WORKERS, OPPRESSED NATIONS AND PEOPLE OF THE WORLD, UNITE!
NEWSPAPER OF THE CENTRAL ORGANIZATION OF U.S. MARXIST-LENINISTS
P. O. BOX 119422 CHICAGO, ILL. 60611
SPECIAL ISSUE Vol. 6, No. 7, Sept. 18, 1976 100,000 copies
[Portrait: CHAIRMAN MAO TSETUNG December 26, 1893 - September 9, 1976]
[Banner at bottom of front page: Deeply Mourn the Death of Chairman Mao Tsetung, the Great Teacher and Leader of the Workers, Oppressed Nations and Oppressed People of the Whole World]
MAO TSETUNG THOUGHT WILL SHINE FOREVER!
Chairman Mao, Leader of the Revolutionary Youth
IMPORTANT STATEMENTS BY CHAIRMAN MAO ON THE UNITED STATES
Chairman Mao's Letter to Comrade William Z. Foster
Comrade Foster Hailed Chairman Mao
W.E.B. DuBois Hailed China's Path
Chairman Mao Acclaimed W.E.B DuBois
On September 9, 1976, Chairman Mao Tsetung died in Peking. Chairman Mao was the great leader of the Chinese people and the beloved teacher and leader of the international proletariat, of the oppressed nations, and of the exploited and oppressed people of the whole world. TheWorkers' Advocate feels intense grief and deep shock at his death and expresses its condolences to the great Communist Party of China and the heroic Chinese people. The death of Chairman Mao is an immense loss to the world revolution and the international communist movement.
But although Chairman Mao is dead, his revolutionary work is immortal. After Comrades Marx and Engels died, Marxism continued as the glorious theory of the international working class. After Comrades Lenin and Stalin died, Marxism-Leninism continued to win victories all over the world. And today, Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought continues to be the great red banner of the international communist movement. Mao Tsetung Thought will shine forever! The Workers'Advocate pledges to turn grief into strength, intensify the study and application of the works of Chairman Mao, and to hold still higher the bright red banner of Mao Tsetung Thought.
CHAIRMAN MAO LED THE CHINESE PEOPLE TO LIBERATION
Chairman Mao led the downtrodden and oppressed Chinese people, comprising one-quarter of humanity, to liberation. Old China was a land of horrors, a hell on earth. Many imperialist power, including U.S. imperialism, sucked the blood of the Chinese people. The Chinese people rose repeatedly in rebellion. But it was not until Chairman Mao charted the path forward that the Chinese revolution was led to victory.
Chairman Mao led the Chinese revolution through decades of the most difficult and complicated struggles in the He founded and led the great, glorious and correct Communist Party of China, the Chinese People's Liberation Army and the People's Republic Of China. He established China's first red base area and set forth the path of people's war, of building rural base areas and using the countryside to encircle the cities. He led the epoch-making Long March. After Liberation in 1949, he led the Party and people in continuing the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat and in carrying out the unprecedented Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. He constantly fought to preserve the purity of the Chinese Communist Party and defeated numerous right and "left'' deviations.
Today, as a result of Chairman Mao's work, China is the bright red bastion of world revolution. The Chinese people live under socialism, the most advanced social system in the world. They are rid of exploitation and economic crises and are politically free and active. Everywhere around the world, revolution goes forward easier as great People's China leads the way.
CHAIRMAN MAO WAS THE GREAT TEACHER AND LEADER OF THE INTERNATIONAL PROLETARIAT
Chairman Mao and invincible Mao Tsetung Thought belong not just to the Chinese people, but to the proletariat the world over. Chairman Mao was the teacher and leader of all oppressed and downtrodden people.
Today the world is divided into twoparts, with the forces of socialism and freedom fighting against the forces of imperialism and slavery. The forces of socialism and freedom consist of the socialist countries, the proletarian movements in the capitalist and revisionist countries, and the national liberation movements of the oppressed nations. This great world-historic movement has always had definite leadership. After the death of the great communist, Comrade Joseph Stalin, it was Chairman Mao who took up the glorious task of leading the international communist movement and the forces of socialism and freedom. It was Chairman Mao who initiated and led the criticism and repudiation of modemrevisionism and the Soviet revisionist clique which was at its core.
And it was Chairman Mao who personally initiated and led the earth-shaking Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. This was a great political revolution against the bourgeoisie carried out under the conditions of the dictatorship of the proletariat. It shattered the counterrevolutionary headquarters of Liu Shao-chi and Lin Piao and is now continuing and deepening in the fight against Teng Hsiao-ping's right-deviationist attempt to reverse correct verdicts. The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution brought Mao Tsetung Thought to the entire world. It was a clarion call for allrevolutionaries to defeat revisionism in their own countries and it struck a most powerful blow against international opportunism. The Cultural Revolution rejuvenated the international communist movement and all the forces of socialism and freedom.
Chairman Mao made many important statements giving guidance and encouragement to the struggling masses around the world. Thus in 1957 he stated: "... THE EAST WIND IS PREVAILING OVER THE WEST WIND. THAT IS TO SAY, THE FORCES OF SOCIALISM HAVE BECOME OVERWHELMINGLY SUPERIOR TO THE FORCES OF IMPERIALISM." His famous "Solemn Statement of May 20,1970, entitled "People of the World, Unite and Defeat the U.S. Aggressors and All Their Running Dogs!", was a great programmatic call showing the balance of class forces in the world. It said: "A SMALL NATION CAN DEFEAT A BIG". More recently, he exposed the reactionary nature of the right-deviationist attempt to reverse correct verdicts and of international opportunism by sharply stating: "THE CAPITALIST-ROADERS ARE STILL ON THE CAPITALIST ROAD". These and numerous other statements have given a clear and correct orientation for the world revolution.
MAO TSETUNG THOUGHT IS THE MARXISM-LENINISM OF OUR ERA
Chairman Mao is the greatest Marxist-Leninist of the contemporary era. Over decades of complex struggles against the class enemies, he integrated the universal truth of Marxism-Leninism with the concrete practice of the Chinese and world revolution. He inherited, defended and developed Marxism-Leninism to a new stage, that of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought.
Chairman Mao was the first Marxist-Leninist to show that classes and class struggle still exist after the socialist transformation of the ownership of the means of production has been in the main completed. He put forward the great theory of continuing the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat and formulated the basic line for the entire historical period of socialism. The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution led by Chairman Mao was a tremendous blow at the capitalist-roaders inside the Chinese Communist Party and at international opportunism. The Cultural Revolution was a most important sign that Marxism-Leninism had reached the stage of Mao Tsetung Thought. It showed that Chairman Mao had solved in theory and practice the cardinal question in the international communist movement, that of consolidating the dictatorship of the proletariat and preventing the restoration of capitalism.
