The Foolish Old Man Who Removed the Mountains

By Mao Zedong

We have had a very successful congress. We have done three things. First, we have decided on the line of our Party, which is boldly to mobilize the masses and expand the people's forces so that, under the leadership of our Party, they will defeat the Japanese aggressors, liberate the whole people and build a new-democratic China. Second, we have adapted the new Party Constitution. Third, we have elected the leading body of the Party—the Central Committee. Henceforth our task is to lead the whole membership in carrying out the Party line. Ours has been a congress of victory, a congress of unity. The delegates have made excellent comments on the three reports. Many comrades have undertaken self-criticism; with unity as the objective unity has been achieved through self-criticism. This congress is a model of unity, of self-criticism and of inner-Party democracy.

When the congress closes, many comrades will be leaving for their posts and the various war fronts. Comrades, wherever you go, you should propagate the line of the congress and, through the members of the Party, explain it to the broad masses.

Our aim in propagating the line of the congress is to build up the confidence of the whole Party and the entire people in the certain triumph of the revolution. We must first raise the political consciousness of the vanguard so that, resolute and unafraid of sacrifice, they will surmount every difficulty to win victory. But this is not enough; we must also arouse the political consciousness of the entire people so that they may willingly and gladly fight together with us for victory. We should fire the whole people with the conviction that China belongs not to the reactionaries but to the Chinese people. There is an ancient Chinese fable called “The Foolish Old Man Who Removed the Mountains”. It tells of an old man who lived in northern China long, long ago and was known as the Foolish Old Man of North Mountain. His house faced south and beyond his doorway stood the two great peaks, Taihang and Wangwu, obstructing the way. He called his sons, and hoe in hand they began to dig up these mountains with great determination. Another graybeard, known as the Wise Old Man, saw them and said derisively, “How silly of you to do this! It is quite impossible for you few to dig up those two huge mountains.” The Foolish Old Man replied, “When I die, my sons will carry on; when they die, there will be my grandsons, and then their sons and grandsons, and so on to infinity. High as they are, the mountains cannot grow any higher and with every bit we dig, they will be that much lower. Why can't we clear them away?” Having refuted the Wise Old Man's wrong view, he went on digging every day, unshaken in his conviction. God was moved by this, and he sent down two angels, who carried the mountains away on their backs. Today, two big mountains lie like a dead weight on the Chinese people. One is imperialism, the other is feudalism. The Chinese Communist Party has long made up its mind to dig them up. We must persevere and work unceasingly, and we, too, will touch God's heart. Our God is none other than the masses of the Chinese people. If they stand up and dig together with us, why can't these two mountains be cleared away?

Yesterday, in a talk with two Americans who were leaving for the United States, I said that the U.S. government was trying to undermine us and this would not be permitted. We oppose the U.S. government's policy of supporting Chiang Kai-shek against the Communists. But we must draw a distinction, firstly, between the people of the United States and their government and, secondly, within the U.S. government between the policy-makers and their subordinates. I said to these two Americans, “Tell the policy-makers in your government that we forbid you Americans to enter the Liberated Areas because your policy is to support Chiang Kai-shek against the Communists, and we have to be on our guard. You can come to the Liberated Areas if your purpose is to fight Japan, but there must first be an agreement. We will not permit you to nose around everywhere. Since Patrick J. Hurley [1] has publicly declared against co-operation with the Chinese Communist Party, why do you still want to come and prowl around in our Liberated Areas?”

The U.S. government's policy of supporting Chiang Kai-shek against the Communists shows the brazenness of the U.S. reactionaries. But all the scheming of the reactionaries, whether Chinese or foreign, to prevent the Chinese people from achieving victory is doomed to failure. The democratic forces are the main current in the world today, while reaction is only a counter-current. The reactionary countercurrent is trying to swamp the main current of national independence and people's democracy, but it can never become the main current. Today, there are still three major contradictions in the old world, as Stalin pointed out long ago: first, the contradiction between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie in the imperialist countries; second, the contradiction between the various imperialist powers, and third, the contradiction between the colonial and semi-colonial countries and the imperialist metropolitan countries. [2] Not only do these three contradictions continue to exist but they are becoming more acute and widespread. Because of their existence and growth, the time will come when the reactionary anti-Soviet, anti-Communist and anti-democratic counter-current still in existence today will be swept away.

