Zedong MaoRezensionen

In un momento di crisi a proposito delle mie contraddizioni, me lo fece leggere una persona a me estremamente cara, allora mio compagno, tuttora molto vicino.
Ebbe un effetto, direi, tonificante.
Copre un arco di tempo molto ampio, arrivando fino agli ultimi momenti di lucidità. Notevole il fatto che della riabilitazione di Deng Xiao Ping non si parli, anzi, venga individuato come nemico del popolo in quanto determinato a ristabilire il liberalismo. Poi venitemi a dire che Mao non ci vedeva lungo.
Rimando un commento articolato a quando riuscirò a mettere le mani su una copia tutta mia. Per quanto vicini spiritualmente, io e il legittimo possessore con la sua copia siamo separati da svariati paesi europei e bracci di mare.

Mao Tsetung (1893-1976) lideró con el Partido Comunista de China la primera revolución democrática-popular dirigida por el proletariado que triunfó en un país semicolonial y que emprendió posteriormente la construcción de una sociedad socialista. Mao integró el marxismo a la realidad particular y a la práctica concreta de la revolución en China, y a la luz de esta experiencia desarrolló la teoría marxista-leninista realizando aportes fundamentales tanto en aspectos filosóficos como en relación a los problemas planteados por la continuidad de la lucha de clases bajo el socialismo. Este volumen ofrece una selección de sus textos escritos entre marzo de 1926 y mayo de 1963, en los cuales aborda temas como la necesidad de la existencia del partido revolucionario, las cuestiones de su vida interna y de su imprescindible ligazón con las masas populares, de la actitud hacia el campesinado, de la política de frente único (en particular durante el período de resistencia contra la ocupación japonesa), de la guerra popular, y de la cooperativización agrícola en los inicios de la construcción socialista. Se incluyen también ensayos sobre la teoría del conocimiento –como sus célebres tesis filosóficas “Sobre la práctica” y “Sobre la contradicción”– y acerca del papel de los intelectuales y de las consignas “Que se abran cien flores”, para estimular la práctica artística, y “Que compitan cien escuelas”, para impulsar el desarrollo científico, además de sus intervenciones en el Foro de Yenán sobre Arte y Literatura.

Banalizado como o "livrinho vermelho" e cognominado a "bíblia de Mao", trata-se de uma coleção de solta s citações de Mao Tsé-Tung. Tais ditados, lemas e injunções jamais são muito inteligentes ou sequer inspiradores; em sua maioria, são superficiais e mesquinhos. Definitivamente não é literatura mundial de alto coturno, mas não é desinteressante ler falas populares com as quais um ditador e assassino serial soube emocionar a sua nação e seguidores ao redor do planeta.

I have read reviews of Mao's writing that say he was no intellectual. I am in no position to pass judgement: however, this book makes clearer, to me, the meaning of dialectical materialism than many other publications.

It may be that Mao isn't as knowledgeable as he thought, or it could equally be that he was amongst the best at explaining the concepts of Marxism in understandable terms. I can see why some people may dislike this ability: the more complex the explanation, the more exclusive the club of initiates.

I enjoyed this book.

Written by Mao in January, 1940, the chapters are: Whither China? We Want to Build A New China China's Historical Characteristics The Chinese Revolution is Part of the World Revolution The Politics of New Democracy The Economy of New Democracy Refutation of Bourgeois Dictatorship Refutation of "Left" Phrase-Mongering Refutation of the Die-Hards The Three People's Principles, Old and New The Culture of New Democracy The Historical Characteristics of China's Cultural Revolution The Four Periods Some Wrong Ideas About the Nature of Culture A National Scientific and Mass Culture

Selected Works of Mao Tse-Tung, Volume II focuses on the thoughts of Mao Tse-Tung on revolution, communism, war tactics, national unity, and patriotism. The volume first discusses the policies, measures, and perspectives for resisting the invasion of Japan; mobilization of China's forces for victory in the war of resistance; and tasks following the establishment of Kuomintang-communist co-operation. The publication also takes a look at the situation and tasks in the anti-Japanese war following the fall of Shanghai and Taiyuan, including the opposition to class capitulationism and the relation between class and national capitulationism. The book examines the problems of strategy in the guerilla war against Japan and the establishment of base areas. Considerations include types and conditions for establishing base areas and expansion of base areas. The text also ponders on the role of the Chinese Communist Party in the national war, as well as patriotism and internationalism, party discipline and democracy, and expansion of the communist party and prevention of infiltration by enemy agents. The volume is a dependable source of data for readers interested in the philosophy of Mao Tse-Tung on communism, war, revolution, and patriotism.

> Babelio : https://www.babelio.com/livres/Mao-Tse-Toung-Le-petit-livre-rouge-Citations-du-P...

