Nick G.
December 26, 2013 marked the 120th anniversary of the birth of Mao Zedong.
Mao is rightly revered by all genuine revolutionaries.
He had
an unswerving commitment to the great ideals of Communism and led the Chinese
nation and people along the road of collectivism and socialism.
Contributions to the revolutionary struggle
Among
his many achievements and contributions during the revolutionary struggle were
his insistence on investigating a matter thoroughly before speaking about it;
practicing the mass line method of leadership (“from the masses to the
masses”); his theoretical leadership on the nature of the Chinese revolution
(protracted warfare as a process of surrounding the cities from the
countryside); his military and political leadership during the War Against
Japanese Aggression (people’s war, democracy in the army, relationship between
the army and the people, unity and independence in the united front); and the
Yan’an spirit of living simply and leading a plain life.
This
was the time when he also emerged as a teacher of Marxist philosophy. He wrote profound yet understandable tracts
on practice and on contradiction and thereby brought dialectical materialism within
the reach of millions of revolutionary workers and peasants.
He also
gave a new direction to the conduct of rectification movements in the Communist
Party, to the nature and purpose of study and the writing of Party materials,
together with a focussed and unambiguous direction for the development of
literary and artistic creations of a revolutionary nature.
Boldness in developing along the socialist
road
After
the foundation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, he brought about a
clear understanding of the nature of socialist construction in a country
emerging from backward semi-feudal and semi-colonial conditions.
He also
placed the correct handling of contradictions between the people on a firm
theoretical foundation and worked out the essential line for resolving major
social and political dilemmas that arose in the course of socialist
construction.
He
continued to insist on high standards of moral and ethical behaviour. Corruption and nepotism were contained and
all but eliminated. The slogan “Serve
the People”, first elaborated in September 1944 by Mao as a eulogy to an
ordinary PLA soldier, the Long March participant Zhang Side, was widely
popularized through the campaign to learn from another model Communist soldier,
Lei Feng. Lei was only 22 when he died
in 1962, yet he was a paragon of modesty and Communist selflessness.
(The inscription, in Mao's handwriting, reads "Serve the People")
Identifying and opposing revisionism
Following
Stalin’s death, Mao Zedong refused to condemn the great leader of the Soviet
Union. Despite differences of opinion on
certain matters, Mao quickly identified Khrushchev’s attack on Stalin as the
beginning of a change of direction in Soviet policies and of a rewriting by the
new Soviet leadership of some of the fundamental principles of revolutionary
Marxism.
Mao
Zedong would not accept this revision of Marxism but realised that there was
considerable support for it amongst the Chinese Party leadership. He conducted a socialist education movement,
but finding this blocked by some of his fellow leaders, took the unconventional
and unprecedented step of launching the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution.
The
concept of continuing the revolution under the conditions of the dictatorship
of the proletariat was a bold and courageous initiative. There were no guidelines or blueprints and
the first year or so was a matter of letting events take their course, with all
the spontaneity and mistakes that this involved, just as they were also subject
to investigation and analysis. For the
remainder of the Cultural Revolution great advances were made in strengthening
the leadership of proletarian revolutionaries in all sectors of society, of
developing free primary health care and extending schooling to the rural
areas. New forms of socialist political
organisation emerged. Production grew as
revolutionary commitment deepened.
In the
three years after Mao’s death in 1976, the struggle between the capitalist road
and the socialist road, and between capitalist-roaders and Marxist-Leninists
intensified.
A
resolution on certain questions in the history of the Party was adopted,
condemning the Cultural Revolution in its entirety, and diminishing the stature
of Chairman Mao.
Although
the Communist Party, of which Mao Zedong was a founding member, remains in
power in China, the capitalist-roaders and new bourgeois elements in its
leadership have turned it into an entity that Mao Zedong would shudder to
recognise.
Mao Zedong’s teachings continue to guide
revolutionary development
Our
Party continues to regard Mao Zedong as one of the greatest Communist
theoreticians and practitioners of all time.
Despite
the laws of uneven development having turned China onto the path of capitalism
during this stage of its history, Mao’s prestige among the people is sky
high.
That is
why diatribes like those of Jung Chang, and Mao’s personal physician Li Zhisui,
find a ready market in the West: the need to demonise and undermine Mao Zedong
remains a huge problem for the imperialists and the capitalist-roaders.
Study
and learn from Mao Zedong!
Nothing
can destroy his stature as a great revolutionary leader and thinker!
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