Selected Works of Mao Zedong

by Mao Zedong

The selections in this volume cover the period from August 15, 1945 through September 16, 1949.

Genres: China, Politics, Nonfiction

274 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1949

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

[Avery Solsbak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alright so, I thought that these writings were really fascinating. It's is fascinating to see things from his point of view. It makes me think about objective truths. He is as convinced in his ideals as we are in ours. What is objective morality? I don't know. The piece which he called "The peasant problem" was especially interesting. To a level it made sense, the country could not survive without unity. At the same time, is it worth it to save the country at the price of people wanting to be there?

[Dylan Campana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mao has an impressive breadth of analysis, from demographical and historical insight in rural China to military strategy and guerrilla tactics. It is simple to see from his writings how Mao led one of the greatest revolution in history, and forged one of the only leftist countries to withstand the United States and the rest of the Imperial Core. His insights into the peasant associations of rural China demonstrate the necessity of a vanguard party for revolution, and his advocacy of peasant and the proletariat as the most revolutionary forces of society are the same that inspired the Black Panthers and other MLM parties. Of these selected works, I thought On Practice was the best, for it so eloquently stated why theory is necessary for revolution, and the requirement of revolutionary action to actualize theory. Furthermore, he used dialectics as a way to criticize dogma, and to always adapt to the material conditions of ones society rather than follow theory blindly. On Contradiction delved into the rationale beyond dialectical materialism, and explored why dialectical thinking is necessary to accurately access the realities of ones society, and thereby leading to true revolution. The only reason why I did not give this a 5/5 is because On Guerrilla Warfare and On Protracted War toke up half the book, and I found them less interesting and pertinent to our modern political/military epoch.

[Mawr · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favourite of all these writings was 'On Contradiction,' which I've quoted from in some of my blog posts, this one, for example: https://mawrgorshin.com/2018/02/08/th...

Apart from 'On Contradiction,' I also enjoyed reading 'Analysis of the Classes in Chinese Society,' the ending of which was quoted from in this amusing scene from the movie, 'Volunteers': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZ6Uu...

[Nicolas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Didn’t read every work in this, I just read the ones I want to read right now. That being said of the ones I did read it was very insightful and all the concepts were explained succinctly. I read “On Practice”, “On Contradiction”, and “Combat Liberalism.” I will most likely visit this again in the future but for right now I want to move on. Would definitely recommend.

[Adam Marsan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mar 1926 - Sept 1949