Selected Works of Mao

Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung #4

by Mao Zedong

Selected Works of Mao (Volume 4) only

Genres: Politics, Philosophy, History, China

100 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1960

About the author

Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung, and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, statesman and leader of the Chinese Revolution. He was the architect and founding father of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from its establishment in 1949, and held control over the nation until his death in 1976. His theoretical contribution to Marxism–Leninism, along with his military strategies and brand of policies, are collectively known as Maoism.

Mao rose to power by commanding the Long March, forming a Second United Front with Kuomintang (KMT) during the Second Sino-Japanese War to repel a Japanese invasion, and later led the Communist Party of China (CPC) to victory against Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek's KMT in the Chinese Civil War. Mao established political and military control over most of the territory formerly contained within the Chinese Empire and launched a campaign to suppress counterrevolutionaries. He sent the Communist People's Liberation Army into Xinjiang and Tibet but was unable to oust the remnants of the Nationalist Party from Taiwan. He enacted sweeping land reform by using violence and terror to overthrow landlords before seizing their large estates and dividing the land into people's communes. The Communist Party's final victory came after decades of turmoil in China, which included the Great Depression, a brutal invasion by Japan and a protracted civil war. Mao's Communist Party ultimately achieved a measure of stability in China, though Mao's efforts to close China to trade and market commerce, and eradicate traditional Chinese culture, have been largely rejected by his successors.

Mao styled himself "The Great Helmsman" and supporters continue to contend that he was responsible for some positive changes which came to China during his three decade rule. These included doubling the school population, providing universal housing, abolishing unemployment and inflation, increasing health care access, and dramatically raising life expectancy. A cult of personality grew up around Mao, and community dissent was not permitted. His Communist Party still rules in mainland China, retains control of media and education there and officially celebrates his legacy. As a result, Mao is still officially held in high regard by many Chinese as a great political strategist, military mastermind, and savior of the nation. Maoists promote his role as a theorist, statesman, poet, and visionary, and anti-revisionists continue to defend most of his policies.

Reviews

[Ñukñu]

On the People’s Democratic Dictatorship and The Bankruptcy of the Idealist Conception of History were my favorite parts of the text. There’s so much in this volume. I’ll divide it into historical significance and ideological significance.

The time period is from 1945 to 1949. World War 2 was ending and the civil war in China was intensifying. Throughout the resistance against Japan the Communist Party of China attempted to give the Kuomintang (Nationalists) a chance to save face and work with them against Japan in order to expel the imperialists from their homeland and develop their nation. Instead the Nationalists decided to attack liberated areas that were under the administration of Communists and the Communists continued to position themselves in the defense until the war of resistance was over. After the Soviet Union declared war on Japan, the Japanese were defeated. In the final moments of the Japanese forces retreating and returning to Japan, the war criminals that were under the responsibility of the Nationalists were allowed to return to Japan without a trial in China. This became a crucial turning point for the Communists, the moment when politically and militarily they went from the strategic defense to the strategic counter offense. They refused to give up control of the liberated areas to the Nationalists, they refused to give up their arms, and began to identify key leaders of the Nationalists as enemies of the people. The Nationalists responded with force by committing massacres against the urban movement led by the students and attacking the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Mao gave calculations on the rate of casualties and recruitment for the Nationalists forces and assessed that in a couple of years the PLA would outnumber Nationalists forces. As the fighting went on it was clear that the PLA was superior in battle by the land that came under control of the Communists and their numbers increasing. Understanding this the Nationalist attempted to buy time by calling for peace and creating a provisional government that falsely claimed to represent the people of China. This is when the Communists moved into the strategic offensive; they stated that the only way peace could be had is if the war criminals, and this time they included Chiang Kai-Shek, key members of the Nationalists and the Japanese war criminals, were tried in China and given sentences. This is the primary condition for peace among other conditions. This is important because up until this point Chiang was not mentioned as an enemy because of the attempt to restore cooperation between the Nationalists and the Communists. At this point in time the Communists knew they were going to win and that it was only a matter of time, the time was then determined on whether the Nationalists would surrender or be defeated. The Nationalist went as far as writing up an agreement for the terms of peace but rejected it at the moment of signing. The agreement is cited in full. This agreement was a complete surrender of the Nationalists, it was reasonable but would put to trial those who committed war crimes. Since the leadership of the Nationalists were mostly war criminals the signing of this agreement would guarantee their conviction. The Nationalists then doubled down on fighting to the last drop of blood to defeat the Communists. The Communists were in far superior position, so much so that as the Nationalists were making their last efforts to defend their remaining positions several things were being developed with the PLA: the PLA was undergoing reorganization, a provisional government based on a united front was preparing itself for the transfer of power, land reform and production was developing in the liberated areas, and the Party was expanding and developing. The last order for the PLA in the book was to move forward in the country wide advance, a coordinated effort by the PLA to surround and take over the last positions of the Nationalists.