Chairman Mao also developed Marxism-Leninism and made magnificent contributions in a number of other spheres, including those of philosophy, economics, people's war and military affairs, and the general line for revolution in colonial and semi-colonial countries.
Today, as economic crisis deepens, the factors for both war and revolution are increasing. The questions of war and revolution and their interrelationships are agitating the minds of communists everywhere. It is only by firmly following Mao Tsetung Thought, the Marxism- Leninism of the contemporary era, that revolutionary people will be able to stick to the correct orientation and oppose the war preparations of the imperialists and social-imperialists with revolution.
MAO TSETUNG THOUGHT LIGHTS THE WAY FOR THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
The American working class and people are oppressed and exploited and long for revolution. To overthrow the criminal system of monopoly capitalism, the revolutionary movement must use the most scientific theory of revolution. This theory is Mao Tsetung Thought! Science is international. Scientific truth cannot differ from one country to the next. The dead theories of "American exceptionalism" and the "American road to socialism" lead nowhere. The strategy and tactics of the American revolution must be based on the solid foundation of integrating the universal truth of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought with the concrete practice of the revolution in the U.S.
In the 1960's many mass revolutionary storms raged in the U.S. There were massive movements among the youth and students, the Afro-American people, the workers, women, etc. But confusion reigned on all fundamental questions of orientation and direction. The capitalists fostered this confusion in order to divert the revolutionary movement into dead-ends, to foster bourgeois decadent culture and to spread doom and gloom.
In this critical situation, it was the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution that, like the sun breaking through layers of threatening dark clouds, brought the brilliance of Mao Tsetung Thought to the U.S. Thousands of revolutionaries eagerly studied the great Red Book of "Quotations from Chairman Mao Tsetung". The precious heritage of the revolutionary struggles of the '60's and early '70's is the recognition on the part of the most serious and thoughtful activists that only a new Communist Party based on Mao Tsetung Thought can lead the revolution to victory in the U.S.
CHAIRMAN MAO PAID THE CLOSEST ATTENTION TO THE STRUGGLE IN THE U.S.
Chairman Mao was a great proletarian internationalist. To the shame of the American people, U.S. imperialism committed countless barbaric acts against China. In the beginning of this century, U.S. imperialism participated in the plunder of China under the "Open Door" policy, later on U.S. imperialism intervened in the Chinese civil war to prop up the corrupt, anti-China Chiang Kai-shek clique, and today U.S. imperialism is still militarily occupying China's province Taiwan and threatening China with aggression and war. Chairman Mao led the world united front against U.S. imperialism and Soviet social-imperialism. At the same time he sympathized with, encouraged and supported the revolution in the U.S. In his Solemn Statement of May 20,1970 he said: "The Chinese people firmly support the revolutionary struggle of the American people. I am convinced that the American people who are fighting valiantly will ultimately win victory and that the fascist rule in the United States will inevitably be defeated." Throughout his works, Chairman Mao made a number of brilliant observations about the U.S. Chairman Mao also had warm regards for Comrade William Z. Foster, a communist worker and leader of the American proletariat. Chairman Mao gave special attention to the struggle of the Afro-American people. He wrote two important statements, in 1963 and 1968, in support of the Afro-American people's struggles against racial discrimination and violent repression. These statements were a great encouragement to the Black people. Chairman Mao's important views on the U.S. must be studied and re studied by all American revolutionaries.
Chairman Mao was the great helmsman who charted the path forward for the world revolution. As we solemnly mourn his death, we must rededicate ourselves to learning from the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and to taking up Chairman Mao's revolutionary teachings! We must oppose opportunism and revisionism and persist in integrating the universal truth of Mao Tsetung Thought with the concrete practice of the revolution.
Let us march forward gloriously on the path of proletarian revolution in the cause of Chairman Mao. Mao Tsetung Thought will shine forever!
ETERNAL GLORY TO THE GREAT LEADER AND TEACHER, CHAIRMAN MAO!
LONG LIVE MARXISM-LENINISM-MAO TSETUNG THOUGHT! End.
MOURNING WITH DEEPEST GRIEF THE PASSING AWAY OF THE GREAT LEADER AND GREAT TEACHER CHAIRMAN MAO TSETUNG
Message to the Whole Party, the Whole Army and the People of All Nationalities Throughout the Country from The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China, The State Council of the People's Republic of China, and The Military Commission of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China:
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China, the State Council of the People's Republic of China and the Military Commission of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China announce with deepest grief to the whole Party, the whole army and the people of all nationalities throughout the country: Comrade Mao Tsetung, the esteemed and beloved great leader of our Party, our army and the people of all nationalities in our country, the great teacher of the international proletariat and the oppressed nations and oppressed people, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Chairman of the Military Commission of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and Honorary Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, passed away at 00:10 hours on September 9, 1976 in Peking as a result of the worsening of his illness and despite all treatment, although meticulous medical care was given him in every way after he fell ill.
Chairman Mao Tsetung was the founder and wise leader of the Communist Party of China, the Chinese People's Liberation Army and the People's Republic of China. Chairman Mao led our Party in waging a protracted, acute and complex struggle against the Right and "Left" opportunist lines in the Party, defeating the opportunist lines pursued by Chen Tu-hsiu, Chu Chiu-pai, Li Li-san, Lo Chang-lung, Wang Ming, Chang Kuo- tao, Kao Kang-Jao Shu-shih and Peng Teh-huai and again, during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, triumphing over the counter-revolutionary revisionist line of Liu Shao-chi, Lin Piao and Teng Hsiao-ping, thus enabling our Party to develop and grow in strength steadily in class struggle and the struggle between the two lines. Led by Chairman Mao, the Communist Party of China has developed through a tortuous path into a great, glorious and correct Marxist-Leninist Party which is today exercising leadership over the People's Republic of China.
During the period of the new-democratic revolution, Chairman Mao, in accordance with the universal truth of Marxism-Leninism and by combining it with the concrete practice of the Chinese revolution, creatively laid down the general line and general policy of the new-democratic revolution, founded the Chinese People's Liberation Army and pointed out that the seizure of political power by armed force in China could be achieved only by following the road of building rural base areas, using the countryside to encircle the cities and finally seizing the cities, and not by any other road. He led our Party, our army and the people of our country in just people's war to overthrow the reactionary rule of imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat-capitalism, wining the great victory of the new-democratic revolution and founding the People's Republic of China. The victory of the Chinese people's revolution led by Chairman Mao changed the situation in the East and the world and blazed a new trail for the cause of liberation of the oppressed nations and oppressed people.
