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O Pequeno Livro Vermelho
Este livro andou nas mãos de milhões de seres humanos: da China à Europa, de acontecimentos histórico míticos como o Maio de 68 a filmes de Jean-Luc Godard, das mãos dos operários e militares chineses, em Pequim, às mãos do estudantes de Direito do MRPP, em Lisboa. Visto como um livro libertador, que poria em causa todo o poder – «Bombardeiem o Quartel-General» era o apelo de Mao – o que na sua construção aforística se esconde é o mais exacerbado culto da personalidade. Fanatismo, tortura, repressão da mais ínfima liberdade de pensamento, e um milhão de mortos, é o balanço que a China faz da influência deste livro. Nele vem desaguar toda a história do comunismo chinês, um comunismo que foi, desde o seu começo, furiosamente estatal e impiedosamente repressivo.
264 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1964
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About the author
Mao Zedong
711 books568 followersMao 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 503 reviews
June 29, 2018
This evil little book is one of the most important documents of the 20th Century. It is absolutely essential to understanding the Cultural Revolution. When as a teenager I read it in 1970 I thought it was hilarious. Now almost fifty years the true story has come out and this book no longer seems funny. Its importance however has greatly increased.
March 31, 2007
While I read this in 9th grade, while I was still an aspiring Marxist-Leninist, I think that 2 years later I can safely discard it. The content consists solely of Mao quoting himself. This book serves no purpose, other than for Bob Avakian and his followers in the Revolutionary Communist Party, who in all probability masturbate to it on a daily basis.
February 4, 2008
Chairman Mao was many things to many people, but to me he'll always be boring.
December 9, 2014
The Great Helmsman's words flow like the mighty water of the Yellow River, majestic and calm, bringing nourishment to the Chinese people. The Glorious Teacher, Chairman Mao, has developed the universal truth of Marxist-Leninist thought to a new height, guiding the nation on a new path towards constructing socialism. Chairman Mao, the people yearn for you like the crops yearning for the sun!
Anyone who doesn't like the words of the Great Helmsman is a capitalist roader, running dogs of Liu Shaoqi, agents of Soviet revisionism, and American spies.
Anyone who doesn't like the words of the Great Helmsman is a capitalist roader, running dogs of Liu Shaoqi, agents of Soviet revisionism, and American spies.
July 26, 2013
The Little Red Book is just a bunch of repetitive drivel.
I read this book as an historian, not as someone looking for ideological inspiration. I have always been fascinated with Chinese history and Mao in particular so I thought I would have a read through the infamous book that condensed the thoughts and philosophies of the man who influenced so many.
Well sadly it did not turn out to be the intriguing insight into the mind of Mao that I thought it might be. Rather it is just a bunch of repetitive slogans and some pieced together communist dogma. Not much of it even makes sense and frankly some of the "revolutionary ideas" are rather ho-hum. Bad translations not withstanding.
What is interesting is imagining the followers of Mao endlessly reading these quotations and indoctrinating themselves into Maoist revolutionaries. Not because of any persuasive ideas, but just because the insistent and monotonous repetition of these same catch phrases and slogans did actually get me into a bit of a trance-like state. A large part of Mao's success was becoming the cult like icon that he was to his followers, and I wonder if this book was not more of a tool for brainwashing than anything. It certainly grinds you into a hypnotic stupor after reading enough of it, and that interesting notion is the most I got out of this book.
I now keep it on the bookshelf as a bit of cultural kitsch rather than an actual piece of legitimate reading.
I read this book as an historian, not as someone looking for ideological inspiration. I have always been fascinated with Chinese history and Mao in particular so I thought I would have a read through the infamous book that condensed the thoughts and philosophies of the man who influenced so many.
Well sadly it did not turn out to be the intriguing insight into the mind of Mao that I thought it might be. Rather it is just a bunch of repetitive slogans and some pieced together communist dogma. Not much of it even makes sense and frankly some of the "revolutionary ideas" are rather ho-hum. Bad translations not withstanding.
What is interesting is imagining the followers of Mao endlessly reading these quotations and indoctrinating themselves into Maoist revolutionaries. Not because of any persuasive ideas, but just because the insistent and monotonous repetition of these same catch phrases and slogans did actually get me into a bit of a trance-like state. A large part of Mao's success was becoming the cult like icon that he was to his followers, and I wonder if this book was not more of a tool for brainwashing than anything. It certainly grinds you into a hypnotic stupor after reading enough of it, and that interesting notion is the most I got out of this book.
I now keep it on the bookshelf as a bit of cultural kitsch rather than an actual piece of legitimate reading.
x-y-z
October 31, 2013[the interesting words are in the comments]
Who hasn't heard of Chairman Mao's little red book?
But who's actually read it?
It's like Che Guevara - a political icon that's been absorbed into pop-culture.
