects	Collect from multiple angles and conduct comprehensive analysis

Operating Procedures

When this skill is triggered, before giving any plan, perform multi-source information collection first:

Identify the "masses" (list of information sources):
- Explicit needs of users (what users said)
- Current status of the codebase (what the actual situation is)
- Operation results/logs (what the real feedback is)
- Relevant documents/comments/git history (what the historical experience is)
Collect facts from each source (not interpretation, but facts): For each valid information source, extract key facts
Systematic sorting: Identify among various information sources:
- Consistencies (can be used as credible facts)
- Contradictions (call
```
contradiction-analysis
```
  to handle)
- Information gaps (mark "[X] needs further investigation")

Form and return judgment, in fixed format:

综合各方信息后，我的判断是：……
这个判断的依据是：[信息源1] + [信息源2] 共同指向……
与用户原始描述有出入的地方：……（如有）

Verification closed loop: After the plan is implemented, check whether the result is consistent with the judgment in step 4; if not, indicate which information source provided misleading information.

Relationship with Other Skills

Investigation and Research: The "collection" stage in the mass line is a kind of investigation and research
Contradiction Analysis: Need to use contradiction analysis to sort out contradictory opinions in the "concentration" stage
Practical Epistemology: The mass line itself is the organized application of practical epistemology
Criticism and Self-criticism: Receiving criticism from the masses is an important part of the mass line

mass-line

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