In the period of the socialist revolution, Chairman Mao comprehensively summed up the positive as well as the negative experience of the international communist movement, penetratingly analysed the class relations in socialist society and, for the first time in the history of the development of Marxism, unequivocally pointed out that there are still classes and class struggle after the socialist transformation of the ownership of the means of production has in the main been completed, drew the scientific conclusion that the bourgeoisie is right in the Communist Party, put forth the great the cry of continuing the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat, and laid down the Party's basic line for the entire historical period of socialism. Guided by Chairman Mao's proletarian revolutionary line, our Party, our army and the people of our country have continued their triumphant advance and seized great victories in the socialist revolution and socialist construction, particularly in the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, in criticizing Lin Piao and Confucius and in criticizing Teng Hsiao-ping and repulsing the Right deviationist attempt at reversing correct verdicts. Upholding socialism and consolidating the dictatorship of the proletariat in the People's Republic of China, a country with a vast territory and a large population, is a great contribution of world historic significance which Chairman Mao Tsetung made to the present era; at the same time, it has provided fresh experience for the international communist movement in combating and preventing revisionism, consolidating the dictatorship of the proletariat, preventing capitalist restoration and building socialism.
All the victories of the Chinese people have been achieved under the leadership of Chairman Mao; they are all great victories for Mao Tsetung Thought. The radiance of Mao Tsetung Thought will for ever illuminate the road of advance of the Chinese people.
Chairman Mao Tsetung summed up the revolutionary practice in the international communist movement, put forward a series of scientific theses, enriched the theoretical treasury of Marxism and pointed out the orientation of struggle for the Chinese people and the revolutionary people throughout the world. With the great boldness and vision of a proletarian revolutionary, he initiated in the international communist movement the great struggle to criticize modem revisionism with the Soviet revisionist renegade clique at the core, promoted the vigorous development of the cause of the world proletarian revolution and the cause of the people of all countries against imperialism and hegemonism, and pushed the history of mankind forward.
Chairman Mao Tsetung was the greatest Marxist of the contemporary era. For more than half a century, basing himself on the principle of integrating the universal truth of Marxism-Leninism with the concrete practice of the revolution, he inherited, defended and developed Marxism-Leninism in the protracted struggle against the class enemies at home and abroad, both inside and outside the Party, and wrote a most brilliant chapter in the history of the movement of proletarian revolution. He dedicated all his energies throughout his life to the liberation of the Chinese people, to the emancipation of the oppressed nations and oppressed people the world over, and to the cause of communism. With the great resolve of a proletarian revolutionary, he waged a tenacious struggle against his illness, continued to lead the work of the whole Party, the whole army and the whole nation during his illness and fought till he breathed his last. The magnificent contributions he made to the Chinese people, the international proletariat and the revolutionary people of the whole world are immortal. The Chinese people and the revolutionary people the world over love him from the bottom of their hearts and have boundless admiration and respect for him.
The passing away of Chairman Mao Tsetung is an inestimable loss to our Party, our army and the people of all nationalities in our country, to the international proletariat and the revolutionary people of all countries and to the international communist movement. His passing away is bound to evoke immense grief in the hearts of the people of our country and the revolutionary people of all countries. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China calls on the whole Party, the whole army and the people of all nationalities in the country to resolutely turn their grief into strength:
We must carry on the cause left behind by Chairman Mao and persist in taking class struggle as the key link, keep to the Party's basic line and persevere in continuing the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat.
We must carry on the cause left behind by Chairman Mao and strengthen the centralized leadership of the Party, resolutely uphold the unity and unification of the Party and closely rally round the Party Central Committee. We must strengthen the building of the Party ideologically and organizationally in the course of the struggle between the two lines and resolutely implement the principle of the three-in-one combination of the old, middle-aged and young in accordance with the five requirements for bringing up successors to the cause of the proletarian revolution.
We must carry on the cause left behind by Chairman Mao and consolidate the great unity of the people of all nationalities under the leadership of the working class and based on the worker-peasant alliance, deepen the criticism of Teng Hsiao-ping, continue the struggle to repulse the Right deviationist attempt at reversing correct verdicts, consolidate and develop the victories of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, enthusiastically support the socialist new things, restrict bourgeois right and further consolidate the dictatorship of the proletariat in our country. We should continue to unfold the three great revolutionary movements of class struggle, the struggle for production and scientific experiment, build our country independently and with the initiative in our own hands, through self-reliance, hard struggle, diligence and thrift, and go all out, aim high and achieve greater, faster, better and more economical results in building socialism.
We must carry on the cause left behind by Chairman Mao and resolutely implement his line in army building, strengthen the building of the army, strengthen the building of the militia, strengthen preparedness against war, heighten our vigilance, and be ready at all times to wipe out any enemy that dares to intrude. We are determined to liberate Taiwan.
We must carry on the cause left behind by Chairman Mao and continue to resolutely carry out Chairman Mao's revolutionary line and policies in foreign affairs. We must adhere to proletarian internationalism, strengthen the unity between our Party and the genuine Marxist- Leninist Parties and organizations all over the world, strengthen the unity between the people of our country and the people of all other countries, especially those of the third world countries, unite with all the forces in the world that can be united, and carry the struggle against imperialism, social-imperialism and modern revisionism through to the end. We will never seek hegemony and will never be a superpower.
We must carry on the cause left behind by Chairman Mao and assiduously study Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought, apply ourselves to the study of works by Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin and works by Chairman Mao, fight for the complete overthrow of the bourgeoisie and all other exploiting classes, for the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat in place of the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie and for the triumph of socialism over capitalism, and strive to build our country into a powerful socialist state, make still greater contributions to humanity and realize the ultimate goal of communism.
Long live invincible Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought!
Long live the great, glorious and correct Communist Party of China!
Eternal glory to the great leader and teacher Chairman Mao Tsetung!
(Hsinhua News Agency, September 9, 1976)
With deep grief we received the news of the death of Chairman Mao, Chairman of the Communist Party of China, the great, glorious and correct Communist Party. Chairman Mao was also our Chairman, the Chairman of the communist revolutionaries of the world. But Chairman Mao was not just Chairman of the great, glorious and correct Communist Party of China and the communist revolutionaries of the world. He was far more than that! He was the Chairman of the revolutionary youth and students, millions upon millions of youth who derived inspiration from the life and work of Chairman Mao.
The revisionists and imperialists of all countries attempted to deprive the fighting youth of their Chairman but they failed. It is right to rebel against reactionaries! declared Chairman Mao and the youth of the world responded, first and foremost the glorious Red Guards of China, many millions in number. They participated in the unprecedented and the greatest revolution of our time, the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution led by Chairman Mao. They turned the world upside down. They emancipated themselves in the course of struggle against revisionism and the capitalist-roaders. They participated in smashing up the bourgeois headquarters of Liu Shao-chi and the individuals like him throughout China.
