Chapter 35 Imperialism is not to be feared[1]

(May 7, 1960) Welcome friends.We are friends, and we stand on the same front against imperialism and colonialism.Most of the imperialist countries do not recognize our country.They have actually ruled China for more than a hundred years and made China very poor.To be poor is to be poor, and to be white is to be illiterate.Our situation is now beginning to change.China used to be an independent country in name, but in fact it was a semi-colony of imperialism.We were liberated after decades of struggle, twenty-two years of armed struggle alone.The entire mainland of China was basically liberated in 1949, leaving only Taiwan still occupied by the imperialists.Now, U.S. imperialism has established many military bases in the East, such as Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, the Philippines, South Vietnam, Thailand, and Pakistan, which pose a great threat to us.

Westerners say that we Chinese are not good, we are people of color.They say that people of color are not good enough, that they cannot accomplish anything, that they are unhygienic and undignified.Our race seems to be about the same as your Africans.Westerners also say that you can't do it, but they don't help you develop industry. Even if you develop a little industry, it still belongs to the imperialists.So we are on the same level as you. You are fine now, united.The whole of Africa has united and awakened, or is in the process of awakening step by step.There are more than 200 million people in Africa. If you are united, awakened, and organized, the imperialists are afraid of you.Imperialism spreads terror and kills people, or through their lackeys.In China, Chiang Kai-shek killed us.There may also be such people in your country, adhering to the will of imperialism.There are very few such people, at most one in ten, or less than one.So, nine out of ten people you might unite with, or maybe more.Actually imperialism is not to be feared.The imperialists advertise their power every day to intimidate us.

There was a time in the past when we Chinese were afraid of U.S. imperialism and its running dog Chiang Kai-shek.Because they kill people, or use various other methods, such as arresting people and locking them in the classroom.All in all, they should make us afraid of them and destroy our fighting spirit.We Chinese also became conscious step by step, and then we gradually lost our fear and fought against the lackeys of imperialism.We started out unarmed and we didn't know how to fight, we learned that from them.You can oppress us, can we oppress you? One out of ten people oppresses nine of us, can the nine of us unite and drive that one away? We concluded that yes.It is unreasonable for one person to oppress the nine of us, and it is unreasonable for the nine of us not to unite and drive him away.As a result, we have been making revolutions for decades, but haven’t we won yet?

Our enemy Chiang Kai-shek has huge foreign aid, aided by U.S. imperialism.He is armed very powerfully, with an arsenal and weapons sent by foreigners, such as warships, heavy artillery, tanks, and planes.We have none of these, nor heavy artillery, nor aircraft, nor tanks, we only have rifles and light artillery.Where did our stuff come from? It wasn't made in an arsenal, but snatched from the war.U.S. imperialism gave us guns through Chiang Kai-shek, so we have guns.Later we had tanks and heavy artillery, and we were able to fight big battles.In 1949, we basically liberated the mainland.At that time their air force bombed over our heads and didn't scare us away.Later it turned out that they were afraid of us, not we were afraid of them, not only Chiang Kai-shek was afraid of us, but the Americans were also a little afraid of us, because we had united more than 90% of the people.People are more important, they come first, weapons are second, they are secondary.As long as people are united and weapons are in hand, the imperialists and colonialists will be afraid of us.Of course, war is not the only method, there are other methods.

Some of the countries of your friends here did not use war to seize power, like Guinea.Algeria is still fighting, and this war has helped Guinea, and friends in Guinea also see it this way, because France has 500,000 troops attracted by the Algerians in their country, and France does not have many soldiers.Imperialism occupies too many places and controls too broadly.As the Chinese saying goes, if ten fingers press ten fleas, none of them will be caught.Because imperialism controls things too broadly, they cannot control them.The United States now occupies too much place in the world.You see, in Asia, as well as in Latin America and Africa, many countries have US military bases; it also wants to control Europe.The international situation has undergone some changes in recent days.With no way out, the South Korean people rose up against the lackey of the United States, Syngman Rhee[2].When the people of South Korea came together, scolded and bombarded, and hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated, Syngman Rhee collapsed.Syngman Rhee had seventy-five divisions, and the people of South Korea did not have a single gun, but when they came together, Syngman Rhee fell.Of course, the problem has not been resolved yet. The Americans are still in South Korea and have chosen new lackeys. The struggle of the South Korean people will continue to develop.And in Turkey, the masses of the people have also risen against the lackeys of the United States.Therefore, we have held mass meetings one after another in the past few days to support the people of South Korea and Turkey.And the Japanese people are also getting up.In two days' time, there will be a massive mass movement in Japan, and it is said that hundreds of thousands or millions of people will rise up against the military alliance treaty concluded between the Kishi government and the United States.We will also hold mass meetings to support the masses of the Japanese people.