1/30/23

Ah, the twisted view of a megalomaniac. I feel for the experience of the Chinese during the invasion of the Japanese, but man did they lose again bigtime when this guy came to power.

Like a retelling of Sun Tsu's Art of War through a broken mirror, The Little Red Book is repetitive where Art of War is elegant, bloodthirsty instead of measured, and designed to further the profile of a single man instead of avoid needless suffering for those involved in war.

We are still paying the price for what Mao has done to China.

some nice poems but mostly average

This had been on my reading list for quite some time as a primary historical document; it was well worth the read. If you want to understand Modern China then this book is mandatory; if you want to understand the current cultural elements at the forefront today in the Western world then this book is also mandatory for that as well.

Pay close attention to the language used; you will find the same language, and particular interpretation of that language, currently in vogue. There is plain speaking on Mao's emphasis on ideological education via propaganda and the importance of a unified political philosophy before even standard military considerations.

On a practical note, like Saul Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals," there are certain doctrines of action: such as frugality and discipline which yield results regardless of the end goals.

What I did find most ironic was the promotion of "persuasion and education" in opposition to coercion and use of force; these were mainly culled from writings and speeches given in the 1950s which was before the Chinese Cultural Revolution of the 1960s; it is quite clear from history how fast that principle was abandoned within a single decade.

Like Karl Marx's "Communist Manifesto" I highly recommend reading this regardless of political affiliation. China is perhaps Sparta to America's Athens and it behooves everyone to be aware of the underlying current philosophical foundation of a major world actor.

O dirigente revolucionário Mao Tsé-Tung foi o artífice da nova China, surgida nos meados do séc. XX. O popularíssimo O Livro Vermelho é uma coletânea de citações do comandante Mao Tsé-Tung. Foi organizado por Lin Piao, então Ministro da Defesa de Mao .

N-2

ÑB-8

HB-2

Not only is this thing nearly unreadable, it symbolizes a horrible regime. Chairman Mao lead China's great leap backwards and the cultural devolution. I hear this has been updated into an app used across China and tied into their societal credit score system. 1984 was truly predictive fiction.

There is a good deal of rhetoric in this book, and not much of the how-to manual. Still the book itself is written to be useful in the struggle of the disorganized against the greedy and oppressive, and has had influence though mostly as a political artifact. The nature of Guerrilla Warfare is of, course improvisation and therefore it is hard to produce a manual for it. Fortunately it is slim, and Griffith's translation seems agile enough.½

Mi padre tenía este libro en su estantería y, aprovechando que en Filosofobia Filosofía teníamos a Marx, me lo leí para ver cómo el marxismo había influido a Mao. Y, sorprendentemente, lo único que había hecho Mao era fusilar, en sentido metafórico, a Marx. Leí el libro con todo Marx bastante fresco en la cabeza, y ni una sola idea del libro de Mao había quedado sin enunciar por Marx. Mao no aportó nada nuevo. Así que por ese lado decepcionado, pero por otro es una reenunciación del marxismo que cualquiera que lea no dejará de reconocer.

Pales next to Marx and Engels. Mostly an ego boost for Mao

Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung was published between 1964-1976 after being compiled by the People’s Liberation Army Daily to cover 23 topics with 200 quotations. They intended it to serve as an inspirational work for politicians and military officials. The final version of the book, as approved by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, contains 427 quotations covering 33 topics. The book began appearing in foreign bookstores in 1966 and was ubiquitous during the Cultural Revolution in China. This Easton Press collector’s edition features an exclusive introduction from Maurice Meisner, a professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in which he situated the book and Mao in their historical context. While Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung may seem a relic of the past, it deserves to be studied like any other text that changed the world. Furthermore, like those texts, a clear reading can reveal wisdom of relevance and interest to modern readers.

Librería 7. Estante 4.

Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung was published between 1964-1976 after being compiled by the People’s Liberation Army Daily to cover 23 topics with 200 quotations. They intended it to serve as an inspirational work for politicians and military officials. The final version of the book, as approved by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, contains 427 quotations covering 33 topics. The book began appearing in foreign bookstores in 1966 and was ubiquitous during the Cultural Revolution in China. This1967 Bantam Books copy is the first U.S. edition of the book. After Deng Xiaoping’s rise to power following Mao’s death in 1976, the book’s importance waned and is largely treated as a piece of nostalgia today.

