________________ SOCIAL CONTENTS OF SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL REVOLUTION 85 societies. It would also imply the institutionalisation of such systems of science and technology in these nations which does not become a disguised source of neo-colonialism and thwart the possibility of successful scientific and technological revolution in consonance with the organic and historical needs of these societies. O ON THEORY AND PRACTICE If we have a correct theory, but merely prate about it, pigeonhole it, and do not put it into practice, then that theory, however good, has no significance. Knowledge starts with practice, reaches the theoretical place via practice, and then has to return to practice. The active function of knowledge not only manifests itseif in the active leap from perceptual knowledge to rational knowledge, but also-and this is the more important-in the leap from rational knowledge to revolutionary practice. The knowledge which enables us to grasp the laws of the world must be re-directed to the practice of changing the world, that is, it must again be applied in the practice of production, in the practice of the revolutionary class struggle and revolutionary national struggle, as well as in the practice of scientific experimentation. This is the process of testing and developing theory, the continuation of the whole process of knowledge. --Mao Tse-tung