This is firmly on my 'read one day and stop being an ignorant ass' list.
Either that, or I'm just writing some on-topic drivel so my review won't be deleted by the Goodreads Censor.
A little of column A, a little of column B...
*makes a see-saw motion with his hands*
Who hasn't heard of Chairman Mao's little red book?
But who's actually read it?
It's like Che Guevara - a political icon that's been absorbed into pop-culture.
This is firmly on my 'read one day and stop being an ignorant ass' list.
Either that, or I'm just writing some on-topic drivel so my review won't be deleted by the Goodreads Censor.
A little of column A, a little of column B...
*makes a see-saw motion with his hands*
Want to read
August 26, 2016More or less on impulse, we went on a short trip today to see the Musée Suisse du Jeu in La Tour-de-Peilz. The setting is extraordinarily charming: it's an old castle on the shore of Lake Léman, not far from Montreux.
Our excuse for visiting was a simultaneous Go exhibition being given by a German 3 Dan player. I hadn't played for a couple of years, so I asked for a three stone handicap and after many vicissitudes finally managed to win the game. The German guy was a good sport about it, considering that my position had been close to lost at one stage, and we spent a while chatting about Go-related trivia after the game.
He had a bunch of interesting anecdotes, the best of which related to the infamous Little Red Book. I already knew that Mao had been a keen Go player in his time. What I hadn't heard was that he apparently used Go metaphors and comparisons quite frequently. The translators had however all decided that a Western audience wasn't going to understand any of that stuff, so they chose to render them as chess terms instead. Since Go and chess are fundamentally different games, and many Go concepts have no chess counterpart, the result is often utterly nonsensical.
This seemed almost too good to be true, and I was amazed I'd never heard the story before... but he seemed very sure of his sources, and among other things claimed to speak decent Chinese. Can anyone confirm or deny it?
Our excuse for visiting was a simultaneous Go exhibition being given by a German 3 Dan player. I hadn't played for a couple of years, so I asked for a three stone handicap and after many vicissitudes finally managed to win the game. The German guy was a good sport about it, considering that my position had been close to lost at one stage, and we spent a while chatting about Go-related trivia after the game.
He had a bunch of interesting anecdotes, the best of which related to the infamous Little Red Book. I already knew that Mao had been a keen Go player in his time. What I hadn't heard was that he apparently used Go metaphors and comparisons quite frequently. The translators had however all decided that a Western audience wasn't going to understand any of that stuff, so they chose to render them as chess terms instead. Since Go and chess are fundamentally different games, and many Go concepts have no chess counterpart, the result is often utterly nonsensical.
This seemed almost too good to be true, and I was amazed I'd never heard the story before... but he seemed very sure of his sources, and among other things claimed to speak decent Chinese. Can anyone confirm or deny it?
January 6, 2019
A very interesting and convenient little book that compiles Mao's ideas and theory over a wide range of topics in a collection of short quotations. Naturally, to fully understand the theories and ideas put forward, further reading is required. The topics and quotations are of course based on the material conditions present in China at the time, so it is important not to take the book as a literal guide to Marxist-Leninist thought (as is the case with all Marxist theory), but to analyse the ideas and apply them to our own material conditions.
May 15, 2020
This compilation of selected words of Mao Zedong was brandished by Mao's Red Guards during the chaotic "Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution", in which Mao reasserted his dominance after being almost sidelined by the earlier disaster of the "Great Leap Forward", in which millions of Chinese died in the famine brought about by the attempt to drastically increase China's steel production.
April 27, 2011
Mao updated communism and resolved many of its internal contradictions, particularly after Khrushchev's rise in the USSR which coincided with increasing liberalism and bureaucracy. Required reading for any serious political analyst regardless of ideological bent
May 17, 2021
Right from the very first page you have a recommendation: "the revolutionary young man must carry it along always, consult it, memorize it, sleep with it and keep it in the little pocket of his shirt".
It seems the original title of the book was "Quotes of president Mao", but later it took on other titles like "Little red book" in the West, and "Red treasure book" in China.
The book is truly a glorification of the Communist Party as the only way out, for the people's masses facing imperialism.
In the preface we may read that Mao is considered the "greatest Marxist Leninist of our time".
The quotes differ in time (from the 1920's until the 1960's) and area. So you may find quotes on culture, art, women, the youth, political party cadres, the communist personality, criticism and self criticism, discipline, unity, ideological self-education, study and investigation, methods of thought and work, self-effort and work, revolutionary heroism, patriotism and internationalism, service to the people, education and military training, democracy, relations between the army and the people, relations between officers and soldiers, political work, the masses of the people, the people's army, people's war, dare to fight and conquer victory, imperialism and the paper tigers, contradictions midst the people, and war of classes.
There are interesting assumptions being made. Like "truth is on the side of the people", and "minorites should submit to majorities". However one should ask what's the percentage of the people who belongs to the Communist Party in our days? In fact, a minority. So, who owns the truth, now? Who's telling the Truth?
