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Quotations From Chairman Mao Tse-Tung

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While Mao no doubt had a profound impact on China, it was not for his originality of thought, but for the manner in which he promoted Marxism-Leninism. The only significant change he made in the philosophy was his realization that for communism to work in China, the Proletariat had to be interpreted as the peasantry. Mao's "Little Red Book" was a necessity in the creation of the mystique of Mao, and the cult of Maoism. This was not so much because of the ideas presented, but because the manner in which the were presented to the public, not only in the book itself, but through various other means of propaganda. Therefore the book as an item could be valuable to own for anyone interested in the study of Mao, but only as a tool in his mystique. Granted the book does provide some insight into Maoism, its most profound impact was based on its existence, and Mao would best be studied through his actions rather than through his writings.

Mao-Zedong was the leader of China's Communist Revolution. He was a man of many faces; soldier, military strategist, politician, revolutionary, poet, fugitive, and leader. This book is a collection of quotes gleaned from his speeches, writings, and interviews over several decades.

Mao's utterances must be read two ways. The first is as exhortations of the ideal. The second is as justification for what was actually done. Mao seems to encourage dissent and analysis as the basis for revoutionary improvement on the one hand, but the record reveals that his rule was as an iron dictator. Equally, he exhorts the faithful to achieve stability, but history shows his ill-fated Red Guard movement nearly tore China apart.

I could go on at some length, but I leave the reader to make his or her own choices from the vast panoply of available material. I do not believe this is a work that can or should be read without some prior knowledge of Twentieth Century Chinese history. The book is important for understanding the Chinese world view as we enter dubiously into the 21st Century. For that reason, I recommend it.

"Quotations From Chairman Mao Tse-tung," published for the Peoples Liberation Army by then Marshal Lin Piao, and later for the people of China, is a basic handbook of Mao Tse-tung Thought. Read it with devotion if you uphold its ideals, read it for information if you reject its ideals, but read it, and learn more about one of the most influential leaders (for better or for worse) in all of world history.

This is the famous/infamous "Little Red Book" that has been a handbook of far-left political activists around the world. It's also essential reading for anyone who wants to understand Chinese history in the 20th century and Chinese society today. Having just had the opportunity to stroll through Tiananmen Square, I can state without hesitation that Mao's influence is still a powerful force in modern China.
The collection of quotations is organized into chapters on specific subjects such as "Class and Class Struggle", "The People's Army", "Serving the People", and "Criticism and Self-Criticism".

My first impression of Mao's writing was how much he loved to categorize. Mao had to fit everything into its own little box, and he had plenty of boxes to go around. He would invent subcategories for his categories, distinguishing the "industrial proletariat", "semi-proletariat", "petty bourgeoisie", and "middle bourgeoisie". As an organizer, Mao seems in love with the very act of organizing, and he feels the need to explain and lay out his organizational schemes for his audiences.

The Little Red Book also contains a fair amount of practical military and political strategy, the former clearly influenced by Sun Tzu, who is actually quoted at one point.

Interestingly, a great number of quotes are devoted to the qualities of humility, self-criticism, and mercy. Mao repeatedly admonishes soldiers against looting and mistreatment of prisoners, just as he warns officers against the use of corporal punishment on their troops. Knowing the history, it is easy to feel a sense of irony reading these statements, as Mao clearly refused to accept criticism of himself during his long reign.

But there are some powerful insights here as well, especially considering the many decades over which these quotations span, and the tumultuous events taking place in China during that time span. Mao was there for the beginnings of Chinese communism, and he saw it through a brutal war with Japan, civil war, and then the Cold War. Mao's personal perspective on all of this history is by far the most fascinating aspect of the Little Red Book.

I purchased this copy of the Little Red Book in a souvenir shop in a Beijing hutong, where the salesgirl smiled and nodded and said "Chairman Mao" in English with a familiar ease that suggested she sells a lot of copies of Mao's quotations to Western tourists. The copy I bought has the Chinese and English texts side-by-side on facing pages. The English is rife with typos.

