Cult of Mao

1

Elena Songster & Jessica Stowell, OU

The Mao Cult

Revering Mao in Tibet during the Cultural

Revolution

Mao: Cult of PersonalityCharismatic leadership

Mao becomes the preeminent leaderMao can do no wrongMao is the father and hero

Mao has a radical vision of where China must goResents any delayDespises gradualismLongs to see China truly “Communist”

immediately

Cult of Mao Mao deliberately set out to

create a cult for himself (SPS) Single Party State, and to purge the Chinese Communist Party of anyone who did not fully support Mao.

His main selling point was a desire to create a China which had peasants, workers and educated people working together – no-one was better than anyone else and all working for the good of China – a classless society

Cult of Mao There was a cult of Mao that was built up Society was inundated with Mao’s face,

quotes, statues, posters and other forms of propaganda

Little Red Book was published in 1963 and people were encouraged to read it as their “Bible”. Schools used it in their curriculum

Cultural Revolution: Cult of Personality

Cult of personality and ideological correctness

Little Red Book (below) “The East is Red”

(Dongfang hong 东方红 ) Mao buttons (lower right)

With regard to the great teacher Chairman Mao, cherish the word 'Loyalty'. With regard to the great

Mao Zedong Thought, vigorously stress the word 'Usefullness'. (1968)

Cult of Personality

The reddest, reddest, red sun in our heart, Chairman Mao, and us

togetherZhejiang Workers, Farmers and Soldiers Art Academy collective,

1968

Mao’s Little Red

Book

Maoist Propaganda“Long Live Chairman Mao”

Elena Songster & Jessica Stowell, OU

Mao Cult

The Little Red Book

Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong was published in 1964.

Every citizen was (unofficially) required to study and memorize quotes from it to be seen as a good citizen.

Little Red Book The force at the core leading our cause forward is the

Chinese Communist Party. The theoretical basis guiding our thinking is Marxism-Leninism. Opening address at the First Session of the First National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (September 15, 1954).

Without preparedness, superiority is not real superiority and there can be no initiative either. Having grasped this point, a force that is inferior but prepared can often defeat a superior enemy by surprise attack. "On Protracted War" (May 1938), Selected Works, Vol. II, pp. 165-66.

Thousands upon thousands of martyrs have heroically laid down their lives for the people; let us hold their banner high and march ahead along the path crimson with their blood! "On Coalition Government" (April 24, 1945), Selected Works, Vol. III, p. 318.

The world is yours, as well as ours, but in the last analysis, it is yours. You young people, full of vigor and vitality, are in the bloom of life, like the sun at eight or nine in the morning. Our hope is placed on you. The world belongs to you. China's future belongs to you. Talk at a meeting with Chinese students and trainees in Moscow (November 17, 1957).

Little Red Book Everyone would carry around a

“Little Red Book”, and it was required to be read during school. The cover of the book says “Citacoes do presidente Mao Tse Tung” . Inside are some of Mao’s quotes and past speeches.

Mao’s Little Red Book The Chinese Communist Party is the core of

the Chinese revolution, and its principles are based on Marxism-Leninism. Party criticism should be carried out within the Party.

The revolution, and the recognition of class and class struggle, are necessary for peasants and the Chinese people to overcome both domestic and foreign enemy elements. This is not a simple, clean, or quick struggle.

War is a continuation of politics, and there are at least two types: just (progressive) and unjust wars, which only serve bourgeois interests. While no one likes war, we must remain ready to wage just wars against imperialist agitations.

Mao’s Little Red Book Fighting is unpleasant, and the people of China

would prefer not to do it at all. At the same time, they stand ready to wage a just struggle of self-preservation against reactionary elements, both foreign and domestic.

China's road to modernization will be built on the principles of diligence and frugality. Nor will it be legitimate to relax if, 50 years later, modernization is realized on a mass scale.

A communist must be selfless, with the interests of the masses at heart. He must also possess a largeness of mind, as well as a practical, far-sighted mindset.

Women represent a great productive force in China, and equality among the sexes is one of the goals of communism. The multiple burdens which women must shoulder are to be eased.