In the last pages of the book I've found an interesting note, but totally absurd in our days. Which says "The Kuomitang (literally the Chinese nationalist party) is a political party of the Republic of China founded in 1911 after the revolution of Xinhai, which led to the abdication of Puyi in 1912, the last emperor of the Qin dynasty, and the change of Goverment, from imperial to republican". This is the absurd part: "in our days the KMT is considered a conservative party, member of the International Democrat Union (to which belong the British conservative party, the USA Republican Party and the Spanish Popular Party). "Conservative"?? Give me a break.🦉
And yet, it's still a useful book, in our days:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8mmFEY9...
Ha! This is how the KMT "takes care" of the people:
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/at-u...
UPDATE
🦉Still very useful:
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/bide...
It seems the original title of the book was "Quotes of president Mao", but later it took on other titles like "Little red book" in the West, and "Red treasure book" in China.
The book is truly a glorification of the Communist Party as the only way out, for the people's masses facing imperialism.
In the preface we may read that Mao is considered the "greatest Marxist Leninist of our time".
The quotes differ in time (from the 1920's until the 1960's) and area. So you may find quotes on culture, art, women, the youth, political party cadres, the communist personality, criticism and self criticism, discipline, unity, ideological self-education, study and investigation, methods of thought and work, self-effort and work, revolutionary heroism, patriotism and internationalism, service to the people, education and military training, democracy, relations between the army and the people, relations between officers and soldiers, political work, the masses of the people, the people's army, people's war, dare to fight and conquer victory, imperialism and the paper tigers, contradictions midst the people, and war of classes.
There are interesting assumptions being made. Like "truth is on the side of the people", and "minorites should submit to majorities". However one should ask what's the percentage of the people who belongs to the Communist Party in our days? In fact, a minority. So, who owns the truth, now? Who's telling the Truth?
In the last pages of the book I've found an interesting note, but totally absurd in our days. Which says "The Kuomitang (literally the Chinese nationalist party) is a political party of the Republic of China founded in 1911 after the revolution of Xinhai, which led to the abdication of Puyi in 1912, the last emperor of the Qin dynasty, and the change of Goverment, from imperial to republican". This is the absurd part: "in our days the KMT is considered a conservative party, member of the International Democrat Union (to which belong the British conservative party, the USA Republican Party and the Spanish Popular Party). "Conservative"?? Give me a break.🦉
And yet, it's still a useful book, in our days:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8mmFEY9...
Ha! This is how the KMT "takes care" of the people:
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/at-u...
UPDATE
🦉Still very useful:
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/bide...
August 25, 2020
GOOD BOOK
Read
July 1, 2022one colossal bit of nonsense after another ... millions of copies distributed ... mandatory reading ... all the while claiming that China was implementing a New Democracy ...
excerpts ...
... Communism is at once a complete system of proletarian ideology and a new social system It is different from any other ideological and social system, and is the most complete, progressive, revolutionary and rational system in human history.
... Our state is a people's democratic dictatorship led by the working class and based on the worker-peasant alliance. What is this dictatorship for? Its first function is to suppress the reactionary classes and elements and those exploiters in our country who resist the socialist revolution, to suppress those who try to wreck our socialist construction, or in other words, to resolve the internal contradictions between ourselves and the enemy. For instance, to arrest, try and sentence certain counterrevolutionaries, and to deprive landlords and bureaucrat-capitalists of their right to vote and their freedom of speech for a specified period of time — all this comes within the scope of our dictatorship.
... Who are our enemies? Who are our friends? This is a question of the first importance for the revolution. The basic reason why all previous revolutionary struggles in China achieved so little was their failure to unite with real friends in order to attack real enemies. ... To distinguish real friends from real enemies, we must make a general analysis of the economic status of the various classes in Chinese society and of their respective attitudes towards the revolution.
excerpts ...
... Communism is at once a complete system of proletarian ideology and a new social system It is different from any other ideological and social system, and is the most complete, progressive, revolutionary and rational system in human history.
... Our state is a people's democratic dictatorship led by the working class and based on the worker-peasant alliance. What is this dictatorship for? Its first function is to suppress the reactionary classes and elements and those exploiters in our country who resist the socialist revolution, to suppress those who try to wreck our socialist construction, or in other words, to resolve the internal contradictions between ourselves and the enemy. For instance, to arrest, try and sentence certain counterrevolutionaries, and to deprive landlords and bureaucrat-capitalists of their right to vote and their freedom of speech for a specified period of time — all this comes within the scope of our dictatorship.
... Who are our enemies? Who are our friends? This is a question of the first importance for the revolution. The basic reason why all previous revolutionary struggles in China achieved so little was their failure to unite with real friends in order to attack real enemies. ... To distinguish real friends from real enemies, we must make a general analysis of the economic status of the various classes in Chinese society and of their respective attitudes towards the revolution.
