Australian billionaires

 

It is a triumph

of free enterprise, surely,

that in 2024 our country is

lucky to have 159 billionaires

with a total wealth of $503 billion.

 

Australians all, let us rejoice:

 

The desperate-to-play soccer

seven-year old whose parents

cannot afford

soccer club fees;

the old woman who may as well

live in a shoe, cramping in the cold

of her car, her home – her rent now paid

in rego fees and petrol prices;

the farmer who wants a life

and cannot even think about

those who will have to scrape his

body parts from the tree into which

he so desperately drives;

those whose hopes and dreams

are sacrificed in dozens of types

of gambling; the tjilpi drawing circles

in the dust with his toes, while the mining

company rips at the treasures beneath his feet.

 

And I haven’t even

scratched the surface yet

of the hurt and despair…

 

But there are 159 billionaires

Who make us what we are

 

“Young and free”

 

The rich man in his castle

The poor man at his gate

There’s no greater love

Than feeling class hate.

 

23 April 2024

Mao Zedong: Disagreeing with the reference to Maoism.

 

不同意毛泽东主义的提法

（1948年8月15日）

吴玉章（1）同志,

未元电(2)悉。那样说是很不适当的。现在没有什么毛泽东主义，因此不能说毛泽东主义。不是什么“主要的要学毛泽东主义”，而是必须号召学生们学习马恩列斯的理论和中国革名的经验。这里所说的“中国革命的经验”是包括中国共产党人（毛泽东也是在内）根据马恩列斯理论所写的某些小册子及党中央各顶规定路线和政策的文件在内。另外，有些同志在刊物上将我的名字和马恩列斯并列，说成什么“马恩列斯毛”，也是错误的。你的说法和这后一种说法都是不合实际的，是无益 有害的，必定坚决反对这样说。

毛泽东

未删

（1）     吴玉章 (1878-1966), 四川容县人。当时任华北大学校长。

（2）     指吴玉章1948年8月13日給周恩来的电报。 在电报中，吴玉章表示在华北大学成立典礼上提出“主要的要学毛泽东主义” “把毛泽东思想改成毛泽东主义“。 对这样的提法”是否妥当“，请周恩来”同主席和少奇同志商量后，赐以指示“。

 

Disagreeing with the reference to Maoism.

(August 15, 1948)

Comrade Wu Yuzhang, （1）

We have just received your letter. That would be very inappropriate. There is no such thing as Maoism now, so you can't say Maoism. Instead of "mainly studying Maoism", students must be called upon to study the theories of the Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin and the experience of the Chinese Revolution. The "experience of the Chinese Revolution" here includes certain pamphlets written by the Chinese Communists (including Mao Zedong) on the basis of the theories of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin as well as documents of the Central Committee of the Communist Party setting out its lines and policies. In addition, some comrades have wrongly juxtaposed my name with that of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin in their publications, saying something like "Marx-Engels-Lenin-Stalin-Mao". This is also wrong. Both your statement and this latter one are unrealistic, unhelpful and harmful, and must be strongly rejected.

Mao Zedong

Unabridged

(1)   Wu Yuzhang (1878-1966) was a native of Rongxian, Sichuan. At that time, he was the president of North China University.

(2)   (1) This refers to a telegram dated 13 August 1948 from Wu Yuchang to Zhou Enlai. In the telegram, Wu Yuzhang stated that at the inauguration ceremony of the North China University, he had proposed that "the main thing to be learnt is Maoism" and that "Mao Zedong Thought should be changed into Maoism". Zhou Enlai was asked to "discuss with the Chairman and Comrade Shaoqi and give instructions" as to whether such a proposal was "appropriate".

 

（Translated from the Collected Works of Mao Zedong Vol 24 p.371 - 24-sm.pdf (bannedthought.net)）

 

The ineffectiveness of anti-corruption struggles in China

Corruption re-emerged in China in a big way after the restoration of capitalism and remains source of social dissatisfaction today. Here, the November 2023 edition of Struggle Monthly critiques the phenomenon and the Party’s hypocritical and self-serving “anti-corruption” campaigns – Trans.

