>>> "Henry C.K. Liu" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 06/29/99 10:51AM >>>
Typical. I suggested a comparison of Kennedy's campaign speeches to Lin Biao's
preface to Quotations From Mao, Professor DeLong produced a Kennedy graduation
address at Harvard on Robert Frost.
Kennedy described through his adulation of Frost, an America I did not recognize
in the 60s, nor now, nor do I see it going in that direction.
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Charles: How about the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag, recited mindlessly, daily by
millions of school children about the same time as the Red Books ?
How about if we get some of the nominating speeches at Dem and Rep party conventions ?
How about George Washington never told a lie ?
How about television commercials and their praises of commodities ?
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Lin Biao wrote in his preface:
> In studying the works of Chairman Mao, one should have specific
> problems in mind, study and apply his works in a creative way,
> combine study with application, first study what must be urgently
> applied in order to get quick results, and strive hard to apply what
> one is studying.
> We have compiled Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung in order to help the
> broad masses learn Mao Tse-tung's thought more effectively.
> In organizing their study, units should select passages that are
> relevant to the situation, their tasks, the current thinking of their
> personnel, and the state of their work.
It does not read like dictatorial oppression to me, as Professor DeLong claims.
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Charles: So, what we have in the selective quotations earlier by Brad D. is a form of
distortion by omission. To call the above "bootlicking " and adherence to an autocrat
is a gross distortion.
Charles Brown
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More to the point, let me quote directly from the Quotations From Mao:
17. SERVING THE PEOPLE
We should be modest and prudent, guard against arrogance and rashness, and serve
the Chinese people heart and soul. . . .
"China's Two Possible Destinies" (April 23, 1945), Selected Works,
Vol. III, p. 253.
Our point of departure is to serve the people whole-heartedly and never for a
moment divorce ourselves from the masses, to proceed in all cases from the
interests of the people and not from the interests of
individuals or groups, and to understand the identity of our responsibility to the
people and our responsibility to the leading organs of the Party.
"On Coalition Government" (April 24, 1945), Selected Works,
Vol. III, p. 315.*
The organs of state must practise democratic centralism, they must rely on the
masses and their personnel must serve the people.
On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People (February 27, 1957),
1st pocket ed., p.
8.*
Comrade Bethune's spirit, his utter devotion to others without any thought of
self, was shown in his great sense of responsibility in his work and his great
warm-heartedness towards all comrades and the people.
Every Communist must learn from him.
.. . . . . . . . . . .
We must all learn the spirit of absolute selflessness from him. With this spirit
everyone can be very useful to the people. A man's ability may be great or small,
but if he has this spirit, he is already noble-minded and pure, a man of moral
integrity and above vulgar interests, a man who is of value to the people.
"In Memory of Norman Bethune" (December 21, 1939), Selected Works, Vol.
II, pp. 337-38.*
Our Communist Party and the Eighth Route and New Fourth Armies led by our Party
are battalions of the revolution. These battalions of ours are wholly dedicated to
the liberation of the people and work
entirely in the people's interests.
"Serve the People" (September 8, 1944), Selected Works,
Vol. III, p. 227.
All our cadres, whatever their rank, are servants of the people, and whatever we
do is to serve the people.
How then can we be reluctant to discard any of our bad traits?
"The Tasks for 1945" (December 15,
1944).
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.
"The Situation and Our Policy After the Victory in the War of Resistance
Against Japan" (August 13,
1945), Selected Works, Vol. IV,
p. 16.
Wherever there is struggle there is sacrifice, and death is a common occurrence.
But we have the interests of the people and the sufferings of the great majority
at heart, and when we die for the people it is a
worthy death. Nevertheless, we should do our best to avoid unnecessary sacrifices.
"Serve the People" (September 8, 1944), Selected Works,
Vol. III, p. 228.
All men must die, but death can vary in its significance. The ancient Chinese
writer Szuma Chien said, "Though death befalls all men alike, it may be weightier
than Mount Tai or lighter than a feather." To die for the people is weightier than
Mount Tai, but to work for the fascists and die for the exploiters and oppressors
is lighter than a feather.
Ibid., p. 227.*
To material like the above, Lin Biao wrote:
"We have compiled Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung in order to help the
broad masses learn Mao Tse-tung's thought more effectively.
In organizing their study, units should select passages that are
relevant to the situation, their tasks, the current thinking of their
personnel, and the state of their work.
It is our hope that all comrades will learn earnestly and diligently, bring about
a new nation-wide high tide in the creative study and application of Chairman
Mao's works and, under the great red banner of Mao Tse-tung's thought, strive to
build our country into a great socialist state with modern agriculture, modern
industry, modern science and culture, and modern national defence!"
Now, it is interesting to compare Mao's praise of Dr. Bethune's to Kennedy
celebration of Frost. (Bethune was a Canadian surgeon who helped the People's
Liberation Army during the revolution.)
Mao talked about: "We must all learn the spirit of absolute selflessness from him.
With this spirit everyone can be very useful to the people. A man's ability may be
great or small, but if he has this spirit, he is already noble-minded and pure, a
man of moral integrity and above vulgar interests, a man who is of value to the
people."
Kennedy, on the other hand, talked about: "In America our heroes have customarily
run to men of large accomplishments." Sounds perilously close to Fascism.
Frost is a fine Poet. Yet Kennedy seems to me to be concerned with how to bake a
fancier cake (even acknowledging that Frost was often skeptical about projects for
human improvement), while Mao praised Bethune's spirit of a concern for saving
lives of soldiers engaged in a liberation struggle.
One may not necessarily be morally superior to the other, in a timeless sense.
Yet, personally, I identify more with the mission of Bethune. But then, as
Professor DeLong implies, in my admiration for Mao, I don't really have the
sensitivity to appreciate the fine points of human aspiration. I am too fixated on
mundane problems on the eliminating hunger rather than the designer dresses and
French cousine of the Jacky White House
Brad De Long wrote:
> I didn't expect to be called a racist for daring to suggest that the
> people of China deserved better than to be ruled by a boot-licking
> theocrat like Lin Biao either...
As I said for the nth time, it is your callous lampoon of Chinese language that
was an racist act, not your disagreement with Lin Biao.
Henry C.K. Liu