While the glorious Red Guards of China were carrying out their great historic duty of combatting revisionism, they provided tremendous inspiration to the youth of other countries. Youth rebellions broke out in many countries all over the globe. Millions of youth in the U.S., in Canada and the imperialist countries of western Europe and Oceania rebelled against the imperialist system, denounced its values and rose up in storms against the decadent bourgeois educational system. In the course of these revolutionary storms, it was Mao Tsetung Thought that provided them with revolutionary guidance and it was China's Chairman who applauded the revolutionary spirit of the youth of the world and provided them with inspiration. It was the Red Guards of China who trail-blazed the path the youth of the world undertook. No matter what, we can never forget this role of Chairman Mao!
In the imperialist countries, especially the U.S. and the countries dominated by it as Canada is where the entire economic, political and social system is in deep crisis, the youth saw their future in world revolution led by China's Chairman. This provided them with a motive and a future. It provided them with a soul. It is right to rebel against reactionaries! Dare to struggle, dare to win! Seek truth from facts! Serve the people! Combat self, repudiate revisionism! These slogans provided the youth with the stirring soul of rebellion and revolution.
Within a matter of a few years, thousands of youth in the U.S., Canada and other parts of the world took up the mission of Chairman Mao. Smashing the pessimism spread by the revisionists, Chairman Mao pointed out: "Imperialism and all reactionaries are paper tigers." When capitalism was restored in the Soviet Union and the state was converted into the dictatorship of the bureaucrat- monopoly bourgeoisie, and Soviet social- imperialism arose, Chairman Mao declared that Soviet social-imperialism is a paper tiger too.
Now that Chairman Mao has gone, we must pledge ourselves to carry through to the end the cause of world revolution led by Chaitman Mao. We must advance from victory to victory by following Chairman Mao's great call: It is right to rebel against reactionaries! Nurtured by Mao Tsetung Thought and steeled by many struggles, inspired by the Red Guards and the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, we have become mature. Now it is all the more important that we vigorously advance on the revolutionary path opened up by the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution led by Chairman Mao. We must deepen and broaden our grasp of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought. We must integrate ourselves with the revolutionary masses, participate in revolutionary mass struggles and brave the storms. We must serve the cause of world proletarian socialist revolution, the cause of Chairman Mao and the oppressed nations and people of the world, the great historic cause of the international proletariat to end exploitation of man by man on the world scale.
Now the new youth generation is here. We must arouse the youth and organize a greater youth movement on a still deeper and broader scale. With the further deepening of the economic crisis in the imperialist and revisionist world, with the increasing contention between the two superpowers for world hegemony, with the sharpening of national and class contradictions and increasing class struggle in the imperialist and revisionist countries, with the great victories in socialist revolution and socialist construction won in China and Albania and other countries, and with the earth-shaking victories of the people of Cambodia, and the people of Vietnam and Laos against U.S. imperialist aggression, the factors both for revolution and war are developing on the world scale.
Aroused revolutionary youth are a great factor in revolution. They are a revolutionary force which no reactionaries can destroy! With great revolutionary care, Chairman Mao brought up revolutionary youth and educated them. He provided them with confidence in victory and revolutionary enthusiasm in struggle. Addressing the Chinese students and trainees in Moscow in 1957, Chairman Mao beckoned the youth in this manner:
"The world is yours, as well as ours, but in the last analysis, it is yours. You young people, full of vigour and vitality, are in the bloom of life, like the sun at eight or nine in the morning. Our hope is placed on you... the world belongs to you. China's future belongs to you." (Quotations, p. 288)
We young people who were nourished on invincible Mao Tsetung Thought and the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution led by Chairman Mao rededicate ourselves to redouble and triple and further multiply many times our efforts in the cause of world revolution in order to convert the deep sorrow we feel at the death of Chairman Mao into strength. We will study the teachings of Chairman Mao assiduously and other works of Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Stalin and will carry the revolution through to the end.
WE DEEPLY MOURN THE DEATH OF CHAIRMAN MAO TSETUNG!
THE LIFE AND WORK OF CHAIRMAN MAO TSETUNG WILL SHINE LIKE A BEACON FOREVER!
THE THOUGHT OF CHAIRMAN MAO TSETUNG IS AN INVINCIBLE WEAPON IN THE HANDS OF THE INTERNATIONAL PROLETARIAT!
LONG LIVE THE CORRECT AND GLORIOUS COMMUNIST PARTY OF CHINA!
LONG LIVE MARXISM-LENINISM-MAO TSETUNG THOUGHT!
CHAIRMAN MAO WILL LIVE IN THE HEART AND MINDS OF THE INTERNATIONAL PROLETARIAT FOREVER! End item.
(Repreinted from People's Canada Daily News, September 11, 1976)
I. War and Revolution
This is the historic epoch in which world capitalism and imperialism are going down to their doom and world socialism and people's democracy are marching to victory. The dawn is ahead, we must exert ourselves.
("The Present Situation and Our Tasks", 1947.)
It is my opinion that the international situation has now reached a new turning point. There are two winds in the world today, the East Wind and the West Wind. There is a Chinese saying, "Either the East Wind prevails over the West Wind or the West Wind prevails over the East Wind." I believe it is characteristic of the situation today that the East Wind is prevailing over the West Wind. That is to say, the forces of socialism have become overwhelmingly superior to the forces of imperialism.
("Speech at the Moscow Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties", 1957.)
Working hand in glove, Soviet revisionism and U.S. imperialism have done so many foul and evil things that the revolutionary people the world over will not let them go unpunished. The people of all countries are rising. A new historical period of struggle against U.S. imperialism and Soviet revisionism has begun.
(Quoted in "Report to the Ninth National Congress of the Communist Party of China", 1969.)
A weak nation can defeat a strong, a small nation can defeat a big. The people of a small country can certainly defeat aggression by a big country, if only they dare to rise in struggle, dare to take up arms and grasp in their own hands the destiny of their country. This is a law of history.
("People of the World, Unite and Defeat the U.S. Aggressors and All Their Running Dogs!", May 20, 1970.)
The next 50 to 100 years or so, beginning from now, will be a great era of radical change in the social system throughout the world, an earth-shaking era without equal in any previous historical period. Living in such an era, we must be prepared to engage in great struggles which will have many features different in form from those of the past.
(1962, Quoted in "Report to the Ninth National Congress of the Communist Party of China", 1969.)
The danger of a new world war still exists, and the people of all countries must get prepared. But revolution is the main trend in the world today.
("People of the World, Unite and Defeat the U.S. Aggressors and All Their Running Dogs!", May 20,
1970.)
The atom bomb is a paper tiger which the U.S. reactionaries use to scare people. It looks terrible, but in fact it isn't. Of course, the atom bomb is a weapon of mass slaughter, but the outcome of a war is decided by the people, not by one or two new types of weapon.
("Talk with the American Correspondent Anna Louise Strong", 1946.)