Similar to political tracts such as Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence, Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, the 1848 Declaration of Sentiments following the Seneca Falls Convention, or Mary Wollstonecraft’s The Vindication of the Rights of Women, Mao Zedong’s quotations deserve to be studied and many resonate with current political and social events. Discussing the Communist Party, Mao writes, “No political party can possibly lead a great revolutionary movement to victory unless it possesses revolutionary theory and a knowledge of history and has a profound grasp of the practical movement” (pg. 2). While he used this to discuss the Chinese Community Party, it applies to any group looking to change the world. In discussing the importance of daring to struggle and daring to win, Mao writes, “Historically, all reactionary forces on the verge of extinction invariably conduct a last desperate struggle against the revolutionary forces, and some revolutionaries are apt to be deluded for a time by this phenomenon of outward strength but inner weakness, failing to grasp the essential fact that the enemy is nearing extinction while they themselves are approaching victory” (pg. 44-45). This seems particularly apt in the wake of the neo-conservatism movement working to undo fifty years of social progress.

Mao discusses the importance of serving the people, writing, “The organs of state must practise democratic centralism, they must rely on the masses and their personnel must serve the people” (pg. 95). Furthermore, “Our duty is to hold ourselves responsible to the people. Every word, every act and every policy must conform to the people’s interests, and if mistakes occur, they must be corrected – that is what being responsible to the people means” (pg. 96). He continues these themes as they apply to patriotism and internationalism, writing, “In the fight for complete liberation the oppressed people rely first of all on their own struggle and then, and only then, on international assistance. The people who have triumphed in their own revolution should help those still struggling for liberation. This is our internationalist duty” (pg. 99). In an inscription that originally appeared in the July 20, 1949 issue of Women of New China, Mao wrote, “Unite and take part in production and political activity to improve the economic and political status of women” (pg. 170). The quote is particularly apt, appearing on the 101st anniversary of the first women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls, NY.

Mao discusses the importance of culture, art, and study, writing, “Different forms and styles in art should develop freely and different schools in science should contend freely. We think that it is harmful to the growth of art and science if administrative measures are used to impose one particular style of art or school of thought and to ban another. Questions of right and wrong in the arts and sciences should be settled through free discussion in artistic and scientific circles and through practical work in these fields. They should not be settled in summary fashion” (pg. 174). He continues, “We can learn what we did not know. We are not only good at destroying the old world, we are also good at building the new” (pg. 175). Furthermore, “Knowledge is a matter of science, and no dishonesty or conceit whatsoever is permissible. What is required is definitely the reverse – honesty and modesty” (pg. 178).

While Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung may seem a relic of the past, it deserves to be studied like any other text that changed the world. Furthermore, like those texts, a clear reading can reveal wisdom of relevance and interest to modern readers.

This copy I purchased from the markets on Antique Road, Hong Kong, some time ago. I decided on a cover to cover reading. I soon found that the quality of my copy was not the best, and I had to look up the punchline of the Chinese myth "The Foolish Old Man Who Removed the Mountains". As it turns out, Mao used the myth in relation to the two mountains - imperialism and feudalism - that could be chipped away by the generations. My knowledge of China's modern history is limited, and my reading on Mao's influence has been limited to Mao's On Guerrilla Warfare, Sun Shuyun's The Long March, and the "beautiful yet sinister" Chinese Propaganda Posters (published by Taschen in 2015 - I purchased my copy at the Hong Kong Museum of Modern Art bookstore, a favourite haunt). My favourite quote (p. 337):

...in the year 2001, or the beginning of the 21st century, China... will have become a powerful socialist industrial country.

I learnt a bit more about Norman Bethune, the Canadian physician who worked with Mao after serving as a doctor during the Spanish Civil War, and discovered interesting viewpoints on "democratic centralism". Mao discusses political theory, education policy, "contradictions" and ways to overcome these, such as that that exists between classes, officers and men, comrades, and in terms of patriotism versus internationalism. Mao's quotes are all after The Long March (the Red Army's retreat in 1934 that left only 1/5 of the Army remaining, but ultimately led to the Red Army's victory and was to become a major pillar of Communist Party propaganda). Following on from The Long March, this collection of quotations is an intense lesson in the modern history of China. Many of the quotes are drawn from the "Selected Works". It is difficult to buy English translations of the less popular works by Mao, and I would like to read more of this in future, as, for all his other not insignificant digressions, he was certainly an important scholar, poet, and political theorist. Like anything that is not of "us", Mao's works have largely been ignored, yet he, and later, Deng Xiaoping, were the driving forces behind the Chinese powerhouse that has emerged in my own lifetime. "Socialism with Chinese characteristics" is something that we should all be studying at this point in history, and this "little red book" is a good place to start.