Some of you may say that South Korea, Japan, and Turkey are far away from the United States, so the people of these countries are not afraid of the United States and dare to rise up against its lackeys.But please take a look at Cuba.Where is Cuba? It is very close to the United States, and the flight distance is only half an hour.The Cuban people were originally defenseless, and the ruler of Cuba, Batista[5] killed as many as 20,000 Cubans in a few years.You may also say that China is a big country with a large population.Cuba is not a big country, with a population of just over 6 million, so close to the United States, and Batista killed another 20,000 people.However, in November 1956, Cuban national hero Fidel Castro [6] led 82 people to land in Cuba on a boat from Mexico.Fighting against the government forces was defeated, and only twelve of the eighty-two remained, including Fidel Castro and his younger brother Raúl Castro.They had no choice but to turn into the mountains and start a guerrilla war. They fought for more than two years and took a lot of guns and tanks. Batista had to run away.You see, the Cuban people were unarmed, but the Batista regime was armed to the teeth. A country as big as the United States supported it and was so close, but the people united and drove Batista away.Has any of you been to Cuba? If no one has been, I suggest you take a trip to Cuba.Such a small country dares to make a revolution next to the United States, so it is necessary to study Cuba's experience. Cuba's revolution has worldwide significance.The people of Latin America welcome the people's regime in Cuba.

The anti-colonial and anti-imperialist struggles in Africa are more meaningful to the world.Revolutions have taken place in not one country but in many countries; revolutionary national liberation struggles have been waged not just among millions of people, but among tens of millions or more.We fully sympathize with you and fully support you.At the same time we believe that your struggle supports us and helps us.We also think that the struggle in Cuba has helped us, the struggle in all of Latin America has helped us, the struggles in South Korea, Turkey, South Vietnam, Japan have helped us, and the people of Asia have helped us.Of course, the socialist countries first helped us, and the Soviet Union helped us.Outside the socialist countries, the vast anti-colonial and anti-imperialist struggles of the peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America have also helped us.This disperses the enemy's strength and puts less pressure on us.Because you help us, we have an obligation to support you.We support each other and help each other.

At the same time, we also support the Conference of Great Powers[7].The four-nation summit meeting will be held in France, which is also a way.According to our Chinese saying, this is called walking on two legs.The meeting of big powers is to talk with them at the table, which is one leg; the struggle of the people of Asia, Africa, and Latin America against colonialism and imperialism is another leg.You can stand up on two legs and walk easily.It is not good to lose a leg, and you cannot walk.We believe that you also agree not to fight a world war, and we are against a world war.But at the same time we support the right of the peoples of all countries oppressed by imperialism to rise up against their oppressors.If there is no world war, the people of all countries must rise up against the oppressors.I can give some specific examples: Algeria has 500,000 French troops in check. If there is a world war, France will have very few forces to participate, because it only has so many troops.When the people of South Korea rise up, they will hold back the U.S. troops stationed in South Korea.The rise of the Turkish people will hold back the US troops stationed in Turkey.If the Japanese people rise up too, they can restrain part of the American army.Some people say that if you want world peace, you should not oppose imperialism, lest imperialism be unhappy, so all countries should not engage in struggles against imperialism.I still walk on two legs.The people of all countries rise up to resist the oppressors, this is a leg, and it is an important leg, perhaps the first leg; it is also a leg to hold a meeting of major powers on the table with them, talk about disarmament, solve the German problem, etc. leg.If you walk on two legs, it will be difficult to fight a world war.If there is only one leg, there is no guarantee that the imperialists will not fight a world war.Imperialism can cheat.Imperialism also has two legs, one for deception and one for oppression.We have the same suspicions as you about imperialist deceit.But why do we support the Conference of Great Powers again? It is to take a look at them and expose their sickness in that leg.