 

Anti-corruption film in a fairy tale

Above: The fist of anti-corruption smashes the wall of 腐败 (means ‘rotten, corrupt’) while the vertical comment in red reads: 你说这个我都觉得好笑（‘I think it’s funny, a joke, when you say that’）

Since the restoration of capitalism after 1976, the ideology of capitalism has also been restored.

It dares not give up Marxism-Leninism-Socialism directly, but can only distort vulgar Marxism-Leninism through various means. As a bureaucratic capitalist, it cannot go for the bourgeois form of democracy in the West, and Chairman Mao said that once revisionism came to power, it would be the worst kind of capitalism, and that if it engaged in the bourgeois liberalisation, the 89 Incident[1] would occur, so it had to bring back the feudal elements at the same time to serve as an ideological cohesion. The two together have carried out a counter-attack on the former socialist culture, which has continued to this day, and it is most obvious and reactionary in the cultural field. Popular literary works and film and television productions are nothing but the most shameless and naked deception of bureaucratic capitalism against the working people.

The Zhongxiu[2] authorities have a very clever way of disguising themselves. Take anti-corruption works as an example, how does Zhongxiu tell such stories? The villains and contradictions in such works are usually the corruption of a high-powered official at the local level, and the impact on the people is manifested in the emergence of triad-type bullies or unscrupulous businessmen who do harm to one side, for example, Zhao Lichun, Gao Yuliang, and Qi Tongwei in the name of the people are the former, and the latter are unscrupulous businessmen such as Zhao Ruilong and Gao Xiaoqin.

The positive characters are Sha Ruijin, a minister of the imperial police, and Hou Liangping, who has a background as a royal relative. The logic of this kind of story is to let the audience focus on how the positive side defeats the negative side step by step, and how the positive side highlights the righteousness of the spirit of anti-corruption. One of the key characters, and the one with the most sinister intentions, is Chen Yan, a veteran cadre with genuine communist consciousness, who is used to show that there is still hope within the party and that it is not completely corrupt. In the film and TV drama, Chen Yan sits up all night with the workers of the Dafeng factory in order to stop the demolition of the factory and prevent conflicts from intensifying, and the image of the communist as being deeply involved in the people's lives is built up, and the authorities are using this kind of rare example to prove that this Party, which has already deteriorated, is still good.

The vast majority of anti-corruption films and TV programmes follow this narrative logic, which is the most deceptive to the people, making them believe that the Party is really carrying out a self-revolution, but in fact it is just internal strife. In connection with the recently released film "I Am Originally a High Mountain", which is based on the story of Zhang Guimei, we can clearly see the sinister intention of Zhongxiu's cultural works under his reactionary ideology, which is to make the people be touched by those who really do something, so that they can spontaneously defend this capitalist, exploitative and cannibalistic social system. The "Zero Tolerance" and "Moving China" productions made by Zhongxiu are just window-dressing. Those who have really made a contribution to the people become idols under the propaganda of Zhongxiu, which ultimately serves to strengthen its rule.

Above: the anti-corruption politician has a sack on his back with the characters for ‘keeping a mistress’

The same applies to this kind of TV drama, which will try to portray a clean official who serves the people and is sent by the Central Authorities to rectify the local situation. Sha Ruijin and Hou Liangping in the Name of the People are such characters, but in essence, the appearance of these officials is just a manifestation of the state machinery to maintain its own functioning, with the aim of removing local corrupt officials who threaten the overall interests of the general public, and the general public will often be confused by the illusion of this kind of drama: the Central Committee of the Party is wise and mighty, and sends inspection teams to solve problems at the local level. Essentially, these problems are caused by the reform and opening up of capital. For example, a masked person breaks your leg. You don’t know who it is. Later, the person who broke your leg heals your leg. , you don’t know who is the person who broke your leg, but instead you are grateful to him, whether it is anti-corruption or poverty alleviation. This kind of vicious method is very deceptive to the people, but the lies will eventually be seen through.

