Philosophical Library, New York 1968, 128 pp., US$3
Reviewed by Geraldine Fitch
This is a small volume, neatly bound, edited in London and printed in the United States. It can be obtained from Book Sales Inc., 358 Park Avenue, New York. It consists of numbered passages translated from the Confucian Analects and classified into 12 chapters according to subject matter, such as: Opinions of His Disciples and Others, Characteristics of Confucius, On Good and Bad Government, Lessons of Practical Wisdom, etc. Chapters contain from a dozen excerpts to as many as 47, given seriatim without comment. Commentary is confined to footnotes but many of these are worth reading. As a book compiled entirely of quotations, it seems designed for delving into rather than for steady reading.
A Foreword gives biographical data about the great sage. We learn that Confucius was born in 551 B.C., that his father was governor of a small district in Shantung province, that the son married young and was a father at 20. His first work was a minor administrative post. It is said that he did not like the job and after two years, began to study and teach. Later he returned to administrative work and rose to become Minister of Crime and Chief Justice. Under his administration, crime was said to have diminished until there were "no cases to try". Even so, he had jealous rivals and was ousted from his position. Disillusioned, he spent the rest of his life teaching his followers and others. The Great Teacher died in 478 B.C. at the age of 73.
In the first chapter about his disciples, we read: "'Good principles are making no progress', once exclaimed the Master. 'If I were to take a raft, and drift about on the sea, would Tzu-lu, I wonder, be my follower there?' That disciple was delighted at hearing the suggestion; whereupon the Master continued, 'He surpasses me in his love of deeds of daring. But he does not in the least grasp the pith (of my remark).'
"Tze-kung, a disciple, asked how it was that Kung Wan had come to be styled Wan (the Talented). The Master's answer was: 'Because, though a man of an active nature, he was yet fond of study, and he was not ashamed to stoop to put questions to his inferiors.' "
"Again, of a disciple named Tsz-chan, the Master said that he 'had four of the essential qualities of the superior man - in his private walk he was humble, in serving his superiors he was deferential; in his looking after the material welfare of the people he was generously kind; and in his exaction of public service from the latter he was just.'''
"After asking two disciples one day what they most desired in life, one turned to Confucius and said, 'I should like to hear, sir, what your heart is set upon.' The Master replied, 'It is this - in regard to old people, to give them quiet and com fort; in regard to friends and associates, to be faithful to them; in regard to the young, to treat them with fostering affection and kindness.' "
When speaking of himself, Confucius said: "I, as a transmitter, and not an originator, and as one who believes in and loves the ancients, venture to compare myself with our old Pang." Then the footnote explains that Pang edited the six Classics of his time.
To illustrate the injunction "Leave minor matters to those you entrust with them", a footnote gives this interesting incident: "The Governor of Hongkong was apt to pay surprise visits to the various departments of his household and pry into details of work done. When he went down to the domain of his chief cook, that worthy said, 'Sir, you No.1 governor; I, No.1 cook; you mindee your pidgin (business); I mindee mine."
The Wisdom of Confucius, even in translation and in modern times, has charm and gives the reader much food for thought.
THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION IN CHINA
Charles Scribner's Sons, New York 1967, 62 pp., US$1.45
Reviewed by Kuo Yao-hua
This paperback is one in a series of "Keesing's Research Reports" compiled by the editorial staff of "Keesing's Contemporary Archives", a weekly documentation of international events. The record is straightforward, chronological and largely devoid of editorial comment. Much of the same information has been made available to the readers of the Free China Review in the series of monthly articles that was started in the early stages of the "great proletarian cultural revolution".
However, anyone checking back for the origins and development of the "cultural revolution" will find this slim volume useful. There are six chapters: "Origins of the Cultural Revolution", "The Opening Stages of the Cultural Revolution", 'The Red Guards", "The Revolutionary Rebels", "The Triple Alliance" and "The Wuhan Revolt and After". Leading figures involved in the "revolution" are listed at the end of the book.
Although much has happened - including the Ninth National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party since this record runs out, the early violent phase of the struggle is much better documented than recent occurrences. An account of developments since last spring's Congress would, for example, be much less exact than the recording of those through 1967.
The chapter on origins suggests that Mao Tse-tung's, principal internal aims were to hasten the transition from a socialist society based on the principle "to each according to his work", in which material incentives and wage differentials existed, to an egalitarian, classless and stateless society of pure Communism based on the principle "to each according to his needs", and to prevent the emergence of a privileged class of state and Party bureaucrats and technicians which would support the adoption of a revisionist policy such as, in Mao's view, was being pursued by the Soviet Communist Party. "To attain these aims," says the report, "it was necessary to indoctrinate the younger generation, which had no personal experience of revolutionary struggle, against bourgeois and revisionist ideas; to prevent the diffusion of such ideas by the intellectuals; and to ensure that Mao himself, who was born in 1893, was succeeded by leaders with the same objectives."
The "100 flowers" movement and "Great Leap Forward" are recalled. It was the failure of the latter, the editors declare, that led to Mao's loss of the Peiping regime's presidency (he remained as chairman of the Party). On January 4, 1967, Mao was to claim that he had been compelled to resign by Liu Shao-chi (who became "president") and Teng Hsiao ping, the Party general secretary. Mao said that for the next 10 years Liu and Teng treated him as "one of their parents whose funeral was taking place".