At this moment two congresses are being held in China, the Sixth National Congress of the Kuomintang and the Seventh National Congress of the Communist Party. They have completely different aims: the aim of one is to liquidate the Communist Party and all the other democratic forces in China and thus to plunge China into darkness; the aim of the other is to overthrow Japanese imperialism and its lackeys, the Chinese feudal forces, and build a new-democratic China and thus to lead China to light. Those two lines are in conflict with each other. We firmly believe that, led by the Chinese Communist Party and guided by the line of its Seventh Congress, the Chinese people will achieve complete victory, while the Kuomintang's counter-revolutionary line will inevitably fail.

NOTES

l. Patrick J. Hurley, a reactionary Republican Party politician, was appointed U.S. ambassador to China towards the end of 1944. In November 1945 he was forced to resign because his support for Chiang Kai-shek's anti-Communist policy roused the firm opposition of the Chinese people. Harley's open declaration against cooperation with the Chinese Communist Party was made on April 2, 1945 at a U.S. State Department press conference in Washington. For details, see “The Hurley-Chiang Duet Is a Flop”, pp. 281-84 of this volume.

2. See J. V. Stalin, “The Foundations of Leninism”, Works, Eng. ed., FLPH, Moscow, 1953, Vol. VI, pp. 74-82.

#UnitedStates #International #Socialism #PeoplesStruggles #China #ChineseCommunistParty #MaoZedong #MaoBirthday

The movie was made in 2009 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Chinese revolution. It’s a Chinese movie with a star-studded cast that portrays the five years from the end of World War II in 1945 until the triumph of the revolution on Oct. 1, 1949. The movie shows key military battles and political struggles led by the Communist Party of China in their ascent to power.

Before the movie there was a presentation to add political context about the terrible conditions that peasants and workers lived under in China before the revolution, and the tremendous gains made with socialism. The event was sponsored by Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

#MinneapolisMN #China #ChineseCommunistParty #FreedomRoadSocialistOrganization #frso #Socialism

“Tens of thousands of Chinese flocked to Shaoshan and Tian'anmen Square, two major shrines for Mao Zedong, as well as other public venues on Monday, burning incense, eating noodles and singing “red songs” to mark the late leader's 118th birthday.

“Normally, the mausoleum of Mao on the Tian'anmen Square in Beijing is closed on Mondays for maintenance, but today tens of thousands swarmed to the mausoleum to pay their respects.

“In front of the mausoleum's south gate, about 20 people, who wore red-star caps and pinned Mao badges, faced the shrine and sang “The East Is Red,” which extols the deeds of Chairman Mao and was a well known anthem for every city and village's public address system during Mao's reign.

“After bowing three times, the group punched their fists in the air while hailing ‘Long Live Chairman Mao.’”

“’Chairman Mao is our great savior. Chairman Mao genuinely loved the underprivileged and hard-working people,’ said a tearful Nie Yeping, a 57-year-old woman from the southwestern city of Chongqing.”

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Senior Communist Party of China (CPC) official tells party members to be at forefront in disaster relief

A senior official of the Communist Party of China (CPC) said Thursday that Party officials and members must be at the forefront in disaster relief and reconstruction work as some parts of China continue grappling with a series of severe floods and massive mudslides.

Grassroots Party organizations and members in disaster-hit areas must work hard to ensure the safety of people's lives and property, said Li Yuanchao, head of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, at a meeting in Beijing.

He added that Party officials must go to disaster scenes to lead relief work and take the initiative to shoulder responsibilities.

He also called on party members to organize disaster-stricken residents to restore production and make a living with their own hands, to help solve difficulties in life, and to maintain social stability and harmony.

Party organizations and members in other areas should actively provide assistance in various ways to disaster-hit areas, he said.

Party members across China have been seen at the forefront of several major disaster relief operations in recent months.

China, this summer, has suffered the worst flooding in at least a decade. The most deadly rain-triggered disaster occurred on Aug. 8, when massive mudslides devoured the mountainous Zhouqu County in northwest China.

The mudslides have claimed 1,364 lives with 401 people still missing as of 4 p.m. Thursday.