For the bureaucratic bourgeoisie who truly hold power, the Discipline Inspection Commission is nothing more than a tool for political struggle. The real Zhao family will always be at large. Small fish and shrimps like Arctic Catfish[3] are no match for thieves like Deng Pufang. As part of the state apparatus, the Discipline Inspection Commission will also play a certain role in self-purification, but its role is very limited. This is not self-revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat. It is useless to arrest and kill a group of corrupt officials. Under the dictatorship of the bureaucratic bourgeoisie, Capitalism and private ownership will continue to produce corrupt officials. China's revision has long entered the law of historical cycles. Chairman Xi does not even have the courage to kill corruption, and talking about self-revolution is just a lie to deceive the people.

This kind of cultural work has given us a lot of food for thought today. When the class struggle and revolution stop on the road to socialist development, there will be a regression, and capitalism will gradually spread from the ideological to the political and economic spheres, as history after the Cultural Revolution has proved. The experience left to us by the Cultural Revolution is that after the establishment of a socialist regime, an ideological revolution must be carried out. After the temporary death of capitalism, the stench and filth it emits will still affect us. It will wait for an opportunity to dominate people's ideologies again, and in reality China completed its own restoration. The chaos and regression in China's ideological field today strongly prove this.

Above: both cartoons illustrate anti-corruption campaigners accepting bribes and accumulating wealth.

---

---

[1] The “89 Incident” refers to the June 4, 1989 crackdown.

[2] “Zhongxiu” is an abbreviation for “Chinese revisionism” and is used not only to indicate an ideological departure from Marxism, but the Party and the State that serve this departure.

[3] “Arctic Catfish” is the social media name of the granddaughter of Zhong Gengci, former director of the Freight Management Branch of Shenzhen Transportation Bureau. She outraged Chinese netizens by disparaging the common people ana flaunting her family’s wealth, which she claimed ran to a nine-figure sum. Some netizens found that the IP of "Arctic Catfish" shows the location as Australia. After a rather desultory examination of Zhong Genci’s situation by the Commission for Discipline Inspection, he was expelled from the Party in October 2023.

Chairman Mao's advice to Colombian revolutionaries

 (Translator's Preface: This is taken from Vol 46 of Chairman Mao's Collected Works on the bannedthought website: Adobe Photoshop PDF (bannedthought.net) )

Some Experiences of Armed Struggle[1]

5 December 1963

（1）

Revolution is always about creating your own experience. In the past, none of us knew how to fight and we were not prepared to go to the mountains to fight as guerrillas. I was in the workers' and peasants' movement, and I was a primary school teacher by profession. But the enemy wanted to capture us and kill us, so we were forced to go to the mountains to fight. No matter how we fought or how we didn't, we never studied. We learned from Chiang Kai-shek and from the enemy and fought for ten years. Later, when the Japanese came in, we learned to fight with them again. I have fought in wars all my life, for 22 years in total. From not having the will to fight to having the will to fight, from not knowing how to fight to learning how to fight.

In armed struggle, we must learn to destroy the enemy. If you can't destroy a hundred of them, you have to destroy fifty of them. As long as their guns and bullets are surrendered, you will not lose money. If you just drive them away, and not destroy them, then it won't work. If we can cut off one finger, we will only have nine fingers left, and if we cut off one more finger, we will only have eight fingers left, and if we cut off one more finger, we will only have seven fingers left. In this way, the enemy will be afraid of us. It is possible to wipe out the enemy one by one and cut off the fingers one by one. This is basically the way to fight a war. To fight a war of annihilation, we have to choose the time and place.

