On New Democracy

Mao’s Road to Power: Revolutionary Writings, 1912–1949 #7

by Mao Zedong

Written by Mao in January, 1940, the chapters 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

Genres: China, Politics, History, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Economics, Theory

84 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung, and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, statesman and leader of the Chinese Revolution. He was the architect and founding father of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from its establishment in 1949, and held control over the nation until his death in 1976. His theoretical contribution to Marxism–Leninism, along with his military strategies and brand of policies, are collectively known as Maoism.

Mao rose to power by commanding the Long March, forming a Second United Front with Kuomintang (KMT) during the Second Sino-Japanese War to repel a Japanese invasion, and later led the Communist Party of China (CPC) to victory against Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek's KMT in the Chinese Civil War. Mao established political and military control over most of the territory formerly contained within the Chinese Empire and launched a campaign to suppress counterrevolutionaries. He sent the Communist People's Liberation Army into Xinjiang and Tibet but was unable to oust the remnants of the Nationalist Party from Taiwan. He enacted sweeping land reform by using violence and terror to overthrow landlords before seizing their large estates and dividing the land into people's communes. The Communist Party's final victory came after decades of turmoil in China, which included the Great Depression, a brutal invasion by Japan and a protracted civil war. Mao's Communist Party ultimately achieved a measure of stability in China, though Mao's efforts to close China to trade and market commerce, and eradicate traditional Chinese culture, have been largely rejected by his successors.

Mao styled himself "The Great Helmsman" and supporters continue to contend that he was responsible for some positive changes which came to China during his three decade rule. These included doubling the school population, providing universal housing, abolishing unemployment and inflation, increasing health care access, and dramatically raising life expectancy. A cult of personality grew up around Mao, and community dissent was not permitted. His Communist Party still rules in mainland China, retains control of media and education there and officially celebrates his legacy. As a result, Mao is still officially held in high regard by many Chinese as a great political strategist, military mastermind, and savior of the nation. Maoists promote his role as a theorist, statesman, poet, and visionary, and anti-revisionists continue to defend most of his policies.

Reviews

[Luís · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mao Zedong here addresses the distinction between commoner and imperialism. The social relations between the U.S. and China. He also previewed the various socialist political systems and, among other issues, the direction of a more modern China.

[Carlos Martinez · Rating 5 out of 5]

This pamphlet is indispensable for those wishing to understand the Chinese Revolution, particularly the period between the fall of the Qing regime in 1911 and the victory of the CPC in 1949 (the pamphlet was written in 1940, when the Red Army had its base in Yenan and was leading the united front against Japanese occupation). The idea of new democracy marks an important step forward, outlining a basis for a broad class alliance against imperialism and feudalism, within an ideological framework of socialism but without a directly socialist economic/political character. Mao doesn't make any mention here of how long the 'new democratic' phase might last. Elsewhere he suggests a period of around 50 years. But in the mid-late 1950s, faced with ideological disagreements and the first rumblings of the Sino-Soviet split, new democracy was cut short in favour of rapid socialist development. Arguably 'reform and opening up' was to some degree a return to the pre-GLF path.

[dbouzadaGZ · Rating 5 out of 5]

un tipo leu isto e agora estou no seu partido, que locura

[Yogy TheBear · Rating 1 out of 5]

A bunch of interpretations and re-interpretations on the interpretations and re-interpretations done by others before him of the marxism body of thought. All this meant to give justification and historical and scientific proof, in the context of China 1940 of the actions and ideology of the chinese communist party. He talks about the culture of China and cultures in general as being semi feudal and imperialist, about 4 may movement, about the need to ally with the soviet union.
I also feel that he distorts quite a lot of marxism-leninism, witch I do not care.. But he is very mediocre so far, I have read quite a lot of protracted war and the guy is just good at spinning words
Anyway... I forced myself to read at least one work of this big criminal communist theologian (/ideologue) and I need a brain vacation.

[Christina Pan]

a lu xun fanboy. relatable?

