Wang Ju Puts Ashore | Was Mao Zedong a Communist Believer? How Should We Evaluate Him? | Text Version

Yesterday (February 19th) was the anniversary of Deng Xiaoping’s death. In 1997, he passed away less than five months before Hong Kong’s return, failing to realize his wish to personally see Hong Kong after its return.

I have a high opinion of Deng Xiaoping, believing him to be one of the most remarkable politicians of 20th-century China, perhaps only comparable to Chiang Ching-kuo. If ranked third, it might be Lee Teng-hui, who successfully transformed Taiwan from an authoritarian society to a democratic one. Deng Xiaoping’s greatness lies in the fact that he took over the mess of autocracy and poverty left by Mao Zedong, and, against the backdrop of the then-political heirs (Hua Guofeng and the ‘Gang of Four’) still wanting to continue the Cultural Revolution line, forcibly reversed the course of history.

In my opinion, Deng Xiaoping did not believe in communism at all; he believed in the ancient Chinese philosophy of pragmatism—’crossing the river by feeling the stones’ and ‘it doesn’t matter if it’s a white cat or a black cat, as long as it catches mice.’ He ended ‘communist China’ and initiated a ‘second republic’ in a certain sense, laying the foundation for China’s prosperity over the past 40 years. Of course, there is much controversy over his identity as the suppressor of ‘June Fourth’ and the ruler who maintained the CCP’s rule. But I believe that evaluating historical figures cannot be separated from specific historical contexts. Just as Washington’s owning slaves does not diminish his greatness as the founding father of the United States, and Emperor Taizong of Tang’s maintaining the Li Dynasty does not diminish the brilliance of the ‘Reign of Zhenguan,’ Deng Xiaoping, within the constraints of specific historical limitations, is still a remarkable politician.

Taking advantage of the anniversary of Deng Xiaoping’s death, I want to talk about a long-shelved topic: What kind of person is Mao Zedong in my mind?

I. A Pseudo-Marxist: A Utopian Dreamer in Disguise

The Communist Party officially evaluates Mao Zedong as a ‘great Marxist’ and a ‘teacher,’ but I believe this evaluation is highly questionable. In essence, Mao Zedong was neither a Marxist nor a communist believer.

1. Lack of theoretical literacy Marxism is a philosophical system that includes scientific socialism, dialectical materialism, and other precise logics. Mao Zedong only came into contact with scattered concepts and pamphlets in his early years, lacking systematic training, and his understanding of theory was very superficial.

• ‘Report on the Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan’: This early masterpiece, which is regarded as a standard by the official, is actually very low in theoretical literacy. It is merely a simple description of the ‘hooligan movement’ and an affirmation of violent means (such as打击土豪劣绅, all power belongs to the peasant association), lacking Marxist theoretical analysis. Chen Duxiu’s disapproval of this report at the time was not without reason.
• ‘On Contradiction’ and ‘On Practice’: These two works with higher theoretical color, according to party history research, were actually written by political secretaries such as Chen Boda and Hu Qiaomu, not by Mao himself. Mao Zedong’s own articles were mostly in plain language (such as ‘The Foolish Old Man Who Moved Mountains’), and he lacked the ability to write long theoretical works.

2. The source of the governing concept After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, Mao Zedong’s governing concept did not originate from the original works of Marx, Engels, and Lenin, but from the traditional historical heritage of China. He was keen on studying ancient books such as ‘Twenty-Four Histories,’ ‘Zizhi Tongjian,’ and ‘Water Margin,’ and frequently quoted ancient people’s strategies in political struggles (such as letting Lin Biao read ‘Biography of Guo Jia’).

The real Marxists within the CCP were the Soviet-returned faction represented by Wang Ming (’28 Bolsheviks’), but they lost to Mao Zedong’s ‘country bumpkin’ faction in the struggle. Stalin also always believed that Mao did not understand Marxism, which was one of the reasons why the Communist International’s relationship with the CCP was not good for a long time.

3. Anti-intellectual Utopian Practice Some people believe that the Great Leap Forward and the People’s Commune were communist practices, but this is not the case. Su Xiaokang pointed out in ‘Utopia Sacrifice’ that this is more like a grafting of a utopian utopia constructed by traditional Confucianism and immature communist ideas. This crazy movement of ‘running into communism’ was extremely anti-intellectual economically (such as smashing pots to make steel), which even the Soviet Union and Eastern European countries had never done, and Khrushchev even directly called it ‘nonsense.’ Shen Zhihua evaluated Mao as a ‘romantic poet,’ but I think this is not romantic at all, but ignorance caused by not understanding theory.

