(The following item and the translation accompanying it was circulated in an International League for Peoples Struggle distribution list - Mike)
An anti-revisionist people's rally commemorating and calling for continuing Mao Zedong's struggle against revisionism, in Luoyang City, Henan Province.
To see the rally, go to: http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTYzMDk5OTky.htmlluoyang people
A rough translation of the speech is here below
A Memorial for Chairman Mao and Other Martyrs - Luoyang City, Henan ProvincePosted by Utopia (http://www.wyzxsx.com/) on April 14, 2010http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTYzMDk5OTky.htmlluoyang people
The banner says: A Rally by Luoyang People to Pay Tribute to Chairman Mao and Other Martyrs
The Speech (translated into English) is as follows:
Chairman Mao worked hard his entire life to win the revolution and to establish a new China. Anyone who has a conscience will always be grateful to him. We can say with certainty that without Chairman Mao there could not have been a new China.
Chairman Mao often reminded us that we should always remember the revolutionary martyrs for the contributions they made, and we should understand why they sacrificed their lives to fight for the cause. Chairman Mao once asked us whether we remember the many martyrs who died in the revolution. He said that he thought about them often. He said they sacrificed their lives, because they wanted to build a new China - a new China where there would be no class exploitation or class repression, a new China where the people would become the master of the country. Those revolutionary martyrs wanted to build a new China where foreign and domestic reactionaries could no longer oppress our working people.
In 1974 Mao wrote a poem as a memorial to the martyrs for their accomplishments. He said the revolutionaries were very courageous, and that they dared to challenge the sun and the moon in order to change our destiny. Chairman Mao repeatedly reminded us that we must not betray the road our martyrs traveled, and we must not betray the high ideals these martyrs held. Chairman Mao said that so many people sacrificed their lives in order to build a prosperous China, so that Chinese people could enjoy better lives. They wanted to build a strong China that could stand proudly among the world's other peoples and nations. Many revolutionaries died on the battleground fighting against the enemies or were executed by the enemies. They died without any regrets but with smiles on their faces. They shouted with their last breath: "Long live the Communist Party! Long live Chairman Mao!".
Chairman Mao said even when he was still alive they [the revisionists] could not accept what he said. Our Chairman said that he was not thinking of himself but of our country and our people. He did his best he could to assure our country would not change colors and that socialism would prevail. He said that even when he was alive, they [the revisionists] were already doing what they wanted to do. If they could accomplish what they wanted, then the blood shed by our martyrs would be in vain and people would have to suffer all over again. Chairman Mao continued to say that he knew the Chinese people wanted socialism and how he worried the Chinese people would suffer if China should abandon socialism. Therefore, he relied on the masses and refused to retreat.
Why did Chairman Mao work so hard for us and worry so much about us? What were his worries? Wasn't he worried that our country might change colors and that the blood of our martyrs would be for nothing? Wasn't he worried that our country would revert to barbarism and slavery? What would our martyrs have thought, if they had known that the socialist values and morals of our society have been so totally corrupted, and that our peoples' lives again have fallen into such deep water? Isn't it true that all Mao's worries have become reality?
We gather here today not just to show our deep appreciation to Chairman Mao and our martyrs. We gather here to assert that our martyrs did not sacrifice their lives for nothing. If we still have our consciences we cannot forget what the Communist Party had struggled for. Today we have things to tell our Chairman and martyrs. We want to tell you with shame and regret that we lost what you left for us - the right to be the masters of our country and the beautiful future of socialism. It was our fault but now people have awakened. We know the revisionists have seized power. We, the proletariat are united with our determination and our fearless spirit. We are singing our battle song - the Internationale. We do not rely on any savior, nor do we rely on any gods or emperors. We rely only on ourselves. This is our last struggle and we are united for tomorrow's final victory. This country is our country and the people are our people. The battle drums have been sounded. We are marching forward to fight the reactionaries and to smash the bourgeoisie into pieces once for all. We want to make sure that the generations after us will not suffer again. We are going to once again hold up the flag of Mao Zedong Thought on this land. We will fight to restore true socialism.
Long Live the Great and Invincible Mao Zedong Thought!!
Long Live the Great Proletarian Class!!
(Translator note: This is not an exact translation word for word. The sound quality of the video was not good. Some words were lost. However, under the circumstances the translation has captured the important meaning of the speech, the expressions of the speaker and his choice of words and phrases.)
5 comments:
Not sent for publication .
Thank you for your valuable translation Mike.
Some"Nit picking" comments on the translation .
The word “conscience” is often associated with individualism and religion .
While,
"class conciousness"
is often used by Marxists
or
Socialist conciousness.
Socialist spirit.
Proletarian spirit etc.
As for class
Your translation .
‘long live the great proletarian class” ?
Long live the proletariat!
The proletariat is that class without property interests ,the international proletariat etc.
