jasonqm

1. “A revolution is not a dinner party, or writing an essay, ….. A revolution is an insurrection, an act of violence by which one class overthrows another.” Mao Zedong says that a revolution is not all smiles, but a violent and serious matter. He uses powerful words such as insurrection and violence to emphasis the fact that all great change comes at a cost, and for the Cultural Revolution to occur massive amounts of violence was necessary. Maybe he states this to excuse the fact that many people died from the revolution.

2. “Wherever there is struggle, there is sacrifice, and death is a common occurrence. But we have the interests of the people and the sufferings of the great majority at heart, and when we die for the people it is a worthy death. Nevertheless, we should do our best to avoid unnecessary sacrifices.” Mao Zedong states that every action should benefit the whole, not the individual. This idea is important for Communism, which states that everyone is equal. In order to emphasis this rule, Mao states that sacrifices made by the people are very important for the general population, and even states that death is common, and sacrifices should occur more. He even states that dying for the benefit of the whole is a worthy death. However, Mao probably realized the catch of this quote: what if everyone starts killing themselves? He quickly adds "Nevertheless, we should do our best to avoid unnecessary sacrifices," to make sure that every sacrifice is worthy.

3. “Protect the interests of youth, women, and children….. and give young people and children a useful education.” This quote is quite contradictory, because Mao states that the young people and children should have a useful education, but in reality Mao's ideals prevented them from having one. The Red Guards, a bunch of ticked off students, basically destroyed the education system by beating up teachers and such. Since this was all started and encouraged by Mao Zedong, this above quote is actually hypocritical.

4. “Where do correct ideas come from? Do they drop from the skies? No. Are they innate in the mind? No. They come from social practice, and from it alone; they come from three kinds of social practice, the struggle for production, the class struggle, and scientific experiment.” Mao is stating that the people should discard the Four Olds, represented by the ideas that fell from the skies and the innate in the mind. He states that correct ideas come from social practice, the struggle for production, the class struggle, and the scientific experiment. This means that people should revolutionize the way they think, while discarding old ideas.

5. “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.” Mao is obviously directing this quote to the Young People of China, the ones responsible for the chaos caused by the Red Guards. He says that all of the hope is placed on China's youth, and this is actually quite true. In the beginning of the quote, he states that this world is both ours and yours, a common practice for the followers of Communism. He also compares the youth to the sun in the morning, as it is full of life.