Bethune, N: Streitbarer Materialismus Nummer 30

by Norman Bethune

Paperback

Published November 1, 2012

About the author

Henry Norman Bethune (March 4, 1890 – November 12, 1939) was a Canadian physician, medical innovator, noted Anti-fascist and arguably the single best known Canadian of all time. Bethune came to international prominence first for his service as a frontline surgeon supporting the democratically-elected Republican government during the Spanish Civil War. But it was his service with the Communist Eighth Route Army (Ba Lu Jun) during the Second Sino-Japanese War that would earn him enduring acclaim. Dr. Bethune effectively brought modern medicine to rural China and frequently treated sick villagers inasmuch as wounded soldiers. His selfless commitment to the Chinese people would leave an enduring impression on Mao Zedong, so much so that the Chairman's eulogy of Dr. Bethune was committed to memory by generations of Chinese students.

Ironically, the man responsible for developing mobile blood-transfusion service for frontline operations in the Spanish Civil War would die of blood poisoning.

A well-regarded Communist and First World War veteran, he wrote that wars were motivated by profits, not principles.

Although he was raised in a religious family, Norman was an atheist.

Bethune had thoughts of medicinal disciplines and states: "Medicine, as we are practising it, is a luxury trade. We are selling bread at the price of jewels. ... Let us take the profit, the private economic profit, out of medicine, and purify our profession of rapacious individualism ... Let us say to the people not ' How much have you got?' but ' How best can we serve you?'"

Virtually unknown in his homeland during his lifetime, Bethune received international recognition when Chairman Mao Zedong of the People's Republic of China published his essay entitled In Memory of Norman Bethune (Chinese: 紀念白求恩),[22] which documented the final months of the doctor's life in China. Almost the entire Chinese population knew about the essay which had become required reading in China's elementary schools during the 1960s. Grateful of Bethune’s altruistic help to China, the nation's normal elementary school text book still has the essay today:

"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 ... 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"

Bethune is one of the few Westerners to whom China has dedicated statues, of which many have been erected in his honour throughout the country. He is buried in the Revolutionary Martyrs' Cemetery, Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, China.

The city of Montreal, Quebec, has created a public square and erected a statue of him in his honour, located near the Guy-Concordia Metro station.

On February 7, 2006, the city of Málaga, Spain, opened the Walk of Canadians in his memory. This avenue, which runs parallel to the beach "Crow Rock" direction to Almeria, paid tribute to the solidarity action of Dr. Norman Bethune and his colleagues who helped the population of Málaga during the Spanish Civil War. During the ceremony, a commemorative plaque was unveiled with the inscription: "Walk of Canadians - In memory of aid from the people of Canada at the hands of Norman Bethune, provided to the refugees of Málaga in February 1937."

The Norman Bethune Medal is the highest medical honour in China to recognize an individual's outstanding contribution, heroic spirit and great humanitarianism in the medical field.

More: http://www.marxists.org/reference/arc...

http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/ph...