On The Anti-China Question

March 22, 1960

[SOURCE: Long Live Mao Zedong Thought, a Red Guard Publication.]

Comrades, please take a look at the appendix. This is a piece of material concerning the opening of an exhibition in Pakistan by our country. After all, who are the people of the so-called anti-China [movement]? How many are there? They are comprised of imperialist elements from certain Western countries, reactionaries and semi-reactionaries from some other countries, and revisionists and semi-revisionists from the international communist movement. The above three categories of people are estimated to constitute a small percentage, say 5 percent, of mankind. At the most they cannot be more than 10 percent. Let us assume that 10 out of every 100 people are against us. Of the world’s population of 2.7 billion, no more than 270 million oppose us. The rest, and there are 2.43 billion, either support us, or are not against us, or are temporarily deceived by our enemies in suspecting us. The last condition is similar to the situation obtaining in China prior to 1949. Then the Kuomintang fabricated rumors to the effect that the Communist Party committed murder and arson and that its members shared property as well as wives. Most people did not believe them and were skeptical. Not long afterward, the real facts became clear. The Communist Party was recognized by the people as the most disciplined and most virtuous, and as having a line and a policy that best conformed to the wishes of the people. And the Kuomintang was the worst party. Among our own population of 650 million, those who are really anticommunist at the most constitute no more than 10 percent. This is to say no more than 65 million people. And 585 million people either stand up for us or are temporarily suspicious of us. The situation in Pakistan is like this, so is the situation in India. Those who are truly anti-China are no more than a handful. In the New Delhi exposition, the agricultural pavilions of the different countries were opened in a so-called anti-China atmosphere. However, people who visited the China pavilion numbered as man! y as 3.5 million, surpassing the attendance at the agricultural pavilion of any country. I advise you comrades to make an analysis of all three categories of elements, the imperialist elements of Western countries, reactionaries and semi-reactionaries of other countries, and the revisionists and semi-revisionists of the international communist movement. Firstly they are really small in number. Secondly their anti-China activities cannot harm even one hair on our head. Thirdly, their anti-China activities will instigate the entire party and the entire people to unite and set their ambition and determination to catch up with and surpass the most developed western countries economically and culturally. Fourthly, they will certainly lift a rock only to drop on their own feet. This is to say that they will expose their own ugliness before the more than 90 percent, who are good people. Therefore, so far as we are concerned, their anti-China activities are a good thing, and not a bad thing. They prove that we are true Marxist-Leninist and that our work is not bad. To them, it is a bad thing, not a good thing, and an unlucky omen. Bad luck began to dog Chiang Kai-shek the moment he opposed communism. In 1946, he launched an all-out attack against us. Only three and one half-years later, he was crushed by the people. Everybody understands this event. At present, when foreigners engage in anti-China activities, they merely abuse us verbally a little and do not beat us with their hands. If they try to beat us with their hands they will certainly not be able to escape the fate which befell Chiang Kai-shek, Hitler and Tojo. Comrades, please ponder this. Supposing that the above mentioned 10 percent bad people and semi-bad people are not anti-China but pro-China, they are friendly to us, they praise us and say good things about us, where will that put us? Could we not become revisionists who have betrayed Marxism and the people. Furthermore, the bad and semi-bad people of the different countries are not engaging in an! ti-China activities on a daily basis. Rather, they are doing it intermittently and under various pretexts. For example, under the pretext of the Tibet question and the Sino-Indian border question they conducted anti-China activities for a while. But then they could not do so forever under the pretext of these questions. This is because they were short of reason and over 90 percent of the people did not believe what they said. If they continued their anti-China activities every day, their position would become more and more untenable. The hatred between the U.S. and us is somewhat deeper. But they do not engage in anti-China activities daily. They also do it intermittently. This is also because there is no reason for them to attack us every day. Their listeners will get disgusted with them. When the market dwindles, it can only be closed. After a time, when there is a new pretext, they will set their anti-China activities in motion again. Not only is there now a brief pause between two waves of anti-China activities, but also there may be a pause of a longer duration in the future. This will depend on how well we perform our work. For example: if the entire party and the entire people really unite as one and the gross output and per capita output in our main production items approximate or overtake theirs, then such pauses will be prolonged. This is to say that this will compel the Americans to establish diplomatic relations with us and do business with us on an equal basis, or else they will be isolated. We have the advanced experiences of the Soviet Union to go by. In the past several decades, no one has opposed the Soviet Union with good results. The most brutal opposition came in the form of an armed attack against the Soviet Union. This principally refers to Hitler’s savage onslaught during the Second World war. His defeat was also the most disastrous. Therefore, I would like to advise you comrades to utilize this material on Pakistan to ponder our tasks and work and through the nature and sign! ificance of this so-called anti-China question, to make sufficient preparations mentally to accept the fact that about 10 percent of the people in the world will oppose us intermittently over a prolonged period of time. You have to contemplate what is called a prolonged period in terms of 10 years, at the very least, or even the entire balance of 40 years of the 20th century. If we are given the 40 years, the world situation will have greatly changed by the end of the century. The majority or vast majority of that 10 percent of bad people or semi-bad people most likely will have been overthrown by their own people. In our country, on the average, everybody most likely will have 1,000 tons of steel and 3,000 to 4,000 catties of grain and feed, and the majority of the people will have a college education. By then, the people’s level of political consciousness and theoretical level will be far higher than now. Most likely, the whole society will pass over to a communist society at that time. In short, the heart of all questions lies in our own unity and how well we perform our work.

Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung