Read a collection of Mao essays a day: 807 From history to the future of the struggle of the peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America - reading

From the perspective of history, we can see the future of the struggle of the peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America

(July 9, 1964)

The future of the struggle of the peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America is an issue of concern to all. If you want to look at the future, you must look at history. Judging from the history of Asia, Africa and Latin America in the more than ten years after the Second World War, we know the future prospects of the peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America. For example, in China, nineteen years ago, Japanese militarism occupied most of our country, and we fought with it for eight years. After the victory of the War of Resistance, the Americans came, and they supported Chiang Kai-shek in waging a civil war. The enemies we had to deal with before liberation were Japanese militarism and U.S. imperialism, as well as their lackeys Wang Jingwei[2], Emperor Kant of "Manchukuo"[3], and Chiang Kai-shek. After our liberation, a Japanese capitalist named Saburo Nango [4] had a conversation with me once, and he said, "I'm sorry for you, Japan invaded you." I said, "No, if Japanese imperialism had not launched a large-scale aggression and occupied most of China, it would have been impossible for the entire Chinese people to unite against imperialism and the Communist Party of China would not have been able to win." In fact, Japanese imperialism has become our good teacher. First, it weakened Chiang Kai-shek; second, we developed the base areas and the army under the leadership of the Communist Party. Before the War of Resistance, our army had reached 300,000, but because of our own mistakes, it had been reduced to more than 20,000. In the course of the eight-year War of Resistance, our army grew to 1.2 million men. You see, didn't Japan do us a great favor? This favor was not helped by the Japanese Communist Party, but by Japanese militarism. For the Japanese Communist Party did not invade us, but japanese monopoly capital and its militarist government invaded us. Our second faculty member, who helped us, was US imperialism. The third instructor who helped us was Chiang Kai-shek. At that time, Chiang Kai-shek had more than four million troops attacking us, and our army fought with him for four years, from one hundred and twenty thousand to more than five million. More than ninety-five percent of Chiang Kai-shek's army was wiped out by us, and less than five percent of the army was left to run to Taiwan. The lesson china has learned is this: where there is oppression, there is resistance; where there is exploitation, there is resistance. Imperialism, whether Japanese imperialism, U.S. imperialism or other imperialism, can be overthrown. Domestic reactionaries, such as Chiang Kai-shek, no matter how powerful they are, can be overthrown. This is the historical situation of China.

Now the Japanese people have a great consciousness and have launched a great movement against US imperialism and against their own monopoly capital. Who made them rise? It was the oppression and exploitation of US imperialism and Japanese monopoly capital that educated them, not the Chinese Communist Party that taught them to do so. I said that Japanese monopoly capital is not entirely in favor of the OCCUPATION OF Japan by US imperialism, and that some Japanese monopolists are not satisfied with this occupation, because under the occupation of US imperialism, Japan not only lost its colonies, but it was also under the control of the United States. Now not only the Japanese people, but also some Japanese monopoly capitalists are also beginning to oppose US imperialism.

When it comes to the history of Asia, Africa and Latin America, great changes have also taken place in the past decade or so. In Africa alone, more than thirty countries have become independent. Before 1958, I rarely saw Africans. From 1958 to 1964, I often saw African friends every year. There is a great storm of opposition to imperialism and colonialism in Africa. For example, in Egypt, the Suez Canal incident occurred in 1956[5], was the British and French allied forces stronger, or the Egyptian army stronger? Britain and France are so powerful, why did they run away in one fight? Is the Suez Canal now in the hands of the Egyptians or in the hands of British and French imperialism? Looking at Algeria, the National Liberation Army fought for eight years, France sent out 800,000 troops in the late stages of the war, and the National Liberation Army only had 30,000 or 40,000 troops. Speaking of Cuba, is U.S. imperialism and its lackeys Batista[6] stronger, or is Castro[7] stronger? More than eighty of Castro's troops sailed back to Cuba from abroad to disembark, and after the fierce battle, the remaining twelve hid in the homes of peasants, and later rose up to engage in guerrilla warfare, and after more than two years, they won the victory. As for the opposition to French aggression against Vietnam and the opposition to French aggression against Algeria, we all openly support it, so as not to offend the French Government? No, Ho Chi Minh[8] won, Ben Bella [9] won, and France recognized China. So things are changing in the world. Now the French are teaching the Americans a lesson, telling the United States to accept the French lesson and not to fight in South Vietnam: "We French have failed, and you Americans will fight and will fail like us." The United States will probably accept the lesson of France, it has been fighting for three years and cannot win, and it will not be able to continue to fight, and it will not be able to go without going. Look! Whether it's three years or a little longer, the United States will always have to go from Vietnam. The United States also has to go from Thailand, Laos, the Philippines, South Korea, Japan and other places, as well as from Taiwan. The time it goes is not accurate, but it must go. Therefore, all imperialism and colonialism that oppress Asia, Africa and Latin America will one day have to go, as long as the people unite and intensify the struggle. It goes, and it can also go a little more civilized. Please it go it does not go, what to do? Then learn from Castro's method, learn from Ben Bella's method, learn from Ho Chi Minh's method, and you can learn from The Chinese method. Therefore, when we look at history, we will see the future.