Ideologically there’s so much as well. Marxism-Leninism (ML) is given the credit for the turning point of the revolutions in China. It’s analyzed that the past revolutions in China, mid and late 1800s and the early 1900s were failures because of the bourgeois outlook of its leaders. There was a constant idyllic image of the West as having the answers to solve the problems of China and its people. But although the first two revolutions were close, they were lacking in their foundations to respond to the counter measures of the reactionaries and the imperialists. The third revolution was given a different perspective in that the Nationalists led by Sun Yat-Sen began to look at the Soviet Union and the Communists as a possible path to the solution for the people of China. This path of cooperation was ended by Chiang but the trajectory to a successful revolution was already in motion. The Communist Party arose out of the conditions which China was in and with the example of the Soviet Union to prove that another way was possible. This becomes apparent with the ideological writings throughout Mao’s selected works, and the historical writing gives backing to the theory. It wasn’t just Mao, the Party had many MLists who applied science to how they solved problems and how they led in their organizations. The science was applied to the PLA and how it functioned with the other organizations. Basically to conduct self-criticism, learn from the masses and teach based on what has been taught to you by them, and understanding that the principle concept is people want their needs met which doesn’t just include survival but also development. There’s a lot more, for example the military writings of Mao which is a brilliant mix of dialectical materialism and military strategy and tactics. To make it as succinct as possible I will quote Mao:

“A well-disciplined Party armed with the theory of Marxism-Leninism, using the method of self-criticism and linked with the masses of the people; an army under the leadership of such a Party; a united front of all revolutionary classes and all revolutionary groups under the leadership of such a Party - these are three main weapons with which we have the defeated the enemy.”

There’s no avoiding study. It’s the most important part. Without a revolutionary theory there can be no revolutionary practice.

The first four volumes of Mao’s Selected Works turned Huey P. Newton into a Communist. Given the time period where many national liberation struggles were successful I can understand why. ML is the science of social revolution.

[Voyager]

The fourth volume of the selected works of Mao and the last volume to be published during the lifetime of Mao continues during the resumption of the Chinese Civil War right up until the victory of CCP. As such the majority of this volume is dedicated to the war including manifestos of the party and People's Liberation Army, articles dealing with the interventions of America and Britain on the behalf of the Kuomintang, and the situation now that Japan had been pushed out of China. However a good portion of the volume also deals with people's democracy and this volume contains Mao's infamous "On People's Democratic Dictatorship" where he argues for the preservation of capitalism in China and class collaboration. The case with this volume is much the same with the previous ones where the military writings are of definite historical interest, especially for those who want to study the history of the Chinese Civil War, but the great interest for Marxists will be the further demonstration of the opportunist line of Mao and his cohorts in the CCP which is demonstrated throughout this volume too and especially in "On People's Democratic Dictatorship".

[Ferio]

Quién iba a decirme a mí que, de todos los grandes estadistas que he ido revisando en los últimos años, con el que más iba a aprender (cosas buenas y malas) iba a ser con Mao. La verdad es que con Vladimir Lenin aprendí también mucho, especialmente sobre el desarrollo del marxismo de la teoría a la práctica, pero con este estoy aprendiendo también que no es oro todo lo que reluce en las hoces y los martilos de las banderas de los partidos comuistas. Y eso es bueno, porque uno se pasa la vida oyendo a la gente hablando de mitos y leyendas hasta que se va a las fuentes y flipa; y pasa con todo: Religión, Política, recetas culinarias cuyo ingrediente principal es el Amor...

En este tomo de las Obras Selectas nos encontramos principalmente con el final de la Guerra contra Japón, toda la Guerra Civil entre el Kuomintang y el resto de las fuerzas chinas, y los primeros problemas explícitos contra los EEUU. De lo poco que se nos enseña en los colegios y escuelas españoles podríamos deducir que Mao fue una especie de monstruo cuya única aportación a la Historia fue la de los campos de reeducación (de los que habla someramente en este tomo). Y ojo, que desde una perspectiva libre y liberal esos campos son una maldita aberración, pero eran hijos de su tiempo: Alemania, España, Rusia...

Sin embargo, lejos de empezar sus andanzas puramente políticas (una vez terminadas las refriegas) convertido en un dictador puro y duro como nos vende la propaganda, Mao propuso que la China de mediados del siglo XX, mayoritariamente feudal aún por su desarrollo social basado en terratenientes y familias, evolucionara hacia un sistema democrático liberal y capitalista como fase previa al estado socialista (siguiendo las enseñanzas de Marx y Lenin punto a punto). Es por ello que trabajó con el resto de partidos, se limitó a ajustar ligeramente la propiedad de la tierra y colaboró económicamente con los industriales del país, que no eran muchos, para que el Progreso entrara con fuerza antes de que la sociedad eligiera el Socialismo como forma de organización.

También en esta época se dedicó a criticar las obras de los EEUU en su país tras descubrir documentalmente que habían estado apoyando más de lo aparente al Kuomintang; la huida de su embajador fue clave en todo esto, claro. Pero no cerraron sus fronteras cual una loca Corea del Norte, sino que ofrecieron colaboración comercial y de otros tipos a cualquier país que viniese en son de paz y con ánimos sinérgicos. La verdad es que, leído así, uno no puede evitar empatizar con el Presidente Mao en muchas de sus obras.

Por supuesto, muchas décadas después sabemos que no todo salió como él lo escribió, ya sea por acción o inacción de las fuerzas históricas, y aunque China tiende a modernizarse cada vez más y nunca ha superado el Capitalismo de Estado (como tampoco lo terminó de hacer la URSS), cabe preguntarse qué hubiera sido de aquella vasta región si su Partido Comunista no se hubiera enfrentado a la situación tan mala que vivía su población; probablemente solo fueran pastores de cabras con armas nucleares en vez de los nuevos amos del mundo.