Another point is that armed struggle requires base areas. Without a base area, you cannot even cut off a finger. First of all, we should fight the most loathsome ones, starting with the worst ones, that is, those in power. Those who do not have deep hatred for the peasants can be left untouched for the time being. We can also not distribute land immediately, but first reduce rents and interest rates. Once the base areas are established, we can establish power, peasant associations, youth and women's organisations, production co-operatives and militias. For quite some time, some comrades did not understand this issue and left after the fight, which is called rogueism. They ran around, ate all the pigs and chickens and then left.

（2）

Because cities are the strongholds of imperialist aggression, they are not easy to take over at once. Small towns might have been possible, but often the enemy forced us to withdraw even after we had arrived, and this was repeated many times. The main thing is to destroy the enemy's power, without which the place cannot be defended.

In addition, there must be a separate political and economic programme for the countryside, because it is impossible to be very specific in the general programme. Once a base area is established, rents and interest rates can be reduced, but land is not confiscated immediately. If the enemy was too strong to be destroyed at once, or if the guerrillas left, the enemy would kill people and the peasants would not dare to ask for the land. In Cuba, before the victory of the revolution, there was no land distribution in the base areas because they had only been fighting for three years. Our country was so big and the war was so long that we fought for 20 years, so during the war we carried out land reform. This was also after we had won some big battles and had a base of millions of people. You have to do it on a case-by-case basis, combining Marxism-Leninism with your situation.

You must mingle with the people, speak the same language and dress like them, so that they feel that you are a trusted friend. One shortcoming of urban intellectuals, and I myself am no different, is that I am not familiar with the situation in the countryside. At first the peasants did not trust us because they were oppressed by those who were rich. If we did not win the war, they did not trust us either. After we had won the war and treated them as equals, they trusted us.

（3）

 There is also the rule of self-reliance, supplemented by international aid. With international aid or without, we have to rely on ourselves. Like in ancient times, they had no foreign support for their armed struggle, and where did they get their weapons? They took them from the enemy. We fought the war with the enemy, we got our guns from the enemy, and we captured many of them and added them to our troops. The enemy's soldiers were trained to fight. Our soldiers were untrained, and if we took some captives, they would have fought. The base area was a school for training cadres. Many of our leaders, such as Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai, Deng Xiaoping and many other marshals and generals, did not know how to fight at first, but learnt during the war.

In the past, there were no marshals, generals, colonels or lieutenants, but only commanders, military commanders, divisional commanders, regimental commanders, battalion commanders, company commanders, platoon commanders and squad commanders. Officers were the same as soldiers. But then there were many titles and better clothes than soldiers. I don't think that's good. It's better to be the same as a soldier. I don't live by the title of marshal or general. I am not a marshal or a general, but the Chairman of the Central Committee of the Party, and I should not live on that title. The masses do not care what kind of wealth you have, nor what clothes you wear, but only what policies you have. They don't care what party you are, whether it is the Communist Party or the Guomindang, but if the Communist Party's policies are wrong, they will still scold you. Where does knowledge come from? We are all very stupid. Knowledge comes from the masses. If we don't do research, we don't know anything. This is some of our experience.

 

 

 

---

[1] Sections 1 to 3 are part of Mao Zedong's conversation with a study delegation from the Colombian "Workers, Students and Peasants Movement".

Mao Zedong: Xinjiang must do well in economic work and strengthen national unity

 

(The caption above reads: In 1963, Mao Zedong met with Baoer Khan, Chairman of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and Vice-Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.)

(Translator's preface: Mao Zedong's policy on national minorities consistently held to two central features: [1] that there should be preferential treatment for national minorities; and [2] that in the relations between the majority Han Chinese and Chinese belonging to national minorities, the responsibility lay with the Han Chinese to overcome Han chauvinism and to treat the national minorities with respect. These two aspects can be clearly seen in these excerpts from discussions on the Xinjiang issue. From Vol 46 of the Collected Works of Mao Zedong.)