People all over the world are now discussing whether or not a third world war will break out. On this question, too, we must be mentally prepared and do some analysis. We stand firmly for peace and against war. But if the imperialists insist on unleashing another war, we should not be afraid of it. Our attitude on this question is the same as our attitude towards any disturbance: first, we are against it; second, we are not afraid of it. The First World War was followed by the birth of the Soviet Union with a population of 200 million. The Second World War was followed by the emergence of the socialist camp with a combined population of 900 million. If the imperialists insist on launching a third world war, it is certain that several hundred million more will turn to socialism, and then there will not be much room left on earth for the imperialists; it is also likely that the whole structure of imperialism will utterly collapse.
("On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People", 1957.)
With regard to the question of world war, there are but two possibilities: One is that the war will give rise to revolution and the other is that revolution will prevent the war.
(Quoted in "Report to the Ninth National Congress of the Communist Party of China", 1969.)
People of the world, unite and oppose the war of aggression launched by any imperialism or social-imperialism, especially one in which atom bombs are used as weapons! If such a war breaks out, the people of the world should use revolutionary war to eliminate the war of aggression, and preparations should be made right now!
(Quoted in "Usher in the Great 1970's", 1970.)
The seizure of power by armed force, the settlement of the issue by war, is the central task and the highest form of revolution. This Marxist-Leninist principle of revolution holds good universally, for China and for all other countries.
("Problems of War and Strategy", 1938.)
Every Communist must grasp the truth, "Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun".
(Ibid.)
Make trouble, fail, make trouble again, fail again... till their doom; that is the logic of the imperialists and all reactionaries the world over in dealing with the people's cause, and they will never go against this logic.
This is a Marxist law. When we say "imperialism is ferocious", we mean that its nature will never change, that the imperialists will never lay down their butcher knives, that they will never become Buddhas, till their doom.
Fight, fail, fight again, fail again, fight again...till their victory; that is the logic of the people, and they too will never go against this logic. This is another Marxist law. The Russian people's revolution followed this law, and so has the Chinese people's revolution.
("Cast Away Illusions, Prepare for Struggle", 1949.)
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 s nearing extinction while they themselves are approaching victory.
("The Turning Point in World War II", 1942.)
The United States is a paper tiger. Don't believe in the United States. One thrust and it's punctured. Revisionist Soviet Union is a paper tiger too.
(1964, Quoted in "Leninism or Social-Imperialism", 1970.)
U. S. imperialism, which looks like a huge monster, is in essence a paper tiger, now in the throes of its death bed struggle. In the world of today, who actually fears whom?
(1964, Quoted in "Leninism or Social-Imperialism, 1970.)
If the Right stage an anti-Communist coup d'etat in China, I am sure they will know no peace either and their rule will most probably be short-lived, because it will not be tolerated by the revolutionaries, who represent the interests of the people making up more than 90 per cent of the population.
(1966, Quoted in "Report to the Tenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, 1973.)
The great proletarian cultural revolution is in essence a great political revolution under the conditions of so- whom? It is not the Vietnamese people, the Laotian people, the Cambodian people, the Palestinian people, the Arab people or the people of other countries who fear U. S. imperialism; it is U.S. imperialism which fears the people of the world. It becomes panic-stricken at the mere rustle of leaves in the wind.
("People of the World, Unite and Defeat the U.S. Aggressors and All Their Running Dogs!", May 20, 1970.)
While massacring the people in other countries, U.S. imperialism is slaughtering the white and black people in its own country. Nixon's fascist atrocities have kindled the raging flames of the revolutionary mass movement in the United States. The Chinese people firmly support the revolutionary struggle of the American people. I am convinced that the American people who are fighting valiantly will ultimately win victory and that the fascist rule in the United States will inevitably be defeated.
("People of the World, Unite and Defeat the U.S. Aggressors and All Their Running Dogs!", May 20, 1970.)
Whether in China or in other countries of the world, to sum up, over 90 per cent of the population will eventually support Marxism-Leninism. There are still many people in the world who have not yet awakened because of the deceptions of the social-democrats, revisionists, imperialists and the reactionaries of various countries. But anyhow they will gradually awaken and support Marxism-Leninism. The truth of Marxism-Leninism is irresistible. The masses of the people will eventually rise in revolution. The world revolution is bound to triumph.
(Speech at the Working Conference (Enlarged) of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, January 30,1962.)
People of the world, unite and defeat the U.S. aggressors and all their running dogs! People of the world, be courageous, dare to fight, defy difficulties and advance wave upon wave. Then the whole world will belong to the people. Monsters of all kinds shall be destroyed.
("Statement Supporting the People of the Congo (L.) Against U.S. Aggression", Nov.28, 1964.)
II. Continuing the Revolution Under the Dictatorship of the Proletariat and the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution
The Chinese people comprising one quarter of humanity have now stood up.
(1949, Quoted in "Fight for the Further Consolidation of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat", 1969.)
Our nation will no longer be an insulted nation; we have stood up.
(Ibid.)
After the enemies with guns have been wiped out, there will still be enemies without guns; they are bound to struggle desperately against us; we must never regard these enemies lightly. If we do not now raise and understand the problem in this way, we shall commit verygrave mistakes.
("Report to Second Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China", 1949.)
In China, although in the main socialist transformation has been completed with respect to the system of ownership, and although the large-scale and turbulent class struggles of the masses characteristic of the previous revolutionary periods have in the main come to an end, there are still remnants of the overthrown landlord and comprador classes, there is still a bourgeoisie, and the remoulding of the petty bourgeoisie has only just started. The class struggle is by no means over. The class struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, the class struggle between the different political forces, and the class struggle in the ideological field between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie will continue to be long and tortuous and at times will even become very acute. The proletariat seeks to transform the world according to its own world outlook, and so does the bourgeoisie. In this respect, the question of which will win out, socialism or capitalism, is still not really settled.
("On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People", 1957.)
Socialist society covers a considerably long historical period. In the historical period of socialism, there are still classes, class contradictions and class struggle, there is the struggle between the socialist road and the capitalist road, and there is the danger of capitalist restoration. We must recognize the protracted and complex nature of this struggle. We must heighten our vigilance. We must conduct socialist education. We must correctly understand and handle class contradictions and class struggle, distinguish the contradictions between ourselves and the enemy from those among the people and handle them correctly. Otherwise a socialist country like ours will turn into its opposite and degenerate, and a capitalist restoration will take place. From now on we must remind ourselves of this every year, every month and every day so that we can retain a rather sober understanding of this problem and have a Marxist-Leninist line.
(1962, Quoted in "Report to the Ninth National Congress of the Communist Party of China", 1969.)
We have won great victory. But the defeated class will still struggle. These people are still around and this class still exists. Therefore, we cannot speak of final victory. Not even for decades. We must not lose our vigilance. According to the Leninist viewpoint, the final victory of a socialist country not only requires the efforts of the proletariat and the broad masses of the people at home, but also involves the victory of the world revolution and the abolition of the system of exploitation of man by man over the whole globe, upon which all mankind will be emancipated. Therefore, it is wrong to speak lightly of the final victory of the revolution in our country; it runs counter to Leninism and does not conform to facts.