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Celebration for Serfs Emancipation Day starts in Tibet

A grand celebration to mark Tibet's first Serfs Emancipation Day was held Saturday, March 28 morning at the square in front of the Potala Palace in the Tibet Autonomous Region.

The meeting was presided over in both Tibetan and Mandarin by Qiangba Puncog, chairman of the regional government of Tibet, who was dressed in a traditional Tibetan robe. It was attended by about 13,280 people.

After the national flag was hoisted against the backdrop of the grand Potala Palace and snow-capped mountains in the distance, representatives of former serfs, soldiers from the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and students delivered speeches.

LIFE CHANGES

Tsondre, a 69-year-old farmer from the suburbs of Lhasa, recalled changes in his life after democratic reform. “I was born to a serf's family and was made a monk in the Sera Monastery when I was young,” said the old man, adding that he would never forget his tragedy. He cited a Tibetan adage to describe the misery of serfs: “All that I can take is my own shadow, all that I can leave are my footprints.” He was at the lowest level in the monastery, doing all kinds of chores throughout the year without getting enough to eat. “Due to hunger, many people like me went out to beg for food, but if we were discovered by high-level monks, we could be clubbed or whipped.”

Sun Huanxun, a PLA veteran who went to Tibet in 1950 and stayed there, recalled what he saw in Lhasa before the democratic reform. “Slaves wailed and begged from passers-by, some of whom had their legs chopped by the landlords, some have their eyes gouged out and some without hands,” he said. In contrast, the landlords were in luxurious dress, some riding on the backs of their slaves. “In their houses there hung whips, knives and shackles,” he added.

On March 28, 1959, the central government announced it would dissolve the aristocratic local government of Tibet and replace it with a preparatory committee for establishing the Tibet Autonomous Region. That meant the end of serfdom and the abolition of the hierarchic social system characterized by theocracy.

After democratic reform, serfs were given land, cattle and means of production. “New buildings mushroomed and our savings grew, a road was built to my home, television and telephone service came to my house, all children could receive an education ... the change was dramatic,” Tsondre said.

“If some people want to separate our country and destroy our happiness, we would never agree,” he said.

REMEMBER AND UNDERSTAND

Tibetan legislators endorsed a bill on Jan. 19 to designate March 28 as an annual Serfs Emancipation Day, to mark the date on which about 1 million serfs in the region, accounting for 90 percent of the Tibetan population, were freed 50 years ago. The move was intended to have people, especially the young, understand and remember the misery of serfdom and cherish the life they enjoy now.

Soldier Jamyang Sherab's grandparents were serfs. “My grandfather was hounded to death by the landlord and my grandmother lived a miserable life with my father and aunt, until the PLA soldiers came,” he said. “They then gained land and cattle, settling down in Jomda County in Qamdo prefecture.” Growing up with this story, Jamyang Sherab developed an affinity for the army and became a soldier in 1998. “I was sent to Estonia for an international contest among scouts, and our team was the runner-up,” said the uniformed soldier proudly.

Namgyel Lhamo, an 11th-grader in Lhasa, said she was lucky not to have experienced the old society. “Now that children don't have to live in despair for not being able to attend school, don't have to subsist under the whip of landlords or in dark and wet stables ... we shiver at the cruelties we heard of and could hardly imagine how could such feudal serfdom based on the blood and tears of serfs could have existed,” she said. Last year on March 14 “when we were sitting in the classroom, rioters came ... and torched our school. We were scared for quite a long time. We can't let anyone ruin our peaceful life,” she said.

Tibet's Communist Party chief Zhang Qingli was the last to speak. “Burying feudal serfdom and liberating the one million slaves in Tibet was a natural development in history ... a milestone in the worldwide campaign to abolish slavery, a sign of progress in human rights,” he said.

“Just as Europe couldn't return to the medieval era, and the United States couldn't go back to the times before the Civil War, Tibet would never restore the old system,” he said. “Tibet belongs to China, not the a few separatists or the international forces against China. Any conspiracy attempting to separate the region from China is doomed to fail,” he noted. The ceremony lasted for more than an hour, before attendants, sitting under the blue sky, waved katas upon its conclusion.

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