Xinjiang must do well in economic work and strengthen national unity[1]

 (28 September 1963)

Agriculture, animal husbandry and industry must develop more and more every year, the economy must prosper more and more every year, and the people's lives must improve more and more every year. The development of our economy and the improvement of people's lives must be better than not only during the period of Guomindang rule, but also than in the present Soviet Union. The development of socialist construction requires accumulation, but not too much accumulation; food must be requisitioned, but the task must not be too heavy and the requisition must not be excessive. The people's burden must be eased and their lives improved. The supply of goods to the people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang, such as cloth, tea, sugar and other daily necessities, should be more adequate than in other regions. The Premier[2] should tell Xiannian[3] to inform him.

To strengthen ideological and political education, Han cadres must learn the language and script of ethnic minorities. We must educate Han cadres and people to strictly abide by the Party's ethnic policy. We must believe in the vast majority of the ministries and people of all nationalities, no matter which nationality they are, as long as they are working people. The Han Chinese working people who have entered Xinjiang must be well settled. The relationship between the working people of the Han Chinese and the working people of the ethnic minorities in Xinjiang must be resolved. Because of the differences in ethnicity, language and living habits, it is necessary to educate Han Chinese working people on ethnic policies, to teach them to respect the customs and habits of ethnic minorities, to mobilise them to learn the languages of ethnic minorities, and to improve relations and solidarity with ethnic minority working people. We need to help solve the marital and other problems of Han Chinese working people who have gone to Xinjiang.

 

---

[1] This is part of what Mao Zedong said in September 1963 when he summoned some of his comrades in charge of the Central Committee, including Zhou Enlai and Zhu De, and Wang Enmao, First Secretary of the CPC Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Committee, to discuss the work in Xinjiang.

[2] This refers to Zhou Enlai.

[3] This refers to Li Xiannian.

Mao Zedong: Depend on ourselves in revolution and construction

 

(Above: Mao Zedong meets Chairman Aidit of the Indonesian Communist Party on September 3, 1963)

(Translator's preface: This comes from the Collected Works of Chairman Mao, Vol 46.  The Chinese original can be found on bannedthought.net).

Depend on ourselves in revolution and construction[1]

(September 3, 1963)

We had difficulties for only two and a half years, in 1960, 1961 and the first half of 1962, and things got better in the second half of 1962. Last year we produced more than 10 million tons of grain more than the year before. This year the situation is a little better. Although there have been floods in northern China this year, particularly in Hebei and Henan, the country is likely to produce around 10 million tonnes more grain than last year. Now we are concentrating on cotton, oilseeds, tobacco and sugar. We have found a way. We have had two kinds of experience, the wrong experience and the right experience. The right experience encouraged us, the wrong experience taught us. The Soviet Union withdrew its experts and broke the contracts, which was good for us. We had no choice but to rely on ourselves, on our own two hands. Then the Soviet Union regretted it and wanted to send experts again, to do business with us, but we refused. If they send us more experts, one day they will withdraw them and break the contract. They had lost our trust. It was at this time in 1960 that the Soviets withdrew their experts and now, three years on, we have developed a lot of our own experience in industrial construction. When you leave the master, the student learns on his own. There are advantages and disadvantages to having a teacher. You don't need a teacher. Read, write and think for yourself. This is a truth. From the founding of the Party in 1921 to 1934, we suffered the consequences of having a teacher, who drafted the programme and the resolutions of the Central Committee plenum, especially in 1934, which caused us great losses. Since then, we have learned to think for ourselves. It took us a few years to get to know China. How can Chinese people not understand the situation in China? The real understanding of independence began at the Zunyi Conference, which criticised dogmatism. The dogmatists said that everything was right in the Soviet Union and did not combine the Soviet experience with the Chinese reality. The slogan of combining the universal truth of Marxism-Leninism with Chinese practice was put forward during the Yan'an Rectification. This slogan was included in the Moscow Declaration of 1957, which said that the universal truths of Marxism-Leninism should be combined with the concrete practice of each country. Foreign experience, no matter which country it is, can only be used for reference.