December 25, 2014
My exposure to the efficacy of Mao Zedong Thought came about in struggle with imperialist forces here, in Illinois, in 1969.
Martin had an older brother who had insinuated himself into the U.S. Armed Forces to such an extent that he had become responsible for elements of their training. Part of that consisted of war games and he invited Martin, George, Ed and I to participate. Seeing this as an opportunity to obtain experience in guerilla warfare tactics, I jumped at the chance.
Awakening to a red dawn, we were driven to the base at Joliet, joined by another officer and then driven to our field of operations, a peninsula surrounded on two sides by rivers, on one by a swamp, in the midst of which was a rock quarry filled with equipment. We had the entire day to prepare the ground for a battle to commence at dusk.
The preparations consisted on setting up trip wires (batteries, wires & flash bulbs covered with caps), digging tiger traps and stashing weapons and uniforms. We were to meet the imperialist forces attired as Vietnamese peasants.
At dusk, after a very simple meal accompanied by the study of the Quotations, we were at the roadhead, squatting round a fire when the enemy appeared in a couple of buses. They were not happy to see us, not having been warned, and roughed us up a bit but were prevented from doing greater harm by their officers. Then they went off towards the quarry and we went off to put on our uniforms and ammo belts.
Having a copy of their plan of operations, our tactic was to stay one step ahead at all times, lying in wait, then raising our M1s to shoot them as they stumbled upon one of our cunning traps. Our officers and theirs would photograph the encounter and estimate the casualties.
Only one such confrontation occurred. Martin and George's guns jammed and they disappeared. Ed and I got separated. While I was hiding on my belly on a shrub covered hillock between the gravel road and the steep slope of the quarry, one of the U.S. soldiers sat on me, then shot me in the back.
Dead, I wandered along the road until I heard noise and saw the reflection of firelight against the tree tops. It was beginning to drizzle. There, ahead, was a depression in the earth surrounded by trees, behind each one of which was a concealed enemy soldier, suspicious of a trap. At the base of the depression was the foundation of what once might have been a home. At one end of it was a rudely fashioned Buddha and in front of it were Martin and George, worshipping. Suddenly, a great cry. Ed tears out of the surrounding wood, gun at ready . . . and we were told it was over and time to go home.
Martin had an older brother who had insinuated himself into the U.S. Armed Forces to such an extent that he had become responsible for elements of their training. Part of that consisted of war games and he invited Martin, George, Ed and I to participate. Seeing this as an opportunity to obtain experience in guerilla warfare tactics, I jumped at the chance.
Awakening to a red dawn, we were driven to the base at Joliet, joined by another officer and then driven to our field of operations, a peninsula surrounded on two sides by rivers, on one by a swamp, in the midst of which was a rock quarry filled with equipment. We had the entire day to prepare the ground for a battle to commence at dusk.
The preparations consisted on setting up trip wires (batteries, wires & flash bulbs covered with caps), digging tiger traps and stashing weapons and uniforms. We were to meet the imperialist forces attired as Vietnamese peasants.
At dusk, after a very simple meal accompanied by the study of the Quotations, we were at the roadhead, squatting round a fire when the enemy appeared in a couple of buses. They were not happy to see us, not having been warned, and roughed us up a bit but were prevented from doing greater harm by their officers. Then they went off towards the quarry and we went off to put on our uniforms and ammo belts.
Having a copy of their plan of operations, our tactic was to stay one step ahead at all times, lying in wait, then raising our M1s to shoot them as they stumbled upon one of our cunning traps. Our officers and theirs would photograph the encounter and estimate the casualties.
Only one such confrontation occurred. Martin and George's guns jammed and they disappeared. Ed and I got separated. While I was hiding on my belly on a shrub covered hillock between the gravel road and the steep slope of the quarry, one of the U.S. soldiers sat on me, then shot me in the back.
Dead, I wandered along the road until I heard noise and saw the reflection of firelight against the tree tops. It was beginning to drizzle. There, ahead, was a depression in the earth surrounded by trees, behind each one of which was a concealed enemy soldier, suspicious of a trap. At the base of the depression was the foundation of what once might have been a home. At one end of it was a rudely fashioned Buddha and in front of it were Martin and George, worshipping. Suddenly, a great cry. Ed tears out of the surrounding wood, gun at ready . . . and we were told it was over and time to go home.
June 21, 2023
In the early 1990s, I read Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang when the book was first published. In that book I learned how the Chinese Revolution affected different generations of women of one family who identified with different social classes & how the Chinese Revolution affected one man in their family. He was re-educated at a work camp. I have long wondered what happened that could cause one family such disruption. The man mentioned above came back home a broken man, a shadow in his own home.