When we speak of the people, we do not speak of reactionaries, but of the people of no country oppressing and exploiting the people of another. For example, the representatives of the peoples of The Asian and African countries here, have you oppressed Chinese people? Have you exploited Chinese people? We didn't feel it. Can Chinese oppress you? Can you be exploited? If the Chinese government does this, then the Chinese government is imperialist, not socialist. If some Chinese disrespect you, do not talk about equality, and make trouble in your country, then you can drive away such Chinese. This is the most fundamental principle of unity between the peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America against imperialism. The mutual relationship between us is a brotherly relationship, not a relationship between Lao Tzu and his son. It is necessary to consolidate unity and build a broad united front. Whoever he is, black, white or yellow, no matter what religion he believes in, Catholic, Christian, Islamic or Buddhist, as well as a section of the national bourgeoisie, as long as he is against imperialism and against the lackeys of imperialism, should be united, not including the lackeys of imperialism in these countries.

As for the question of how to defeat the domestic reactionaries, I think either by means of literature or by force. Some countries want to call on the broad masses of the people to rise up against the reactionaries by force, because the reactionaries have weapons in their hands. This means that according to the situation of each country, we must use the appropriate time, and if he wants to fight, I will fight. This method was learned from the reactionaries. We learned it from Chiang Kai-shek, and when Chiang Kai-shek beat me, I beat him. He can hit me, can't I hit him?

Some people say that weapons are the first and people are the second. We say in turn that man is the first and weapons are the second. Weapons are similar to machines, they are just the extension of human hands. Is it a man holding a weapon in his hand, or a weapon in a man's hand? Of course it is the latter, because the weapon has no hand, which weapon has a hand? I fought for twenty-five years, including three years in the Korean War. I didn't know how to fight, but I learned to fight through twenty-five years of war. I have never seen a weapon have a hand, only a man has a hand, and a man holds a weapon with his hand.

Our "reputation" is very bad, and the US imperialists say that we are aggressors. They say that we invaded China, which is indeed "invading" Chiang Kai-shek, but it was Chiang Kai-shek who invaded us first! He also said that we invaded Korea, but it was because US imperialism had hit the Yalu River that we had to send troops to resist the United States and aid Korea. It is also said that we invaded India, but that is because India has penetrated our country for tens of kilometers, and it has been fighting for several years before we fight back in self-defense. One dozen hit the old border. At the old border of thousands of kilometers, the Indians ran out of troops, then we withdrew, to the so-called new national border stipulated by imperialism[10], a line that we do not recognize. We retreated twenty kilometers from here and set up a buffer zone. The imperialists also say that we are militants because we helped Ho Chi Minh fight the French in the past, and now we support South Vietnam against the Americans, and we have supported Ben Bella in fighting the French. Wherever we need support, we support it, so we have a bad reputation and become a "militant"

My Friend from Angola asked what illusions and dangers should be prevented in establishing an independent national economy? Since Angola has not yet been liberated and is still engaged in armed struggle, you can only engage in revolution now, and economic construction can only be carried out in the base areas. Portugal will not help you. America's help has ulterior motives. If I want to prevent fantasies, I want to prevent fantasies about America. As for what dangers will arise during the construction process, it is difficult to say now. If we want to say that we want to prevent danger, we are preventing danger from the imperialist side. As for making some mistakes in actual work, it is inevitable. If any political party is bound to make mistakes, the Communist Party of China has made many mistakes and made major mistakes. If you make a mistake, you can correct it. Mistakes can help people clear their minds.

It was printed according to the "Selected Diplomatic Writings of Mao Zedong" published by the Central Literature Publishing House and the World Knowledge Publishing House in 1994.

【Notes】

[1] This was a major part of Mao Zedong's conversation with representatives of some countries and regions in Asia, Africa, and Oceania who had visited China after attending the Second Asian Economic Symposium in Pyongyang, North Korea.

[2] Wang Jingwei (1883–1944), a native of Shanyin (present-day Shaoxing), Zhejiang. In 1925, he became chairman of the Kuomintang government in Guangzhou. In July 1927, a counter-revolutionary coup d'état was launched in Wuhan. After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in 1937, he served as vice chairman of the Supreme National Defense Conference of the Kuomintang, advocated compromise with Japan, and was the leader of the pro-Japanese faction within the Kuomintang. In March 1938, he was appointed vice president of the Kuomintang, and in December of the same year he publicly surrendered to Japanese imperialism, and later became the chairman of the puppet government in Nanjing, which was supported by Japanese imperialism.

[3] Emperor Kant, also known as Ai Xin Jueluo Puyi (1906–1967), a native of Beijing, was the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty. He was forced to abdicate after the establishment of the Republic of China in 1912. In 1932, he became the "ruler" of the puppet state of Manchukuo under the joint planning of Japanese imperialism. In 1934, he was renamed "Emperor of Manchuria", and his era name was Kant. After Japan's surrender in 1945, he was captured by soviet forces and handed over to the government of the People's Republic of China in August 1950. He was released in December 1959 by amnesty. After 1964, he was a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

[4] Sanro Minamigo, see note on page 248 of this volume.

[5] Suez Canal Incident, see note on page 25 of this volume.[12]

[6] Batista, see note on page 178 of this volume.[5]

[7] Castro, see note on page 178 of this volume.

[8] Ho Chi Minh, see note on page 162 of this volume.[3]

[9] Ben Bella, see note on page 381 of this volume.

[10] Refers to the McMahon Line. It was an illegal border line created by the British colonialists in March 1914 with the local authorities of Tibet behind the back of the representatives of the Chinese central government and secretly exchanging letters. The line assigned 90,000 square kilometers of land traditionally belonging to China in the eastern section of the Sino-Indian border to India under British colonial rule at the time. The Chinese government has never ratified or recognized this border line. In 1953, India essentially encroached on Chinese territory south of the line.