---

[1] This was part of a conversation between Mao Zedong and a delegation from the Indonesian Communist Party, led by N.D.Adit.

Book review: Mao Zedong: The Stormy Road of his Last Seven Years

 

A great man in his twilight years: Does a true hero have to be heartless? Surely a real man may love his young son.[1]

(Translator’s note: This book review was posted on the leftist Chinese website, Utopia, on August 30, 2022. It is an appreciation of Mao’s personal character and love for his people.)

At first glance, the title of gives you a sense of its distinctiveness. The so-called "last seven years" refers to the period from Mao Zedong: The Stormy Road of his Last Seven Years 1970 to 1976. It has an extraordinary significance for Chairman Mao personally and for the history of the People's Republic of China as a whole.

From reading the ancient book "old tears and weeping"[2], to watching movies "couldn't hold back the old tears, and the film had to be interrupted", and even "howling and crying" when he heard the great shock[3]. The broad sentiments of the common people are beyond words, and the descendants will surely mourn him even thousands of years later.

Wang Xinde, a member of Chairman Mao's medical team and a specialist in neurology and geriatrics, recalled: "The reports sent in on the earthquake were all personally looked into by the Chairman, despite his personal illness.

“The earthquake killed more than 240,000 people, and the other damage was incalculable. When the secretary reported the extremely heavy damage caused by the earthquake, the Chairman wept - the first time I had seen him bawling in person." It was a really emotional read, tossing and turning.

Does a true hero have to be heartless? Surely a real man may love his young son. Chairman Mao believed in the masses all his life, relied on the masses, emphasized organizing and educating the masses, and maintained a deep and natural affection for the masses. What is more, what about such a rare earthquake? The earth moved, the people suffered, people's livelihoods were difficult, the country's fortunes were up and down, and it was a national tragedy to cry out.

Judging from the author's records, Chairman Mao has a strong affection for Lin Biao, who betrayed the country, for Liu Shaoqi, who did not support the Cultural Revolution, and for Deng Xiaoping, who was removed from office as a capitalist-roader[4]. "Rain will fall, and women will marry. Let him go."[5] This is the helplessness and sadness towards Lin who was repeatedly given opportunities to correct his mistakes. At that time, Chairman Mao was more heartbroken than anyone else.

After reading this book, the vivid image of Chairman Mao's last seven years remains before my eyes and in my heart. Undoubtedly, Chairman Mao was a great man among great men, a man of family and country, with a heart that was endowed with ideals from his youth, and who never wavered in his determination; Chairman Mao was also a warm figure, all poetic, and in his later years he was so emotionally turbulent that a single lyric could make him lose his voice and cry.

Many people are evaluating the merits and faults of Chairman Mao. After reading the book, I feel that the Foolish Old Man[6] Chairman Mao is worthy of the people, he is a party leader who adheres to the party spirit and strictly adheres to the party discipline, at all times and in all places, he is devoted to the people's blood.

In private, from the three 28-year journeys of his life, it is clear that he never thought of himself, and his children were not given special care because of their special status. In his later years, Chairman Mao was alone, but with the building and future of a new China in his heart.

It can be said that the Lin Biao incident dealt a heavy blow to Chairman Mao's expectations of a successor and destroyed his health. The relentless contradictions of ideal and reality, time and space plagued this ageing giant.

Even in his twilight years, even though he was suffering from the loneliness of countless people who did not understand or approve of him, and even though he faced the constant pain of his illness, he was still able to look at his illness with the same determination as a mountain and carry out his heavy and tiring work.