In practice, in China and the third world ,the(industrial?) working class at the heart ,as wellas the casual day town labourer landless labourer in the countryside.
But the proletariat ,alone ,is not the People.
In China it is always necessary to remember the masses and class alliances.
The basis for a dictatorship of the proletariat in China remains the forging of unity between the working class and the alliance with the (particularly poor) peasantry for the common purposes of exercising dictatorship over the bourgeoisie in order to build a socialist society free from class oppression.
With the working class providing leadership within that class alliance in exercising control of the state.
The Peoples democratic state -New democracy .in China .
Peoples China -the vast majority of the people exercising democracy.
That is , forms of the dictatorship of the Proletariat used in china .
Wherein even "Great Proletarian Cultural Revolutions" may be waged with the state in the hands of the dictatorship of the proletariat.
"Chairman Mao worked hard his entire life to win the revolution and to establish a new China."
Capitalise “a new China” to a New China ?
And the whole meaning changes to Mao fought his whole life for
a New Democratic- Peoples China?
"He said they sacrificed their lives, because they wanted to build a new China - a new China where there would be no class exploitation or class repression, a new China where the people would become the master of the country."
This then, is class struggle being talked about , not simply a struggle for a "new china"
Sorry again if it appears as
pedantic nit picking critisism
I noticed in the Dymocks bookshops in HK a range of books by chinaworker.cc
Even the trots of China Worker can pose as Maoists and 'anti-revisionists' so as to oppose so called 'stalinism'
Nice example here - http://www.chinaworker.cc/en/content/news/507/
Anti-CPC talk of 'revisionism' serves imperialism.
John Keanefropi
John, thanks for your comments. I disagree that the trots of China "pose as Maoists". They openly reject Maoism, but profess some identity of cause to try and establish credibility with disaffected workers and peasants. They did the same thing in Nepal, trying to worm their way into the mass movement that had developed in support of the CPN(M). Their historical role remains: to split and divert the revolutionary movement.
"Anti-CPC talk of 'revisonism' serves imperialism." It would if the CPC still adhered to Marxism-Leninism. Deng led the way with his "To get rich is glorious!" which gave the green light to the dismantling of collective and state-owned enterprises, to the toleration of unlawful and corrupt business practices, and thus allowed the restorationists to seize the upper hand. His "black cat or white cat" comment failed to raise the question of "For whom?" (does the cat, black or white, catch the mice). This is fundamental to ensuring that the working class exercises leadership and directs the state in the service of the interests of the proletariat. It elbowed aside the advocates of Marxist-Leninist theory and brought forward such revisonist nonsense as the "theory of the three represents" which was used to disenfranchise the working class within its own party.
Anonymous - Please excuse me for publishing your comment despite its "Not for publication" tag. It raises some valuable points.
Firstly, I put the Luoyang article up after taking it from an ILPS distribution list. I should have clarified that it was not my translation, as I have in fact translated some Chinese material from time to time and anyone who knew that could have inferred that this was another one of mine. I will do that shortly. I agree with some of your comments and in fact made some minor stylistic alterations to the original translation which I assume was done by a native speaker of Chinese.
The original read in the first paragraph "anyone who has a conscious", which I changed to "conscience" consistent with the intentions of the speaker on the video, and of the further reference to "conscience" in the final paragraph. Everyone has the capacity to have a conscience, but a conscience carries with it a class character. The speaker at the rally has a profound proletarian class conscience which does not allow him to remain silent in the face of the dismantling of the legacy of Chairman Mao and the progress of capitalist restoration. Because of that conscience he risks surveillance and imprisonment to advocate the cause of the proletariat.
I salute him for the risks he is taking in following his proletarian conscience.
Regards to both of you
Mike
Hi Mike,
I gotta disagree with -
"Deng led the way with his "To get rich is glorious!" which gave the green light to the dismantling of collective and state-owned enterprises, to the toleration of unlawful and corrupt business practices, and thus allowed the restorationists to seize the upper hand. His "black cat or white cat" comment failed to raise the question of "For whom?" (does the cat, black or white, catch the mice). This is fundamental to ensuring that the working class exercises leadership and directs the state in the service of the interests of the proletariat. It elbowed aside the advocates of Marxist-Leninist theory and brought forward such revisonist nonsense as the "theory of the three represents" which was used to disenfranchise the working class within its own party"
as an incorrect assesment of the current situation. By all tangible means of determining the standard of living and culture in the PRC it can be proven that they are doing better than ever before.
Stuff like life expectancy, infant mortality, literacy, extent of electrification etc. The Party has a number of special institutions vested with a lot of power to stamp out corruption. 'China Daily' - the print edition is full of stories of the crackdown - on a daily basis.
As for the speaker at the rally, Hunan province has spome tradition of this activity, how many have been jailed so far for it?
John Keane
My wife who is Chinese says the translation is very good - it captures the mood of the speaker.
Thanks for making this avialable Mike and I have published it on Democracy and Class struggle
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