[Davide Gobbicchi]

The pamphlet “On New Democracy” can best be understood as the intellectual effort through which
Mao Zedong successfully provided ultimate theoretical legitimacy to the Chinese Communist party
and his own persona. Born into a lower-class –though wealthy– family from a peripheral region of
China, Mao's youth was characterized by the will to climb the social ladder of a rapidly evolving
China, and the economic means necessary to do it. The discrimination faced as a result of his origin
and accent can be compared to that faced by Stalin; so can its impact on Mao's despise of upper
classes and his subsequent adoption of the Marxist/Leninist doctrine, thoroughly expressed in his
pamphlet. “On New Democracy” is thus firstly a work intended for that intellectual elite from
which Mao has long been excluded due to outdated imperial social structures – the old XIX century
feudal culture that Mao will strongly criticize and see as the main antagonist to the creation of a
“New China”. The emphasis given to the leading role of lower classes in the to-be revolution allows
Mao to implicitly (due to his humble origins) enhance his own persona within the party, thus
erasing all remaining internal opposition to his role as party leader.
In order to understand the relation between the other actor to whom the pamphlet is addressed – the
Kuomintang – and the CCP it's important to analyze the historical context behind the work's
publication: as 1940 had begun, the Japanese occupation of China was growing larger, forcing
Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong (by then unofficial leader of the CCP) to cease all rivalries and
jointly fight the foreign invader. Mao skillfully takes advantage of the truce to promote the
discourse portraying the CCP as savior of the nation: by stressing the CCP's role as the main fighter
against Japanese invasion (due to its effective guerrilla warfare and stricter discipline) he equates
being against the Communists to being against China, thus greatly delegitimizing the KMT in the
eyes of the common people while simultaneously framing the CCP as the country's rightful leader
(“No matter whom you follow, the moment you oppose the Communist Party you become a traitor,
because you can no longer resist Japan”). Given the truce characterizing the period in which Mao's
work was written, the pamphlet serves as a warning to Chiang Kai-shek for his opposition to the
Communists and gradual departure from what Mao believed to be the “true Kuomintang doctrine” –
that theorized by first Kuomintang leader Sun Yat-sen almost three decades earlier. Importantly, in
comparing Chiang Kai-shek to Sun Yat-sen Mao further diminishes the former's persona to a quasiimpostor, and allows us to understand the fragile relation (and peace) between the CCP and the
KMT, a rivalry that would have led to another bloody civil war in the very same year of the
pamphlet's publication.
“On New Democracy” is perhaps Mao's most important pamphlet, for through the disguise of a
Marxist/Leninist essay (and democratic values that Zedong will rapidly forget once undisputed
leader of the People's Republic of China) addressed to the “people of China”, the author allows us
to understand the motivations lying behind the CCP's rise to power and Mao's leading role in
Chinese history, both revered to this very day.

[Devin · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredible look into the rise of the New Democracy in pre-Revolutionary China that would influence the surge of Marxism-Leninism that led to the Revolution of 1949.

As usual, Mao meticulously covers 40 years of history, from the bourgeois revolution of 1911, to the rise of Communism in China following the 1917 Bolshevik War and formation of the Chinese Communist Party in 1921, all the way up to the anti-Japanese war in the 1940s, which China emerged from victoriously.

Mao's claim that culture is a reflection of economic and political thoughts of each nation is a great addition onto the Marxist thought that one's being is determined by their consciousness, rather than the other way around -- here it is applied to a national culture.

Mao understood that a united front meant foregoing a socialist revolution out of the gate, but ultimately, this was and still is, the correct line while most the masses are still heavily influenced by bourgeois-democratic thought [think "The Resistance" today]. But once anti-imperialism and anti-capitalism are both built high enough, the slogans and claims of the bourgeois-democracy will become shaky and unstable, leaving space for Communists to rush in and lead a true proletarian revolution.

[Jasper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nuanced reading that takes on the monumental task of addressing the political-economic state of China during the war. By identifying both the necessity for a distinct national identity, as well as socialist administration, Mao divorces from many other socialist thinkers by actively including the national bourgeoise *and* the descending classes in his design for a post-colonial state. Though the work provides only a relatively rudimentary outline for the modus operandi of the Chinese state, it is nonetheless an informative and interesting contribution to the Third-Worldist movement.

[S M H · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this awhile ago and enjoyed it as a peek into the mind of Mao. It helps that Mao wrote for the common man, so it's clear and straight to the point.

[Bailey Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

For those who do not understand the development of Chinese socialism in the 20th century this is a must read. Mao lays out what conditions China found itself in after the Civil War and how they are different from nations that have a developed capitalist class (Cuba, USSR). China thus needed to compromise and develop the conditions of capitalism (similar to the New Economic Period in pre WWII Soviet Union) so that China can quickly move past state capitalism (first stage of socialism) and enter a higher second stage of socialism by the mid 21st century.