The experience sounded much like an Orwellian experience of language and physical change. Since this year I am reading about language, I read The Little Red Book, not this edition as the edition I read is not for matter for Goodreads. Of the many quotes recorded in the little red book used to encourage followers of Mao Zedong, this quote seemed to capture the ineffective, nonsensical, and brain-destroying nature of the text:
A Goodreads friend provided this link to an article that explains how the Chinese Revolution seeded destruction. Maybe others would like to read as well: https://lithub.com/how-the-cultural-r....
Why I rated this book 3 stars. If I rate this book based on how well I liked it, I would have rated it 1 star. Maybe Goodreads will not accept the formatting of any edition of the Little Red Book. Anyway I am satisfied by reading this book that I know why the Chinese Cultural Revolution flopped. I am glad to have this information. 3 stars and done.
The experience sounded much like an Orwellian experience of language and physical change. Since this year I am reading about language, I read The Little Red Book, not this edition as the edition I read is not for matter for Goodreads. Of the many quotes recorded in the little red book used to encourage followers of Mao Zedong, this quote seemed to capture the ineffective, nonsensical, and brain-destroying nature of the text:
Opposition and struggle between ideas of different kinds constantly occur within the Party; this is a reflection within the Party of contradictions between classes and between the new and the old in society. If there were no contradictions in the Party and no ideological struggles to resolve them, the Party's life would come to an end.This quote seems like a setup to expect continued conflict that cannot ever be resolved though one should always always strive to resolve unsolvable conflicts.
"On Contradiction" (August 1937), Selected Works, Vol. I, p. 317.
A Goodreads friend provided this link to an article that explains how the Chinese Revolution seeded destruction. Maybe others would like to read as well: https://lithub.com/how-the-cultural-r....
Why I rated this book 3 stars. If I rate this book based on how well I liked it, I would have rated it 1 star. Maybe Goodreads will not accept the formatting of any edition of the Little Red Book. Anyway I am satisfied by reading this book that I know why the Chinese Cultural Revolution flopped. I am glad to have this information. 3 stars and done.
November 18, 2015
Bueno: leí el libro rojo. Tengo entendido que es el segundo libro de mayor impresión en la historia (después de la Biblia), así que me parecía importante leerlo. Digo, es uno de los libros que más influencia tiene (o ha tenido) en la historia. Obviamente la mayoría de los lectores (o no-lectores, entiendo que tanto la Biblia como el Libro Rojo deben tener bastante bajo ratio "veces leido"/"impresiones") deben ser chinitos. Creo que la influencia de China a nivel mundial va a ser cada vez mayor (aunque gane Macri, eso puede representar un retraso para nosotros pero a China no creo que le afecte demasiado). Ergo, me parecía que estaba bien leer este libro de tanta influencia para esa cultura.
Me pareció un libro muy fuerte, algunas expresiones e ideas me quedaron en la cabeza, y creo que ayudan a pensar. No me da tanto la sensación de que el tipo fuera un genio, sino más bien que le construyeron el personaje alrededor, sin embargo para haber conducido a China, y sus millones de chinitos durante tanto tiempo, no debe haber sido un personaje menor.
El libro Verde me gustó más, eso seguro. Es raro leer estos libros donde uno tiene que ir haciedno también un ejercicio de comparación entre lo que estas personas propusieron y lo que realmente lograron llevar a cabo. Entiendo que el libro rojo fue escrito (o compilado) para gustar, para convencer, no es una historia de China, ni del Maoismo... es más bien un folleto. En ese sentido, a sabiendas de lo que es actualmente la China (casi-)capitalista, algunas frases sobre el futuro de la revolución suenen casi tristes.
Al igual que hice con Mi lucha o La razón de mi vida, lo voy a poner como "must read", creo que estés de acuerdo o no, hay que aprovechar que existe la fuente directa. De nuevo: no creo que haya que leerlo como si fuera la verdad, como si todo lo que dice fuera cierto, o lo que realmente estas personas pensaban, pero son personas muy importantes (en el caso de Eva, solo para Argentina) como para no dedicarle un rato a leer los libros en los que expusieron sus ideas. Creo que recién después, se puede discutir.
Me pareció un libro muy fuerte, algunas expresiones e ideas me quedaron en la cabeza, y creo que ayudan a pensar. No me da tanto la sensación de que el tipo fuera un genio, sino más bien que le construyeron el personaje alrededor, sin embargo para haber conducido a China, y sus millones de chinitos durante tanto tiempo, no debe haber sido un personaje menor.
El libro Verde me gustó más, eso seguro. Es raro leer estos libros donde uno tiene que ir haciedno también un ejercicio de comparación entre lo que estas personas propusieron y lo que realmente lograron llevar a cabo. Entiendo que el libro rojo fue escrito (o compilado) para gustar, para convencer, no es una historia de China, ni del Maoismo... es más bien un folleto. En ese sentido, a sabiendas de lo que es actualmente la China (casi-)capitalista, algunas frases sobre el futuro de la revolución suenen casi tristes.
