After this meeting a story about Mao’s methods went the rounds of Shanghai’s remaining executive suites. Mao called in Liu [Shaoqi] and Zhou [Enlai] . He had a question for them: “How would you make a cat eat pepper?” Liu spoke up first. “That’s easy,” said the number-two man. “You get somebody to hold the cat, stuff the pepper in its mouth, and push it down with a chopstick.” Mao raised his hands in horror at such a made-in-Moscow solution. “Never use force…. Everything must be voluntary.” Zhou had been listening. Mao inquired what the premier would do with the cat. “I would starve the cat,”
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