Mao's struggle to regain power really began at a plenary session of the Central Committee in September of 1962. He maintained there was danger of a capitalist restoration and advanced a slogan of "Don't forget the class struggle". Ideological warfare against the Soviet Union was intensified thereafter. Pressure against intellectuals increased and in May of 1963 a "socialist education" campaign was launched among the peasantry.
Several official statements in 1964 suggested apprehension about the continued growth of revisionism. In June of that year Mao accused the "All-China Federation of Literary and Art Circles" of revisionist tendencies. The slogan "cultural revolution" (in Chinese the literal meaning is "great revolution of civilization") was advanced by Chou En-lai in a report to the National People's Congress in December. During the 1959-61 period of economic difficulties, Chou said, "the class enemy reared his head. Some demanded the extension of individual cultivation and the free market, an increase in the number of small in dependent enterprises, liberalization and the annulment of measures previously adopted. Others advocated the abandonment of our struggle against imperialism, modern revisionism and reaction. They wanted to reduce our assistance to the revolutionary struggles of other peoples." Chou called for "a radical transformation of any ideology - bourgeois, feudal or other - which is not consistent with the economic base and the socialist political system", and declared that "our aim is to abolish the bourgeoisie and capitalism once and for all by a long class struggle".
It is suggested that the "cultural revolution" was delayed by the escalation of the war in Vietnam and the danger of war with the United States. General Lo Jui-ching suggested that the existence of nuclear weapons necessitated changes in military organization and equipment, and pointed out the dangers of Peiping's isolation. The Party leadership retaliated with a propaganda campaign against the "purely military" point of view. In May of 1965, the system of military ranks based on the Soviet model was officially abolished together with all insignia of rank, presumably to guard against the emergence of a professional officer class.
At a meeting of the Central Committee in September of 1965, Mao's demand for intensified "criticism of reactionary ideology" met with strong opposition; he was reported on January 4, 1967, to have said that "in September and October, 1965, the Central Committee surrendered to revisionism, and I thought that I could not put my ideas into practice in Peiking". He left the Communist capital, where the Party machine was controlled by his opponents, and went to Shanghai.
In this crisis Mao was supported by "marshal" Lin Piao, who published in September, 1965, an article endorsing Mao's strategy for world revolution. Lin, who aspired to be Mao's successor, had become the chairman's most enthusiastic disciple. It was the Communist Party military ,commission, with Mao as chairman and Lin Piao as vice chairman, that first ordered the "people's liberation army" to study Mao Tse-tung's thought. The now infamous "little red book" of quotations from Mao's writings was first issued to the PLA in 1964. It was to become the handbook of the "cultural revolution" and is still the bible of the Maoists today.
Mao opened his offensive against Liu and the Party machine with the publication in Shanghai of a newspaper article denouncing Hai Jui's Dismissal From Office, a play that dated to 1961 and purportedly dealt with 16th century Chinese history. According to the Maoist view, the play was a justification of "marshal" Peng Teh-huai, who was replaced as "defense minister" by Lin Piao in September of 1959. It was revealed later (in August, 1967) that Peng had criticized the "Great Leap Forward" and the commune movement in July and August of 1959. Peng also disagreed with Mao's hostility toward the Soviet Union and advocated military alliance with Moscow as the only way to obtain modern weapons. He rejected Mao's thesis of manpower and morale as more important than armaments.
Demand for a "cultural revolution" was advanced by the Liberation Army Daily on April 18, 1966, and endorsed by Chou En-Iai, who called for a struggle to wipe out "bourgeois ideology in the academic, educational and journalistic fields, in art, literature and all other fields of culture". Leadership of the movement fell into the hands of three groups-Mao's personal clique led by his wife, Chiang Ching, and his former secretary, Chen Po-ta; a group of military men headed by Lin Piao; and a civilian group headed by Chou En-lai. The beginning of extensive purges and the glorification of Mao as a virtual deity followed.
Red Guards (the name dates to armed workers participating in the Bolshevik revolution of 1917) came into existence in the spring of 1966. The first unit was at a Peiping secondary school. On June 13, schools were closed indefinitely to enable students to participate in the "cultural revolution". Members were drawn from offspring of the four "pure classes" - workers, poor and lower-middle peasants, soldiers, Party officials and "revolutionary martyrs". The Guards were sent out to attack the "four olds"- old ideas, old culture, old habits and old customs. At first, Red Guard activities were kept under tight control; then the controls deteriorated and Guard excesses eventually led to Mao's break with and rusticate his "young generals".
The editors proceed to review the Maoist denunciations of Liu Shao-chi, Teng Hsiao-ping and other former leaders of the Liu Shao-chi bureaucracy, the purges in the PLA and the establishment of .the "revolutionary rebels". Developments are stipulated province-by-province in most cases. The peasant resistance to the "cultural revolution" is documented. Then came the "triple alliance" of "revolutionary rebels", PLA and Party officials and bureaucrats which still is not effective. Finally, the editors consider the Wuhan revolt, which came close to destroying the Chinese Communist regime, and the widespread fighting that followed.
When the record of the 1966-67 period is reviewed - and consideration given to the events that have followed - the inevitable conclusion is that the whole business of the "cultural revolution" is far from over. Mao has not seized power. He really has not been able to oust the Liu Shao-chi apparatus, nor even to haul out Liu himself. The final chapters on The Cultural Revolution in China are yet to be written. This small book is a valuable reminder of the early stages, however, and a testament that Chinese resistance to the Maoist "revolution" assures the triumph of the Sun Yat-sen revolution for which the Republic of China stands.