I agree with the idea that my friend from Algeria just said. A country like Algeria, and countries like it in general, must prepare for a long-term struggle.It is more beneficial to have such mental preparation.There are difficulties, and sometimes they are great.As I said, the armed struggle in China has lasted for twenty-two years, while your struggle has only lasted six years.In the course of our revolutionary struggle, we made several mistakes, such as two mistakes of Right opportunism[8] and three mistakes of "Left" opportunism[9], which severely damaged our strength. loss.Our military strength had reached 300,000 before the Long March, but because of mistakes, we were left with less than 30,000, less than one-tenth.It is important not to waver when times are difficult.Which is stronger, 30,000 or 300,000? Because of lessons learned, a team of less than 30,000 is stronger than 300,000.Later, our army got a chance, and by the time Japan surrendered in 1945, it had grown to one million men.In 1946, the United States and Chiang Kai-shek attacked us. The United States did not go out in person, but used the method of helping Chiang Kai-shek to support Chiang Kai-shek in attacking us. We lost many places and many cities.Chiang Kai-shek attacked us in an all-round way, and we adopted a retreat strategy to wipe out the enemy's vital forces.We fought ten battles a year. Although we lost a lot of ground, we wiped out more than a hundred divisions of the enemy's forces. At this time, we began to counterattack.By 1949, our army had become superior and Chiang Kai-shek's army had become inferior, and most of them were wiped out by us. We liberated Shenyang, Peiping, Tianjin, Jinan, Zhengzhou and many other large cities.Their place is controlled by us, and the main force of the army is wiped out by us.At this time they demanded peace and sent representatives to Peiping.We just walk on two legs.We know that their peace talks are deceitful, but if we do not make peace, the common people will not believe it. It seems that Chiang Kai-shek loves peace, but we love war.Well, let's make peace, let's send delegates! Then they sent a delegation, talked to us for three weeks, and we said, you're going to hand over your guns and hand over power to us.Their representatives signed and sent people back to Nanjing, the seat of the Kuomintang government, to request approval.They said no, they could not hand over their guns, and they could not hand over power, which tore away their "peaceful" face.They refuse to sign today, and tomorrow we will cross the Yangtze River, and this leg will be stretched out.The enemy often deceives us, we must see clearly.Sometimes it is necessary to accept the negotiation and expose them in the negotiation.That's how the two legs go.Not to surrender the enemy, but to ask the enemy to surrender.For example, the people of the world now want to disarm, and we agree. It depends on whether the United States disarms.To expose the enemy, use various methods to expose the enemy.Peace negotiations are actually a way of exposing the enemy, and that's how we see it.We don’t believe that Eisenhower[10] loved peace very much. How could the imperialists love peace? What they love is colonialism.

We are glad to see that so many African friends have broken the superstition.The first superstition is to be afraid of imperialism. If you get rid of this one, you will no longer be afraid of imperialism.But I believe that among the 200 million people in Africa, there are still some people who are afraid of imperialism and still have superstitions or fantasies about imperialism.Therefore, you still have to do work for them. After ten or eight years, the number of people will gradually increase. Out of a population of 200 million, 100 million or more people will stand up, completely break away from superstition, not be afraid of imperialism, and win victory. There is a certainty.People often have many superstitions, one of which is the superstitious belief in imperialism; the other is that they do not believe in their own power, and feel that their own power is small; they think that the Western world is very good, and we yellow, black, and brown people People are not good enough, and this is also a kind of superstition.Why can't we? I believe that we can do anything that white people can do, and we can do it better than them.Because their number is very small, only a few hundred million.And we need to distinguish between the white people, they are not all bad people, only one tenth of them are bad people, and nine out of ten are good people, or they are temporarily deceived by others and do not awaken, but one day they will wake up.This mainly refers to the proletariat, and there are other people who sympathize with the proletariat, such as laborers including farmers.There are Caucasians who are really afraid of nuclear war, and some capitalists are also afraid.The imperialist countries are at odds with each other, so we can take advantage of it.They are not so united, the Americans are not so united with the British, the Americans are not so united with the West Germans, nor are Adenauer and the British.Therefore, there are many working people all over the world, patriotic people oppressed by imperialism, and allied armies.