Al igual que hice con Mi lucha o La razón de mi vida, lo voy a poner como "must read", creo que estés de acuerdo o no, hay que aprovechar que existe la fuente directa. De nuevo: no creo que haya que leerlo como si fuera la verdad, como si todo lo que dice fuera cierto, o lo que realmente estas personas pensaban, pero son personas muy importantes (en el caso de Eva, solo para Argentina) como para no dedicarle un rato a leer los libros en los que expusieron sus ideas. Creo que recién después, se puede discutir.
October 3, 2017
Mao had a piss poor understanding of Marxist theory, he has a rigid and mechanical view of dialectics, he seems to think contradictions are something that MUST be solved, whereas as Amadeo Bordiga says in his essay "On the Dialectical Method": "The dialectic is not the sport of paradox; it asserts that a contradiction may contain a truth, not that every contradiction contains a truth". The dialectic is concerned most of all of the way history moves, something which Mao does not grasp. He bastardises marxism further, replacing concrete categories such as "proletariat" with a basis in the economic understanding of Capital, but instead treats it like a reified identity, and changes is to "the masses" or "the people". He also tries to defend ludicrous concepts such as socialist patriotism, whereas Marx and Engels say in the manifesto: "The working men have no country. We cannot take from them what they have not got.". This is in order to justify Mao's nationalism and support of various national liberation struggles, which is once again based on his abstract thinking which sees any fight of the "goodies" against the "baddies" as worthy of support.
"The famous 'right of self-determination of nations' is nothing but hollow, petty-bourgeois phraseology and humbug." - Rosa Luxemburg
It feels safe to say, that like many Marxist-Leninists, Mao was more interested in nationalism than class struggle, and dressed his populistic nationalism in marxist garb.
As a book its definitely worth reading, if only to see how far a supposed marxist theorist can get away from the marxism of Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Luxemburg.
"The famous 'right of self-determination of nations' is nothing but hollow, petty-bourgeois phraseology and humbug." - Rosa Luxemburg
It feels safe to say, that like many Marxist-Leninists, Mao was more interested in nationalism than class struggle, and dressed his populistic nationalism in marxist garb.
As a book its definitely worth reading, if only to see how far a supposed marxist theorist can get away from the marxism of Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Luxemburg.
August 18, 2013
Statements of revolution, communism, how to found a nation and build a worldwide movement are the core of this book. Quotations should be read by any person looking to capture a goal for themselves. There are lessons of direction, how to manage resources and people and how to pass on these lessons from generation to the next. Communism and capitalism intermingle in this book enough for one to see the embittered battle that once had the full audience of the world's attention.
February 16, 2020
Not only is this thing nearly unreadable, it symbolizes a horrible regime. Chairman Mao lead China's great leap backwards and the cultural devolution. I hear this has been updated into an app used across China and tied into their societal credit score system. 1984 was truly predictive fiction.
October 12, 2024
“Whoever sides with the revolutionary people is a revolutionary. Whoever sides with imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat-capitalism is a counter-revolutionary. Whoever sides with the revolutionary people in words only but acts otherwise is a revolutionary in speech. Whoever sides with the revolutionary people in deed as well as in word is a revolutionary in the full sense.”
— Mao Tsetung
— Mao Tsetung
November 27, 2016
Great
Great thoughts and perspectives. Opens your mind to ways to think analyze and lead. Essential read to further dialectal materialism.
Great thoughts and perspectives. Opens your mind to ways to think analyze and lead. Essential read to further dialectal materialism.
December 17, 2024
mao ze based
December 26, 2024
This is the second most read book ever which is kind of cray. I wasn’t particularly moved in any special way but I liked some parts. Like he says everything you���d think he’d say you know.
“L’imperialismo e tutti i reazionari sono tigri di carta”
“L’imperialismo e tutti i reazionari sono tigri di carta”
December 28, 2020
I decided that not enough of the books I read are by people of colour. So I re-jigged my automatic book-choosing system (which is built on an Excel spreadsheet using random number functions) to give greater priority to non-white authors. This was the first "people of colour" book the system chose for me. I may need to tinker with the settings a bit more.
February 23, 2022
Lu avant mon premier voyage en Chine, en 1978, pile dans l'après-Mao, époque et ambiance vraiment spéciales sur la place Tien an Men. Mais pas du tout passionnant, ce petit recueil, pas comme le pays...
