送交者: WaterFire 于 January 27, 2003 17:05:59:
Mao’s thought, Deng’s Theory and Jiang’Talk.
1. Mao’s thought.
The key for Mao’s thought is the so called three treasures of the CCP:
A. The CCP’s leadership
B. United front
C. Mass line
A. is basically a group of people dressed in a divine ideological cloth. A is the key to the other two (B and C.). Even though the CCP had the basic ideology of Marx: class struggle was the key. But how to struggle, what would be the priority? The leader of the CCP shaped the thought (or theory or talk) of the party by answering these questions differently and Mao (together with Chen Boda) shaped Mao’s thought. From Li Dazao, Chen Duxiou, …to Mao, the educational level of the leadership was from university to high school. But Mao’s down to earth manner, enable his found a basic strategy to be very successful in the process of getting power.
B is target to people or group with certain power, with certain influence. They may be not CCP’s comrade in long term, but as long as in a particular time CCP could use their support, then CCP should make friend with them that time. CCP had done well in using the so called educated people.
C is targeting at mass by propaganda, brain wash and promises. Propaganda needs an ideology, that was the Marx-Lenin-ism. That was also why A. is needed. Without A, there would be a serious theoretical and practical problem: what would be the ideology source? Who would be qualified be the leader of the great movement? (That was also why Mao needed Chen Boda: some even claim that Mao’s though was Chen’s thought. I do not agree: I would argue that Mao’s thought was Mao’s idea with Chen’s decoration, because Mao already showed his sense of number before he met Chen, for example, Mao’s Report on the Hunan Farmer’s movement.)
To get mass, CCP had to make promises: For example, farmer will get land under CCP rule! Recollect the land back from the farmers and set up People’s Commune when farmers did not have an alternative (GMT was in Taiwan by then).
As everyone may already noticed: All three principles are dynamic, the detail contents are ever changing:
The CCP’s leadership is keep changing, not only by nature: people old, die, retire, but also by the internal power struggle.
Certainly, the group or powerful individual CCP wants to take into the united front is also change from time to time: warlords, other parties, famous personal..
The mass line is also changing because the leadership changing results ideological change, some mass may became enemy, for example.
However, B and C are basically a kind of numbering play. Mao was quite good at numbers, thanks to his father, who sent Mao to learn a trade (be a petty accountant) when Mao was young. Mao did a great job using the accounting knowledge in his Report on the Hunan Farmer’s movement. In that report, he detailed farmers daily income and what they would spend on: like salt, Soya source, vinegar, light oil, etc….
In the war, political or military, the number playing also rewarded Mao well: Mao used to say: “I am a small business man, I do not want do a trade which may cause me yet I get no return.” In military, set up united front, get mass ready, if still not a match in number, then run.
In political struggle too, make friends, always make your enemy a small number, then beat them.
This number playing (people’s war) is very usable when the task is not sophisticated construction work. Specially when tech-know how is not important. This theory is powerful, aggressive and depressing. “The one follows me survive, the one against me dies”. It is good at invading, destroying and getting power. Today, in the international scene, USA is also using Mao’s thought in its war on terrorists:
A. The USA’s leadership
B. Coalitions
C. Mass Line (propaganda, Voice of America, etc..)
However, Mao’s thought may not work if people are sophisticated and have a sense of democracy: There was a story in Alberta moved me very much. May be NF (thank you!) can tell it: long time ago, in Alberta, Canada, a group of people was considered mentally unsuitable for being parents….
(That was why Mao did not like educated people much. Of cause there was some personal feelings due to the professors at Beida, like Professor Hu Shi, treated him cold.)
Also, Mao’s thought is not working well for a more sophisticated task: like making China strong after getting the power to rule the country.
There is a misunderstanding that the leftists do not care about production. Actually they did. But the problem was they did not have the know-how. Mao did many tries using his thought: Great leap forward, People’s commune…
When I was young, I was lived in a small county town: my front door was a small town and my back door was connected to countryside. Near by was a place called “iron shit village.” I could pick these kinds of iron shits there. I was told that was the result of so called “big steal production”: A lot of trees were cut, a lot of woks were destroyed, but the result was only these “iron shit”, because the temperature from the tree fire was not enough to make what Mao wanted: Steal.
Mao was a farmer and to be trained as a petty accountant (that was what his father wished) how could he believed that agriculture yield could be that incredible number? Mao did not like educated people, but he sometimes also he also looked upon them for support, specially, when they are knelt in front of him. Just in time, Professor Qian Xuesheng published a scientific paper on “Science Communication” (KeXue TongBao), saying that according to his calculation, taking account energy from the Sun, the incredible high yield was very much possible! That must be the most expensive calculation human ever done: millions died!
Deng watched Mao’s try and noticed that Mao’s thought is not suitable for construction. Modification is needed. Hence, there was a Deng’s theory.