Well, maybe not the most read (although still read very much), but probably the most red. Puns aside, this book is a very important read for us today. I think the best way to show this is to make the kind of list that Mao likes to.
1. It contains the central doctrine of a superpower.
2. It is written by a great conqueror and a successful military and civic dictator.
3. It teaches us practicable and useful rules for working with or against others.
4. It indoctrinates the reader with noble ideals.
5. It teaches us about modern Chinese thought and culture.
6. It helps us understand communism: a very influential movement in history.
7. It contains a strong model of rhetoric, proven effective!
I am not a communist, and I am strongly opposed to communism, but by looking past the communism I was able to get a lot of knowledge and wisdom out of this book about other things, such as concepts of social motivation and organization, and also of strategy, and of course a persuasive rhetorical model. Mao was very conversant with the Chinese classics such as the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Lao Tzu, Confucius and the Art of War. His book of quotations is clearly modelled on the pithy, aphoristic writings of the classical Chinese philosophers and strategists. In a guarded way, I feel that Mao has written a book of that tradition and of that status. It is clearly styled after the great Chinese classics and is even more relevant than them for us today who are interested in these classics since Mao actually put his philosophies and principles to the test on a grand scale and was successful, and he is closer to us in time than they are. Very few of us have accomplished anything like what he did, so, a full study of the ethics of it aside, there is a huge amount of useful wisdom and learning contained between the covers of this book; and not only Machiavellian!

"Class, here is an actual copy of the little red book Chairman Mao required his citizens to read and memorize, especially students such as Ji-Li Jiang." That was what I said to my students after I introduced Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung. I was tentative about introducing a Communist relic that inspired mixed feelings among Chinese students and teachers, but I soon discovered that it was the right decision when my students who were reading Red Scarf Girl recognized that the "little red book" was tantamount to mind control.

One reason purchasing this book is worthwhile is that it provides a clearer context for understanding China's Cultural Revolution from 1965-1975. At the heart of this decade of insanity was Chairman Mao's red book; at the end of the Revolution, there were enough copies of the book for every man, woman, and child on Earth almost twice over. In other words, if a student lost his or her book, another one was readily available.

The enormity of the number of copies available left a lasting impression upon Chinese citizens. For example, one of the ESL teachers was a student during the Revolution; the moment she spotted my copy it instantly transported her back to that time where divergence led to imprisonment, labor camps, humiliation, or suicide. "In the morning, we were expected to read and memorize from Mao's book. We had no clue what he was trying to say, but because all of us were forced to read it, many viewed it as almost sacred." Since these were the words of their beloved leader, they must be accepted as absolute truth.

Another reason this book is an invaluable resource is that a teacher can use it to make deeper connections. Each day of class, I wrote another quotation from Chairman Mao's book that connected thematically to an event from Ji-Ling's Red Scarf Girl. "We should be modest and prudent, guard against arrogance and rashness, and serve the Chinese people heart and soul...." is a quotation I used when teaching the part where Ji-Li's father was incarcerated for belonging to the wrong family. Before we read the section, we paraphrased what the quotation into student-friendly terms. After we read what had happened to her father, we returned to the quotation but then included the following question: Based on what happened to Ji-Ling's father, did the Chinese Communist Party live up to this principle? Students quickly understood that Mao and his party officials had no intention of serving anyone but themselves. The little red book offered nothing practical for almost a billion people except the illusion of peace and happiness.

In order to understand a movement, one must study what its members read. In the case of the Cultural Revolution, it was Chairman Mao's quotations that were bound in a pocket-sized red book. In the past, when I taught Ji-Li's memoir, students could not grasp the events because it did not seem real to them. This is the major benefit of having a real copy of the little red book that inspired some while struck fear in others. Students leafed through the book so many times that its binding fell apart. What did they learn from the resource? At the end of the memoir, they learned but also felt what it must have been like to live during the Cultural Revolution: a period of time where deviating from "official truths" found in a red book could lead to an individual's demise.

The book is long with tiny type, much more than the pamphlet I expected. Mao seems to be a surprisingly smart guy, for a murderous tyrant. His passion seems to be to keep the masses mobilized and excited. The antithesis of Maoism seems to be quiet contentment in work and family life. This is what he means when he calls America a "paper tiger" -- the great variety of lifestyles, beliefs and interests is useless to him.

This book, along with The Communist Manifesto and The state and revolution one of the most important books for Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, and a most for EVERY worker. Read it, that's our tip.

/The Eastern Maoist Society

thank you, item was absolutely great, exactly what i was looking for! this book is in perfect shape also. 5 stars a+++ all the way

If you're trying to understand Maoism better and for the reasoning behind what Mao did in China this is not the first choice. I'll be the first to admit that I chose this to be my first book into understanding Maoism but in all honesty it should be one of the last.

At least the name of the book doesn't lie. This book really is just a bunch of quotations from Chairman Mao. However most of these quotations are so generic and filled with propaganda that it doesn't help at all in understanding the policies put in place during his time leading China. Not only that but they just state the obvious most of the time. You can open up any page of the book and see something like this. The thing is though that from one page to another he is saying the exact same thing in a different way.

If you want to understand Maoism you need to look elsewhere and come back to this book later. Things like the Cultural Revolution or his Great Leap Forward are not discussed in great detail (I can't remember even if at all) and I find it amazing that the Chinese mass produced the book when it provides little in providing the people with a basic knowledge of communism.