(1968, Quoted in "Report to the Ninth National Congress of the Communist Party of China", 1969.)
Why did Lenin speak of exercising dictatorship over the bourgeoisie? It is essential to get this question clear.
Our country at present practises a commodity system, the wage system is unequal, too, as in the eight-grade wage scale, and so forth. Under the dictatorship of the proletariat such things can only be restricted. Therefore, if people like Lin Piao come to power, it will be quite easy for them to rig up the capitalist system. That is why we should do more reading of Marxist-Leninist works.
(Chairman Mao also pointed out:) Lenin said that "small production engenders capitalism and the bourgeoisie continuously, daily, hourly, spontaneously, and on a mass scale." They are also engendered among a part of the working class and of the Party membership. Both within the ranks of the proletariat and among the personnel of state and other organs there are people who take to the bourgeois style of life.
(Quoted in the Editor's note by "Renmin Ribao" and "Hongqi" to the collection "Marx, Engels and Lenin on the Dictatorship of the Proletariat", 1975.)
If classes and class struggle were forgotten and if the dictatorship of the proletariat were forgotten, then it would not be long, perhaps only several years or a decade, or several decades at most, before a counterrevolutionary restoration on a national scale would inevitably occur, the Marxist-Leninist party would undoubtedly become a revisionist party, a fascist party, and the whole of China would change its colour. Comrade's, please think it over. What a dangerous situation this would be!
(1963, Quoted in "Report to the Ninth National Congress of the Communist Party of China", 1969.)
The bureaucrat class on the one hand and the working class together with the poor and lower-middle peasants on the other are two classes sharply antagonistic to each other. (Chairman Mao further pointed out:) Management itself is a matter of socialist education. If the managerial staff do not join the workers on the shop floor, work, study and live with them and modestly learn one or more skills from them, then they will find themselves locked in acute class struggle with the working class all their lives and in the end are bound to be overthrown as bourgeois by the working class. If they don't learn any technical skills and remain outsiders for a long time, they won't be able to do management well either. Those in the dark are in no position to light the way for others. (Chairman Mao also stated:) Those leading cadres who are taking the capitalist road have turned, or are turning, into bourgeois elements sucking the blood of the workers; how can they possibly realize fully the imperative need for socialist revolution? These people are the target of the struggle, the target of the revolution, and we must never rely on them in the socialist education movement. We can rely only on those cadres who are not hostile to the workers and are imbued with revolutionary spirit.
(1964, Quoted in "Peking Review" July 2,1976 in 'Build the Party in the Course of Struggle', editorial of "Renmin Ribao", "Hongqi" and "Jiefangjun Bao".)
The rise to power of revisionism means the rise to power of the bourgeoisie.
(1964, Quoted in "Leninism or Social-Imperialism, 1970.)
The Soviet Union today is under the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, a dictatorship of the big bourgeoisie, a dictatorship of the German fascist type, a dictatorship of the Hitler type.
(1964, Quoted in "Leninism or Social-Imperialism, 1970.)
The great proletarian cultural revolution is in essence a great political revolution under the conditions of socialism made by the proletariat against the bourgeoisie and all other exploiting classes; it is a continuation of the prolonged struggle waged by the Chinese Communist Party and the masses of revolutionary people under its leadership against the Kuomintang reactionaries, a continuation of the class struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie.
(Quoted in "An Epoch-Making Document", 1968.)
The current Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution is absolutely necessary and most timely for consolidating the dictatorship of the proletariat, preventing capitalist restoration and building socialism.
(Quoted in "Report to the Ninth National Congress of the Communist Party of China", 1969.)
The present Great Cultural Revolution is only the first; there will inevitably be many more in the future.
(1967, Quoted in "Peking Review", May 21,1976.)
The main target of the present movement is those Party persons in power taking the capitalist road.
(1964, Quoted in "Report to the Ninth National Congress of the Communist Party of China", 1969.)
Those representatives of the bourgeoisie who have sneaked into the Party, the government, the army and various cultural circles are a bunch of counter-revolutionary revisionists. Once conditions are ripe, they will seize political power and turn the dictatorship of the proletariat into a dictatorship of the bourgeoisie.
("Circular of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party", May 16,1966.)
(In speaking of the dictatorship of the proletariat over the bourgeoisie Chairman Mao said:) Our relation with them can in no way be one of equality. On the contrary, it is a relation of one class oppressing another, that is, the dictatorship of the proletariat over the bourgeoisie. There can be no other type of relation, such as a so- called relation of equality, or of peaceful coexistence between exploiting and exploited classes, or of kindness or magnanimity.
("Circular of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party" May 16,1966.)
In the past we waged struggles in rural areas, in factories, in the cultural field, and we carried out the socialist education movement. But all this failed to solve the problem because we did not find a form, a method, to arouse the broad masses to expose our dark aspect openly, in an all-round way and from below.
(1967, Quoted in "Report to the Ninth National Congress of the Communist Party of China", 1969.)
Never before in any mass movement have the masses been so thoroughly aroused and on so broad a scale.
(Quoted in "Peking Review", February 13,1976.)
Without extensive people's democracy, the dictatorship of the proletariat cannot be consolidated and political power will be unstable. Without democracy, without arousing the masses and without supervision by the masses, it is impossible effectively to exercise dictatorship class, the bourgeoisie, the imperialists, the revisionists and their running dogs, all of whom exploit and oppress the workers, peasants, revolutionary intellectuals and revolutionary parties and groups. They show that it is right to rebel against reactionaries. I warmly support you.
(Quoted in "Report to the Ninth National Congress of the Communist Party of China", 1969.)
The working class must exercise leadership in everything.
(Ibid.)
We have been singing "The Internationale" for fifty years, yet on ten occasions certain people inside our Party tried to split it. As I see it, this may happen another ten, twenty or thirty times. You don't believe it? You may not believe it. Anyhow I do. Will there be no struggle when we get to Communism? I just don't believe it. There will be struggles even then, but only between the new and the old, between what is correct and what is incorrect.
(1971, Quoted in "Peking Review", December 19, 1976.)
You are making the socialist revolution, and yet don't know where the bourgeoisie is. It is right in the Communist Party -- those in power taking the capitalist road. The capitalist-roaders are still on the capitalist road.
(Recent statement, Quoted in "Peking Review", March 12, 1976.)
What 'taking the three directives as the key link'! Stability and unity do not mean writing off class struggle; class struggle is the key link and everything else hinges on it.
(Recent statement, Quoted in "Peking Review", March 26, 1976.)
Without struggle, there is no progress.
(1976, Quoted in "Peking Review", May 21,1976.)