II. An Out-and-Out Feudal Emperor

Since he is not a Marxist, what is Mao Zedong? I think he is an out-and-out feudal emperor, even more powerful than ancient emperors.

1. Imperial Thought and Privilege

• Residence: When entering Beijing in 1949, Mao Zedong insisted on staying in Zhongnanhai (the imperial garden), rather than setting up a separate office area, which in itself was the result of imperial thought.
• Travel: He did not take planes (scared in the early days) and changed to special trains, but when he rested, the special trains had to stop, which in turn disrupted the national railway timetable, and this pomp was no different from an imperial tour.
• Diet: The so-called ‘not eating meat during the three years of natural disasters’ is a lie. He had a dedicated chef team that rotated from the Beijing Hotel, with exquisite ingredients, and his life was actually extravagant.
• Private life: He established a huge ‘harem’ system. From the Zhongnanhai Cultural and Art Troupe to the Chunouzhai dance party, Ye Zilong and others specifically selected young women for him. In his later years, even Zhou Enlai and Jiang Qing found it difficult to see him, but his bedroom was filled with singing and dancing, and young women could freely bring people in and out. The master of cross-talk, Hou Baolin, once mistakenly entered his resting room and almost got into trouble.

2. The Power Structure of the Monarch-Minister Relationship Within the CCP system, Mao had absolute and unrestricted power. His relationship with senior cadres was essentially a monarch-minister relationship. Luo Ruiqing and other close ministers needed to be on call 24 hours a day, completely dependent on his work and rest; in his later years, he even did not hold regular meetings of the Standing Committee, but only governed by approving notes. This has nothing to do with modern party politics, but is entirely the operation of imperial power.

3. The ‘Divine Power’ that Surpasses Emperors Although ancient emperors had the divine right of kings, Mao Zedong also superimposed the ‘divine status’ given by ideology on this basis. When he met the Red Guards, the hand he shook was not washed for three months; his mistress Xie Jingyi, her husband was proud of his wife’s photo with Mao. This kind of power established through personal worship is something that ancient emperors could not achieve.

III. A Successful ‘Devil King’

Mao Zedong’s success was not because of his theoretical attainments or military talents, but because he possessed Liu Bang’s art of controlling people.

1. Three Opportunities His life seized three major turning points:

• First: After the CCP Central Committee failed in the Shanghai White Area, it moved to the Jinggang Mountains, giving Mao the opportunity to ‘hold the emperor to command the princes.’
• Second: During the Long March, he settled Zhang Wentian and Wang Jiaxiang, seized power at the Zunyi Conference, and purged Bo Gu, Li De, and other ‘foreign factions.’
• Third: The Xi’an Incident. At the moment when the Red Army was about to be destroyed, Zhang Xueliang’s ‘assist’ brought the CCP back to life. Mao and others initially even instigated the killing of Chiang Kai-shek to trigger warlord conflicts, and later were forced to turn to ‘uniting with Chiang to resist Japan.’

2. Liu Bang-style Grassroots Hero Mao Zedong was very much like Liu Bang: he came from the bottom, had a rascal air, and had mediocre military talents (not as good as Han Xin/Lin Biao), but he was very good at controlling people (able to make Xiao He/Zhou Enlai devoted). If placed in ancient times, he might be considered a founding emperor with great talents and strategies, and he established the ‘Maoist regime’ with a bad hand.

3. The Misplacement of the Times Unfortunately, he lived in the 20th century, when humanism and constitutional democracy were rising. The standard for modern politicians is no longer to achieve great achievements, but to protect human rights. Measured by this standard, Mao Zedong completely failed. He was a feudal emperor who lived in the pre-modern era and ruled China in the 20th century in a misplaced manner.

He was unwilling to relinquish power before his death, and he also failed to handle the successor issue like ancient emperors (if Mao Anying was still alive, China might be today’s North Korea). In the end, Deng Xiaoping abolished his successor, causing the Mao family dynasty to collapse.

Conclusion

Today’s CCP, although still retains Mao’s remains and portraits to maintain its legitimacy to rule, but in its heart, no one really recognizes his practices. Li Zehou once said, ‘Whether you like it or not, you cannot avoid him, he has left a deep mark on 20th-century China.’

My evaluation is more straightforward than Li Zehou’s: Mao Zedong was a feudal emperor in the style of a devil king, a successful Hong Xiuquan, a successful Zhang Xianzhong.