I am often critiqued for conflating ideas. I am fascinated by founding documents of social movements, political ideologies, and nation-states, and I also enjoy protest music, particularly the folk variety. Maybe this is a contradiction, in that one can be fascinated by the founding documents while supporting radical music designed to upset tradition. I don't know. But I do know that Australia's Constitution is suitably a bureaucratic administrative document that doesn't mention citizens, free speech, or human rights. This is a country that banned a Bob Dylan song. China also banned Bob Dylan from performing in 2010. Yet China is a republic forged from revolution. It is strange how pervasive conservatism can become. Especially when one considers these foundational philosophical writings by Mao Zedong. When reading Mao's book of quotations, I become interested in reading more of his historical writings. When teaching political ideologies, I have always included Mao's development of communist theory to incorporate peasants (who were technically not part of the proletariat, and certainly were not to be trusted, according to Lenin and Stalin). Yet today we have the next global super-power - displaying all the hallmarks of a capitalist industrial behemoth - still evolving out of what will soon be the world's longest experiment with socialism (the Soviet's lasted 74 years, the People's Republic of China is approaching its 70th birthday next year). Socialism, albeit with Chinese characteristics. But where did the ideas come from and what theory guided China's implementation of socialism? This work provides at least some of the answers. The introduction is by "the Elvis of philosophy", Slavoj Žižek, someone whose ideas I have grown fond of over time. I note with a little surprise that many suggest Žižek's introduction does not add much, but after reading it twice, it is clear that Žižek knows what he is talking about. In terms of theory, Mao suggests that the "negation of negation" is simply the bigger fish consuming the smaller. But Žižek points out that this is a critical mistake for Mao Zedong's thinking. For Žižek, Tony Blair's Third Way incorporated Thatcherism - you know you have really won not when you have destroyed the enemy, but when the enemy begins speaking your language. There is much more to discover in Žižek's short introduction, but it is certainly worth at least two readings. As for Mao's writings, there is so much to cover it is clear that he was a genius, with an enormous intellect. It is interesting that the United States, the most liberal (individualistic) country in the world, had a group of "founding fathers", whereas China, with its socialism with Chinese characteristics and its sense of filial responsibility, had an individual "founding father". Again, contradictions. Mao also writes of the eleven types of liberalism which must be combated. He also gives words to an idea I have when I observe my dogs eating. If you give one dog something to eat, it will sneak off to enjoy its meal individually. But the other dogs, seeing one has something and the others do not, will insist on equality (in terms of food distribution). For Mao (p. 105), combating liberalism is important as it is like a cancer on Marxism:

...they talk Marxism but they practice liberalism; they apply Marxism to others but liberalism to themselves.

The book includes a critique of some of Stalin's economic work (and some of Mao's critiques of Lenin) and outlines rather substantially Mao's ideas about overcoming contradiction, right analysis to bring the universal to the particular and back to the universal, to discover the essence of contradictions, and so on. All brilliant thinking. Mao also speaks of his pedagogy. Interestingly, this echoes Theodore Roosevelt's The Strenuous Life, but with more of a focus on working the land with the peasants to not only harden oneself, but to actually be the proletariat, to join in the struggle. A disturbing perspective, which other commentators see as the rationale for so many deaths during the Great Famine (and following the Great Leap Forward - clearly, there is a difference between theory and implementation), relates to Mao's view of the Atom Bomb. In effect, China's millet and rifles would surely overcome the United States' planes and atomic bombs.

We have two principles: first, we don't want war; second, we will strike back resolutely if anyone invades us... The Chinese people are not to be cowed by US atomic blackmail.

Mao justifies this stance through the historical processes of socialism: The First World War increased the number of socialists (via the Soviet Union); the Second World War increased the number of socialists again (via the People's Republic of China); and thus the Third World War will increase the number of socialists yet again, and so on until we all live happily ever after. But Mao does what all good philosophers do (from the time of Heraclitus), and maps out his understanding of physics, biology, the universe, and so on. No philosophy is complete without an understanding of the world. And herein lies the historical value of the work in this book. Mao was a prolific author, and, although Mao's former comrade Deng Xiaoping, undid all of his work in the space of a few years, Mao remains revered in mainland China. Later, when the victors control the past, Mao's cult status can only increase. But that hasn't stopped one New York Times reviewer of Mao: The Unknown Story by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday, suggesting:

If Chairman Mao had been truly prescient, he would have located a little girl in Sichuan Province named Jung Chang and "mie jiuzu"-- killed her and wiped out all her relatives to the ninth degree. But instead that girl grew up, moved to Britain and has now written a biography of Mao that will help destroy his reputation forever.

And this is the general tone of the reaction of most of the commercial world to Unknown Story. Nevertheless, the academy responded with Was Mao Really a Monster? The Academic Response to Chang and Halliday’s Mao The Unknown Story, and basically tore it to shreds for dodgy research and re-purposing evidence to achieve an agenda. (is this negating the negation?) The things is, and despite the problems cleverly identified and articulated in Žižek's introduction, Mao's philosophy is comprehensive, and provides a systematic approaches to understanding society, for better or worse. I intend to study Mao more seriously as a result of this book and hope to read my copies of Mao: The Unknown Story and Ross Terrill's Mao: A Biography in the near future.

Read one quote every day.