Even with a serious eye disease and a serious decline in physical functions, he still kept on pursuing progress and made time to swim in the sea of learning. This book made me feel deeply the greatness and fearlessness of a soul with its head held high, an unreachable beacon in the history of the human spirit!

I am not so politically savvy, but I am convinced: the study and summing up of his later years will require many generations of calm and serious contemplation.

The greatest feeling one gets from this book is that the reason why Chairman Mao is worshipped by the people like a god is because he had the people in his heart and the suffering people all over the world; that Chairman Mao was loved by the people because he was clothed, fed and housed like the ordinary people, and that he was truly the people's son; that Chairman Mao is loved by the brotherly friendship of the Third World, including Asia, Africa and Latin America, because he understands that true friendship is seen in times of trouble; that Chairman Mao was held in awe by the heads of world powers because of his wisdom and foresight, having seen the world so clearly that, in the words of Nixon's memoirs, "I dared not speak much before him; his eyes seemed to have seen straight through me " and "I was like an erring student. He was like a stern gentleman who did not dare to say much".

This book was written by writer Gu Baozi, whose vision of the red years was always full of passion and dreams. In special times, the leader's attempt is only for a "better life" for the country; "dreams are essentially the predecessor of ideals. It does take a lot to realise that ideal."

This historically rich documentary work objectively portrays Chairman Mao's last seven years of his life, and truly recreates a series of major historical events and state affairs of the Republic from 1970 to 1976.

Based on available historical materials and first-hand materials, the work is written with the same rigour as the creation of historical subjects. "The book is a vivid restoration of the great and ordinary deeds of historical figures such as Chairman Mao and Zhou Enlai, and the death of the first generation of leaders and the crushing of the "Gang of Four".

The book contains nearly 200 rare historical photographs, all taken exclusively by Zhongnanhai photographer Mr Du Xiuxian. Many of these photographs are being published for the first time, and many are restored to colour for the first time. They tell the story of the fate of many political figures, reflecting their flesh-and-blood realities as well as recording the ups and downs of their political careers and journeys. Undoubtedly, "Mao Zedong: The Stormy Road of his Last Seven Years " is a rare documentary with rich illustrations, informative materials, authentic content, vivid and interesting, readable and collectible at the same time.

This is the first book to focus on the last seven years of the great man's life, recalling the stormy years of the Republic and recreating the life of Chairman Mao in his twilight years.

The twilight of a martyr is a magnificent time. The twilight of a great man is also the most glorious and magnificent of all.

Translated from: 伟人迟暮：无情未必真豪杰，怜民如何不丈夫－乌有之乡 (wyzxwk.com)

---

[1] These are lines from Lu Xun’s poem Riposte to a friend, reflecting his love for the younger generation.

[2] This is a line from the Tang Dynasty poet Du Fu's "Three Songs of Qiang Village". It captures Mao’s response to reading a lament from the past. In mid-1975, Chairman Mao suffered from cataracts and was nearly blind in both eyes. Later, after ophthalmic surgery, he could only see with one eye. One day, the attending physician Tang Youzhi went to visit Chairman Mao and found Chairman Mao holding a book in his hand, and the old man was weeping, but there were no tears because of his eye problems. Chairman Mao was reading the Southern Song Dynasty poet Chen Liang's "Nian Nu Jiao Dengduojing Lou" which expressed sadness at the failure to unify the north and south of China.

[3] This refers to the Tangshan Earthquake.

[4] The author disguises these references to escape detection by algorithmic searches. The three persons are only referred to by their surnames, and the pinyin words “ge” (revolution) and “zi” (capitalist) are used in place of characters: “对于叛国的林，到不支持文ge的刘，包括被作为走zi派罢免职务的邓”.

[5] This fatalistic expression was used by Mao when told of Lin Biao’s flight and attempted escape from China.

[6] If you are unsure of this reference, please see: THE FOOLISH OLD MAN WHO REMOVED THE MOUNTAINS (marxists.org)