December 11, 2023
''A revolution is not a dinner party, or writing an essay, or painting a picture, or doing embroidery; it cannot be so refined, so leisurely and gentle, so temperate, kind, courteous, restrained and magnanimous. A revolution is an insurrection, an act of violence by which one class overthrows another. '' - Comrade Mao
দুনিয়ার ইতিহাসে সর্বকালে সবচেয়ে বেশি বিক্রি হওয়া বইগুলোর অন্যতম মাও সে তুংয়ের 'লাল বই'। কমরেড মাওয়ের লেখা থেকে বাছাইকৃত উক্তি নিয়ে বইটি সাজানো৷ নয়াচীনের বাইরে 'চীনের চেয়ারম্যান'কে নিজেদের চেয়ারম্যান ঘোষণাকারী ছাড়াও সত্যিই ইনকিলাবপন্থি লাখ লাখ ইনসানকে স্বপ্ন দেখিয়েছেন মাও। তাদের কাছে এই কেতাব মোটামুটি ঐশীগ্রন্থের মর্যাদা পেতো। কিন্তু, মাওয়ের ভালো ভালো কথা ও বাণী পড়তে গিয়ে মনে হলো তিনি যা প্রচার করতেন, তা সব সময় ইয়াকিন করতেন না। আবার যা ইয়াকিন করতেন তা আমলে করতেন না। বিশেষ করে, বিপ্লবী দলে নিজেদের মধ্যে ভিন্নমতকে উৎসাহদান ও পার্টির ভুলভ্রান্তিকে খুঁজে বের করতে সমালোচনাকে অগ্রাধিকার দিয়েছেন। এসব কথা মানলে তো কমিউনিজমের দরকার পড়ে না।
এদেশের চীনপন্থিদের জীবিত শিরোমণি আলহাজ কমরেড রাশেদ খান মেনন, দিলীপ বড়ুয়া প্রমুখ। এদের কাণ্ডকারখানা দেখলেই সুস্পষ্ট হয় মাওয়ের বই এরা পড়েছেন বটে। কিন্তু ইয়াকিন বা আমল কোনোটাই করার দরকারবোধ করেননি। তাতে নিজেদের লাভ হয়েছে ; লোকসানি খাতে পরিণত হয়েছে সত্যসত্যিই ইনকিলাবে ইয়াকিন রাখা বেশুমার স্বাপ্নিক!
দুনিয়ার ইতিহাসে সর্বকালে সবচেয়ে বেশি বিক্রি হওয়া বইগুলোর অন্যতম মাও সে তুংয়ের 'লাল বই'। কমরেড মাওয়ের লেখা থেকে বাছাইকৃত উক্তি নিয়ে বইটি সাজানো৷ নয়াচীনের বাইরে 'চীনের চেয়ারম্যান'কে নিজেদের চেয়ারম্যান ঘোষণাকারী ছাড়াও সত্যিই ইনকিলাবপন্থি লাখ লাখ ইনসানকে স্বপ্ন দেখিয়েছেন মাও। তাদের কাছে এই কেতাব মোটামুটি ঐশীগ্রন্থের মর্যাদা পেতো। কিন্তু, মাওয়ের ভালো ভালো কথা ও বাণী পড়তে গিয়ে মনে হলো তিনি যা প্রচার করতেন, তা সব সময় ইয়াকিন করতেন না। আবার যা ইয়াকিন করতেন তা আমলে করতেন না। বিশেষ করে, বিপ্লবী দলে নিজেদের মধ্যে ভিন্নমতকে উৎসাহদান ও পার্টির ভুলভ্রান্তিকে খুঁজে বের করতে সমালোচনাকে অগ্রাধিকার দিয়েছেন। এসব কথা মানলে তো কমিউনিজমের দরকার পড়ে না।
এদেশের চীনপন্থিদের জীবিত শিরোমণি আলহাজ কমরেড রাশেদ খান মেনন, দিলীপ বড়ুয়া প্রমুখ। এদের কাণ্ডকারখানা দেখলেই সুস্পষ্ট হয় মাওয়ের বই এরা পড়েছেন বটে। কিন্তু ইয়াকিন বা আমল কোনোটাই করার দরকারবোধ করেননি। তাতে নিজেদের লাভ হয়েছে ; লোকসানি খাতে পরিণত হয়েছে সত্যসত্যিই ইনকিলাবে ইয়াকিন রাখা বেশুমার স্বাপ্নিক!
August 9, 2020
I feel it’s important to learn about different ideas. I knew nothing about Mao and the Chinese Cultural Revolution so I’ve been reading and watching videos to lean more about it. This is a book of quotes of his throughout the decades, basically Marxist, Socialist, Stalinist, Maoist propaganda. It’s important to read and understand so it’s an important historical account but Mao ran one of, if not the worst, regimes in modern history leading to the death and starvation of 40-60 million people under his Marxist revolution and The Great Leap Forward. It’s shocking that we don’t hear more about it, really. The proof is in the pudding, as they say, and we have the luxury of hindsight to know how this ends and not to get swept up into any utopian dream with these quotes. 2 stars and only because I think reading his ideas are important and should be looked at as “what not to do”.
