Word: mao
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1960-1969
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...well to remember all this in reading Robert J. Lifton's new book, Revolutionary Immortality: Mao Tse-tung and the Chinese Cultural Revolution. The work attempts to formulate what Lifton calls a "psychohistorical" model of China's Cultural Revolution, the baffling internal convulsion which has kept China on the verge of anarchy since the summer of 1966. As social science, the book's contribution is uncertain. It suggests fruitful insights, but some of its observations verge on the obvious, and most are impossible to document...
...literature, however, Revolutionary Immorality is much more notable. It conveys with surprising force the staggering personal tragedy of Mao Tse-tung, a leader who has spent his lifetime designing one of the great political triumphs of history, and now seems to be systemically shattering his work...
LIFTON'S concepts become intelligible only when he relates them to the specific case of China. "The essence of the 'power struggle' taking place in China," he argues, "as of all such 'power struggles' is power over death." The symbol of immortality linking Mao with the mass agents of upheaval is the Revolution. As an old man facing death, he has seized on his political work and vision as his connection with Chinese history. The knowledge that they will outlive him allows him to face death, and the threat of their corruption stimulates an almost paranoid response--a need...
Absurdes, ironiques ou amers, ces gribouillages sont des cris du coeur: "Je crie/J'ecris/#595 378 8222 bis de l'anonyme contrainte." On y trouve une haine de la societe urbanisee et dehumanisee, qui rappelle non seulement le ruralisme de Mao, mais celui de Rousseau, de Fourier, et de Proudhon: "L'economie est blesse, qu'elle creve." "Dessous les paves c'est la plage ..." Mepris des institutions democratiques ("Referendum -- voter sa chaine et son boulet."), anarchisme ("L'emancipation de l'homme sera totale ou ne sera pas."), foi en l'action directe ("L'aboutissement de toute pensee...
Only Tried and True. In celebrating National Day last Oct. 1, the Mao leadership triumphantly declared "all-round victory" for the Cultural Revolution. The stage was thus set for the meeting of the Central Committee, at which Mao and his No. 2 man, Vice Chair-man Lin Piao, were reported to have made important speeches. The most immediate problem, according to the committee communique, is the job of "party consolidation and party building." The faithful Maoist press warned that this vital task cannot be left only to present party members-who might simply revert to the policies of Liu Shao...