Can 800 million people manage without struggle? !
(Ibid.)
Going against the tide is a Marxist-Leninist principle.
(Quoted in the "Report to the Tenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China", 1973.)
Practise Marxism, and not revisionism; unite, and don't split; be open and aboveboard, and don't intrigue and conspire.
(Ibid.)
Fight self, criticize revisionism.
(Quoted in "Report to the Ninth National Congress of the Communist Party of China".)
Marxism consists of thousands of truths, but they all boil down to one phrase: 'It's right to rebel'.
(1939, Quoted in "On the Revolutionary Three-in-One Combination", 1968.)
Never forget class struggle.
(1964, Quoted in "Peking Review", August 20,1976.) End
People of the World, Unite and Defeat the U.S. Aggressors and All Their Running Dogs!
(Statement of May 20, 1970)
A new upsurge in the struggle against U.S. imperialism is now emerging throughout the world. Ever since World War II, U.S. imperialism and its followers have been continuously launching wars of aggression and the people in various countries have been continuously waging revolutionary wars to defeat the aggressors. The danger of a new world war still exists, and the people of all countries must get prepared. But revolution is the main trend in the world today.
Unable to win in Viet Nam and Laos, the U.S. aggressors treacherously engineered the reactionary coup d'etat by the Lon Nol-Sirik Matak clique, brazenly dispatched their troops to invade Cambodia and resumed the bombing of north Viet Nam, and this has aroused the furious resistance of the three Indo-Chinese peoples. I warmly support the fighting spirit of Samdech Norodom Sihanouk, Head of State of Cambodia, in opposing U.S. imperialism and its lackeys. I warmly support the Joint Declaration of the Summit Conference of the Indo-Chinese Peoples. I warmly support the establishment of the Royal Government of National Union Under the Leadership of the National United Front of Kampuchea. Strengthening their unity, supporting each other and persevering in a protracted people's war, the three Indo-Chinese peoples will certainly overcome all difficulties and win complete victory.
While massacring the people in other countries, U.S. imperialism is slaughtering the white and black people in its own country. Nixon's fascist atrocities have kindled the raging flames of the revolutionary mass movement in the United States. The Chinese people firmly support the revolutionary struggle of the American people. I am convinced that the American people who are fighting valiantly will ultimately win victory and that the fascist rule in the United States will inevitably be defeated.
The Nixon government is beset with troubles internally and externally, with utter chaos at home and extreme isolation abroad. The mass movement of protest against U.S. aggression in Cambodia has swept the globe. Less than ten days after its establishment, the Royal Government of National Union of Cambodia was recognized by nearly 20 countries. The situation is getting better and better in the war of resistance against U.S. aggression and for national salvation waged by the people of Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia. The revolutionary armed struggles of the people of the Southeast Asian countries, the struggles of the people of Korea, Japan and other Asian countries against the revival of Japanese militarism by the U.S. and Japanese reactionaries, the struggles of the Palestinian and other Arab peoples against the U.S.-Israeli aggressors, the national liberation struggles of the Asian, African and Latin American peoples, and the revolutionary struggles of the peoples of North America, Europe and Oceania are all developing vigorously. The Chinese people firmly support the people of the three Indo-Chinese countries and of other countries of the world in their revolutionary struggles against U.S. imperialism and its lackeys.
U.S. imperialism, which looks like a huge monster, is in essence a paper tiger, now in the throes of its death-bed struggle. In the world of today, who actually fears whom? It is not the Vietnamese people, the Laotian people, the Cambodian people, the Palestinian people, the Arab people or the people of other countries who fear U.S. imperialism; it is U.S. imperialism which fears the people of the world. It becomes panic-stricken at the mere rustle of leaves in the wind. Innumerable facts prove that a just cause enjoys abundant support while an unjust cause finds little support. A weak nation can defeat a strong, a small nation can defeat a big. The people of a small country can certainly defeat aggression by a big country, if only they dare to rise in struggle, dare to take up arms and grasp in their own hands the destiny of their country. This is a law of history.
People of the world, unite and defeat the U.S. aggressors and all their running dogs!
(August 8, 1963)
An Afro-American leader now taking refuge in Cuba, Mr. Robert Williams, the former President of the Monroe, North Carolina, Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People, has twice this year asked me for a statement in support of the Afro-Americans' struggle against racial discrimination. On behalf of the Chinese people, I wish to take this opportunity to express our resolute support for the Afro-Americans in their struggle against racial discrimination and for freedom and equal rights.
There are more than 19 million Afro-Americans in the United States, or about 11 per cent of the total population. They are enslaved, oppressed and discriminated against -- such is their position in society. The overwhelming majority are deprived of their right to vote. In general, only the most backbreaking and despised jobs are open to them. Their average wages are barely a third or a half those of the white people. The proportion of unemployment among the Afro-Americans is the highest. In many states they are forbidden to go to the same school, eat at the same table, or travel in the same section of a bus or train as the white people. Afro-Americans are often arrested, beaten up or murdered at will by the U.S. authorities at various levels and by members of the Ku Klux Klan and other racists. About half the Afro-Americans are concentrated in eleven southern states, where the discrimination and persecution they suffer are especially shocking.
The Afro-Americans are awakening and their resistance is growing stronger and stronger. Recent years have witnessed a continuous expansion of their mass struggle against racial discrimination and for freedom and equal rights.
In 1957 the black people in Little Rock, Arkansas, waged a fierce struggle against the barring of their children from public schools. The authorities used armed force against them, creating the Little Rock incident which shocked the world.
In 1960 Negroes in more than twenty states held sit-in demonstrations protesting against racial segregation in local restaurants, shops and other public places.
In 1961 the Negroes launched the "freedom riders" campaign to oppose racial segregation in public transportation, a campaign which rapidly spread to many states.
In 1962 the Negroes in Mississippi fought for the equal right to enroll in colleges and met with bloody suppression by the authorities.
This year, the American Negroes started their struggle early in April in Birmingham, Alabama. Unarmed and bare-handed Negro people were arrested en masse and most barbarously suppressed merely for holding meetings and parades against racial discrimination. On June 12 Mr. Medgar Evers, a leader of the Negro people in Mississippi, was murdered in cold blood. Defying brutality and violence, the indignant black masses waged their struggle even more courageously and quickly won the support of Negroes and all strata of the people throughout the United States. A gigantic and vigorous nationwide struggle is going on in nearly every state and city in the United States, and the struggle keeps mounting. American Negro organizations have decided to start a 'freedom march' on Washington on 28 August, in which 250,000 people will take part.