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August 25, 2024eu quando: “A revolution is not a dinner party, or writing an essay, or painting a picture, or doing embroidery; it cannot be so refined, so leisurely and gentle, so temperate, kind, courteous, restrained and magnanimous. A revolution is an insurrection, an act of violence by which one class overthrows another.”
June 6, 2021
Muito mais uma experiência pessoal que uma resenha do livro, então esteja avisado aqui.
Essa (re-)leitura foi uma experiência interessante. Como alguns sabem, me aproximei do marxismo aos 16 anos, tendo me alinhado à orientação leninista desde então, apenas no último ano tendo me afastado dela. Em 2019, ao entrar na universidade, integrei por um breve período um movimento de orientação maoísta. Deixar o movimento não me afastou completamente do maoísmo, mas me fez questionar muitas questões bem estabelecidas para mim. Com a elaboração da minha pesquisa acadêmica (sobre a China) nas férias do fim de 2019/início de 2020, me confrontei com uma série de problemas em relação à minha leitura sobre a China.
A quarentena (acompanhada dos vários grupos de estudo e leituras à parte, em ritmo intenso) me fez me aprofundar bastante na leitura de Marx e marxistas. Minha 'virada althusseriana' em meados de 2020, seguida das leituras de Deleuze, me levaram a repensar o próprio leninismo. Atualmente não tenho uma posição bem definida, apenas um conjunto de influências teóricas e orientações de prática: Deleuze, Althusser, Marx, Spinoza, Bataille, Nietzsche, Adorno, Poulantzas, Debord, Fisher, Derrida, Jappe, Land, Hui. Já estou relativamente distante da minha posição maoísta anterior. Se sobra algum maoísmo em meu pensamento político, talvez a linha anti-hierárquica e espontaneísta dos franceses da Gauche Prolétarienne.
Foi uma leitura ótima por confrontar o Bernardo de 2019 com o Bernardo de 2021, reafirmando problemas que já tinha encontrado nos últimos tempos e me levado tanto ao afastamento do leninismo quanto do maoísmo. Se há algo bom e aproveitável em Mao (a linha de massas, a prática da crítica e autocrítica, sobre os aspectos políticos e organizacionais da guerra e a teoria das contradições - que tomará um rumo interessante em Althusser), há sem dúvidas problemas grandes (determinismo histórico, ambiguidade em relação ao Estado, paranóia disciplinar, uma noção problemática de 'povo', fraca teoria do conhecimento e forte dogmatismo em relação à teoria marxista, apesar de dito o contrário).
De qualquer modo, uma leitura importantíssima, concordando ou não com Mao.
Essa (re-)leitura foi uma experiência interessante. Como alguns sabem, me aproximei do marxismo aos 16 anos, tendo me alinhado à orientação leninista desde então, apenas no último ano tendo me afastado dela. Em 2019, ao entrar na universidade, integrei por um breve período um movimento de orientação maoísta. Deixar o movimento não me afastou completamente do maoísmo, mas me fez questionar muitas questões bem estabelecidas para mim. Com a elaboração da minha pesquisa acadêmica (sobre a China) nas férias do fim de 2019/início de 2020, me confrontei com uma série de problemas em relação à minha leitura sobre a China.
A quarentena (acompanhada dos vários grupos de estudo e leituras à parte, em ritmo intenso) me fez me aprofundar bastante na leitura de Marx e marxistas. Minha 'virada althusseriana' em meados de 2020, seguida das leituras de Deleuze, me levaram a repensar o próprio leninismo. Atualmente não tenho uma posição bem definida, apenas um conjunto de influências teóricas e orientações de prática: Deleuze, Althusser, Marx, Spinoza, Bataille, Nietzsche, Adorno, Poulantzas, Debord, Fisher, Derrida, Jappe, Land, Hui. Já estou relativamente distante da minha posição maoísta anterior. Se sobra algum maoísmo em meu pensamento político, talvez a linha anti-hierárquica e espontaneísta dos franceses da Gauche Prolétarienne.
Foi uma leitura ótima por confrontar o Bernardo de 2019 com o Bernardo de 2021, reafirmando problemas que já tinha encontrado nos últimos tempos e me levado tanto ao afastamento do leninismo quanto do maoísmo. Se há algo bom e aproveitável em Mao (a linha de massas, a prática da crítica e autocrítica, sobre os aspectos políticos e organizacionais da guerra e a teoria das contradições - que tomará um rumo interessante em Althusser), há sem dúvidas problemas grandes (determinismo histórico, ambiguidade em relação ao Estado, paranóia disciplinar, uma noção problemática de 'povo', fraca teoria do conhecimento e forte dogmatismo em relação à teoria marxista, apesar de dito o contrário).
De qualquer modo, uma leitura importantíssima, concordando ou não com Mao.
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