Word: secretly
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...least some of the shadows around Mao are being dispelled. Recently, a cache of Mao's secret speeches, letters and other writings came into the possession of the U.S. State Department. Many of the documents were seized by zealous Red Guards who broke into highly secret Communist Party files during the 1966-68 Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. Others were leaked to the Red Guards by unnamed Chinese leaders. The papers were then smuggled out of mainland China and were obtained by U.S. officials from sources in Hong Kong, Taipei and Tokyo. After a thorough preliminary check of the documents...
...torrent of Mao's words that flow from these extraordinary papers reveals the long-obscure human dimension of the man. He emerges as a compelling personality, supremely confident of his ability to surmount China's immense domestic problems. In speeches delivered at secret meetings of the Politburo, he comes across as passionate and often earthy. All told, the documents amply demonstrate that Mao, now 75 and reportedly nearing death, left an imprint on China and its 750 million people that will surely prove ineradicable for generations to come...
...occasionally balances gibes at his comrades by poking fun at himself. In a secret speech at Lushaa in 1959, he discussed the need to go slower during the Great Leap Forward: "One can't be rash. There must be a step-by-step process. In eating meat, one can only consume one piece at a time. One can never hope to become a fatso at one stroke." After a pause, Mao continued: "The commander in chief [Marshal Chu Teh] and I didn't get fat in a single...
Although the replies of Mao's comrades are not generally included in these papers, there is evidence that this style of polemic has been characteristic of secret meetings. When Mao seemed taken aback by the criticism leveled at him during the stormy Lushan conference, Peng Teh-huai, who had long received more than a fair share of abuse from the Chairman, lashed back at him. "You f-ed my mother for 40 days," Peng told Mao, "so why can't I f- yours for 20?" Recalling the incident later, Mao wryly observed: "Even 20 days wasn...
...Committee adopted the majority recommendation last Monday by a margin of three votes. That decision, too, was kept secret, and the Faculty did not learn of it until the next day. And even then it was asked to sit and listen...