The speedy development of the struggle of the American Negroes is a manifestation of the constant sharpening of class struggle and national struggle within the United States; it has been causing increasingly grave anxiety to the U.S. ruling clique. The Kennedy Administration has resorted to cunning two-faced tactics. On the one hand, it continues to connive at and take part in the discrimination against and persecution of Negroes; it even sends troops to repress them. On the other hand, it is parading as an advocate the 'defence of human rights' and the 'protection of the civil rights of Negroes', is calling upon the Negro people to exercise 'restraint', and is proposing to Congress so-called 'civil rights legislation' in an attempt to numb the fighting will of the Negro people and deceive the masses throughout the country. However, these tactics of the Kennedy Administration are being seen through by more and more of the Negroes. The fascist atrocities committed by the U.S. imperialists against the Negro people have laid bare the true nature of the so-called democracy and freedom in the United States and revealed the inner link between the reactionary polices pursued by the U.S. Government at home and its policies of aggression abroad.
I call on the workers, peasants, revolutionary intellectuals, enlightened elements of the bourgeoisie and other enlightened persons of all colours in the world, whether white, black, yellow or brown, to unite to oppose the racial discrimination practised by U.S. imperialism and support the black people in their struggle against racial discrimination. In the final analysis, national struggle is a matter of class struggle. Among the whites in the United States it is only the reactionary ruling circles who oppress the black people. They can in no way represent the workers, farmers, revolutionary intellectuals and other enlightened persons who comprise the overwhelming majority of the white people. At present, it is the handful of imperialists headed by the United States, and their supporters, the reactionaries in different countries, who are oppressing, committing aggression against and menacing the overwhelming majority of the nations and peoples of the world. We are in the majority and they are in the minority. At most, they make up less than 10 per cent of the 3,000 million population of the world. I am firmly convinced that, with the support of more than 90 per cent of the people of the world, the Afro-Americans will be victorious in their just struggle. The evil system of colonialism and imperialism arose and throve with the enslavement of Negroes and the trade in Negroes, and it will surely come to its end with the complete emancipation of the black people. End.
(April 16, 1968)
Some days ago, Martin Luther King, the Afro- American clergyman, was suddenly assassinated by the U.S. imperialists. Martin Luther King was an exponent of non-violence. Nevertheless, the U.S. imperialists did not on that account show any tolerance towards him, but used counter-revolutionary violence and killed him in cold blood. This has taught the broad masses of the black people in the United States a profound lesson. It has touched off a new storm in their struggle against violent repression sweeping well over a hundred cities in the United States, a storm such as has never taken place before in the history of that country. It show's that an extremely powerful revolutionary force is latent in the more than twenty million black Americans.
The storm of Afro-American struggle taking place within the United States is a striking manifestation of the comprehensive political and economic crisis now gripping U.S. imperialism. It is dealing a telling blow to U.S. imperialism, which is beset with difficulties at home and abroad.
The Afro-American struggle is not only a struggle waged by the exploited and oppressed black people for freedom and emancipation, it is also a new clarion call to all the exploited and oppressed people of the United States to fight against the barbarous rule of the monopoly capitalist class. It is a tremendous support and inspiration to the struggle of the people throughout the world against U.S. imperialism and to the struggle and imperialist system can the black people in the United States win complete emancipation. The black masses and the masses of white working people in the United States share common interests and have common objectives to struggle for. Therefore, the Afro-American struggle is winning sympathy and support from increasing numbers of white working people and progressives in the United States. The struggle of the black people in the United States is bound to merge with the American workers' movement, and this will eventually end the criminal rule of the U.S. monopoly capitalist class.
In 1963, in my "Statement Supporting the Afro-Americans in Their Just Struggle Against Racial Discrimination by U.S. Imperialism" I said that "the evil system of colonialism and imperialism arose and throve with the enslavement of Negroes and the trade in Negroes, and it will surely come to its end with the complete emancipation of the black people". I still maintain this view.
At present, the world revolution has entered a great new era. The struggle of the black people in the United States for emancipation is a component part of the general struggle of all the people of the world against U.S. imperialism, a component part of the contemporary world revolution. I call on the workers, peasants and revolutionary intellectuals of every country and all who are willing to fight against U.S. imperialism to take action and extend strong support to the struggle of the Black people in the United States! People of the whole world, unite still more closely and launch a sustained and vigorous offensive against our common enemy, U.S. imperialism, and its accomplices! It can be said with certainty that the complete collapse of colonialism, imperialism, and all systems of exploitation, and the complete emancipation of all the oppressed peoples and nations of the world are not far off.
(Chairman Mao wrote the following letter to Comrade William Z. Foster, leader of the Communist Party USA before it degenerated into revisionism, and a leader of the American working class.)
January 17,1959
Dear Comrade Foster,
Thank you ever so much for your letter of December 19th, 1958. From your letter, full of warmth and enthusiasm, I could see the soul of the great Communist Party of the United States, and the soul of the great working class and people of the United States.
The Chinese people know that United States imperialism has done many bad things to China and to the whole world as well; they understand that only the United States ruling group is bad, while the people of the United States are very good. Among the Americans, although many of them have not yet awakened, only a tiny part are bad, the overwhelming majority are good. Friendly relations between the Chinese and American peoples will eventually break down the barriers put up by Dulles and his like and develop more extensively with each passing day.
Although the Communist Party of the United States is temporarily in a situation which is none too smooth, your struggle is highly significant and is bound to bear rich fruit. Dark night has its end. The reactionary forces of the United States are now running their heads into stone walls everywhere, which shows that they will not have too many days to live. Right now, over there in your country, the situation in which "the enemy is strong and we are weak" is entirely a temporary phenomenon. It will certainly develop in the opposite direction.
Allow me, on behalf of the Communist Party of China and the Chinese people, to extend hearty greetings to you, glorious fighter and leader of the American working class, and to wish you an early recovery. I warmly welcome your coming to China for medical treatment and convalescence, if it is possible for you to do so.
With Communist Greetings,
Mao Tse-tung
Chairman, Central Committee, Communist Party of China
(Reprinted from Political Affairs, March 1959.)
(Comrade Foster was one of the first Americans to recognize the outstanding Marxist-Leninist qualities of Chairman Mao. He wrote the following in his bookHistory of the Three Internationals, 1955.)
THE ROLE OF MAO TSE-TUNG
The great leader of the Chinese Revolution possesses many of the qualities of leadership that characterized Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Stalin.
(W.E.B. DuBois called upon the African people to follow the path of Chairman Mao's China.)
Africa, arise and face the rising sun! China is flesh of your flesh and blood of your blood. No nation better than China can offer friendship and sympathy to the Dark Continent.... Come to China, Africa, and look around!
(From a speech made at Peking University on February 23, 1959.)
(In 1959 Chairman Mao had a very friendly meeting with W. E. B. DuBois, the noted Afro-American leader.)
Dr. DuBois was a great man of our time. His deeds of heroic struggle for the liberation of the Negroes and the whole of mankind, his outstanding achievements in academic fields and his sincere friendship toward the Chinese people will forever remain in the memory of the Chinese people.