We have learned from experience that we are not afraid of the enemy strategically.Imperialism has been weakened, and one, two, three out of ten fingers have been cut off.In the Soviet Union, there is no tsar, and it has become a Leninist Soviet Union.China was also freed from imperialist rule.In addition to these two countries, there are ten socialist countries, and the former fingers of imperialism in these countries have also been cut off.The rest is Asia, Africa, Latin America, some countries have become independent, some countries are striving for independence.It can be said that the few remaining fingers of imperialism have also been wounded.For example, Cuba is right next to the United States and has beaten away the lackeys of the United States; Algeria has a large liberated area; Guinea is also independent; there are several other independent countries in Africa.It appears that a great storm is brewing in Africa, and the same storm is brewing in Latin America.Some people say that the national independence movement in Asia has been relatively low in recent years, but a revolution broke out in Iraq on July 14, 1958[12]; in the Suez Canal War in 1956[13], imperialism failed to win, and Egypt Victory has been achieved; the people of South Korea and Turkey have risen again in recent weeks, and it seems that the Japanese people are also very hopeful.So now imperialism cannot sleep.Friends have mentioned that some of our countries have difficulties and sorrows.I think we have a happy side and a sad side.In my view, imperialism has only a sad side, not a happy one.You say America can sleep well? I don't believe it.Imperialism is just like a Chinese saying goes: Fifteen buckets fetch water, seven up and eight down.Therefore, we have every reason to despise them strategically, and firmly believe that the imperialist system will perish and the people of the world will stand up.We must be cautious in tactics, study every step carefully, pay attention to them, and handle things seriously.Taken together, we should despise the enemy strategically and pay attention to the enemy tactically, so that we can dare to think, speak and act. If you want to take a look at China's experience, we welcome it.Some experience may be your reference, including revolutionary experience and construction experience.But I want to remind my friends that China has China's historical conditions, and you have your historical conditions. China's experience can only be used as your reference. Congratulations on our unity, with which we will surely triumph.Congratulations on our victory, let's unite to win. According to the "Mao Zedong Diplomatic Selected Works" published in 1994 by Central Literature Publishing House and World Knowledge Publishing House. -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ note [1] This is a conversation between Mao Zedong and social activists, peaceful people, trade unions, youth, and student delegations from 12 African countries and regions. [2] Syngman Rhee (1875-1965), served as South Korean President of South Korea from August 1948 to April 1960. [3] Nobusuke Kishi, then Prime Minister of the Japanese Cabinet. [4] Refers to the Japan-U.S. Mutual Cooperation and Security Treaty, see note [3] on page 93 of this volume. [5] Batista (1901-1973), former president of Cuba.During his administration, he implemented a dictatorship, making Cuba completely subordinate to the United States.On January 1, 1959, its regime was overthrown by an insurgent army led by Castro. [6] Fidel Castro, born in 1926, became the Prime Minister of Cuba in 1959. [7] The Conference of Great Powers refers to the meeting held in Paris on May 16, 1960, by the heads of government of the Soviet Union, the United States, Britain, and France.The meeting discussed ways to further ease relations between the Soviet Union and the United States in Europe and to seek solutions to major international issues.During the meeting, Khrushchev asked Eisenhower to make a public apology for the US U-2 high-altitude spy plane intruding into the Soviet Union's airspace on May 1, 1960. After being rejected, he withdrew from the meeting, and the meeting was declared aborted. [8] Refers to Chen Duxiu’s right-leaning opportunism mistakes in the late period of the First Civil Revolutionary War and Wang Ming’s right-leaning opportunism mistakes in the early days of the Anti-Japanese War. [9] Refers to the "Left" putschism errors represented by Qu Qiubai from November 1927 to April 1928, and the "Left" putschist errors represented by Li Lisan from June to September 1930. "Adventurist error" and the "Left" adventurist error represented by Wang Ming before the Zunyi Conference from January 1931 to January 1935. [10] Eisenhower, then President of the United States. [11] Adenauer (1876-1967), then Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany. [12] See note [7] on page 24 of this volume. [13] Refers to the Suez Canal Incident.See note [12] on page 25 of this volume.