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Document Analysis: ‘War and Peace’

Quotations from chairman Mao Tse-Tung
By professor Stuart R. Schram

Course: the 20th Century
Professor: R. Schade
Date: Tuesday, December 20th

(Mao Tse-Tung / Mao Zedong is used as Mao further in this analysis).

The author of this document is Stuart R. Schram. He is a professor at the Harvard University in the United States. Professor Schram is specialized in China’s history and politics. This document, ‘War and Peace’, comes from his book: ‘The political thought of Mao Tse-Tung’, which first was published in 1963. This book is a collection that consist of some of the most fundamental extracts from Mao Tse-Tung’s works as well as some articles that are from the ‘Selected Works’ of Mao. This collection represents Mao’s personality and experience.

Schram’s document is based on thoughts and quotations of Mao. He explains the quotes and refers to sources like books on Chinese revolution or published articles on Mao’s thoughts and quotes. The most general and probably the most lasting expression of Mao Tse-tung's contribution to the Chinese revolution was his thought, which makes this document very interesting.

Professor Schram expects his audience to have a fundamental knowledge on politics, classes of society and terms like communism, socialism, capitalism, imperialism, Marxism and Leninism. The intended audience are people who have interests in China’s history, politics and the thoughts of the famous chairman Mao Tse-Tung. These people don’t really have to be high educated people, but they certainly have to be aware of the political terms that I mentioned before.

The purpose of this document is basically to introduce the audience with the thoughts of Mao, especially on wars and Mao’s communism theory. While reading this document you can’t really ask questions like: should I believe what I am being told?, Does this help me understand Mao’s thoughts better? or Are my expectations fulfilled? The only question you start to ask your self while or after reading this document is: ‘Am I a communist, socialist, capitalist or a imperialist?’ When you read this document, you start to think if the capitalists and imperialistic countries are ‘the bad guys’ and the socialists and the communist countries are ‘the good guys’. ‘Our country and all the other socialist countries want peace; so do the peoples of all the countries in the world. The only ones who crave war and do not want peace are certain monopoly capitalist countries which depend on aggression for their profits’ (course pack, p. 98). This in an example of starting having doubts about being a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ guy, while reading this document.

Professor Schram gives the audience information about Mao’s thoughts as a ruler of China, as a Marxist and a Leninist. The author does this by his selection of Mao’s interesting quotes. The author gives examples with Mao’s quotes and explanations about what Mao’s communist thoughts were about. The content of this document is based on wars that are divided into two kinds, just and unjust. All wars that are progressive are just, and all wars that impede progress are unjust. Communists oppose all unjust wars that impede progress, but they do not oppose progressive, just wars. These selected quotes and thoughts of Mao gives you a summary on war, that is a monster of mutual slaughter among men. ‘There is only one way to eliminate war and that is to oppose war with war.’ The answer to when will it end? is: when human society advances to the point where classes and states are eliminated, there will be no more wars. Schram’s version of Mao’s warning contains ‘whether or not a third world war will break out, we’ -as in communists- ‘must be mentally prepared and do some analysis. If the imperialist insist on unleashing another war, we should not be afraid of it. First, we are against it, second, we are not afraid of it’ (course pack, p. 99).

This document was probably written because of many interests in Mao’s thoughts, like academic interest in Mao's role in the Chinese Revolution that remains intense, as scholars and commentators continue to analyze his thinking and the history of the movement for clues about the Chinese model and its supposedly unique features. The debate about Mao's career and influence is now enlivened by the consequences of the dramatic turn by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) away from the radical socialism, he is said to represent and its granting of a far greater role to the market, though without shedding much of its political power. Collections of primary sources on Mao and CCP history, written by the communists themselves, are readily available but informed scholarship is indispensable to explain these sources and to put them in proper perspective. What were Mao's objectives? Were they consistent? This document and Schram’s books will help to identify some of the answers. Bringing together good scholarship, reportage, and other materials, the collection includes the following: scholarly studies by Westerners on Mao's life and work, including wide-ranging studies of Mao's political career as a whole; psychological studies; studies on his interpretation of Marxism; and assessments of his role in the Chinese Revolution. This document is a reference resource for all scholars and students with interest in Chinese history and communism. The author doesn’t really make a statement, but he has used translated quotes and thoughts of Mao and gathered them into a collection, so he does influence the audience with his choices and way of writing.

This document could be published in history books, essays, political and/or historical news papers (with background information) who have a critical point of view. And now its definitely being used for history courses. This document is originated from Schram’s book: The political thought of Mao Tse-Tung.

The basic assumptions of this document are that the audience has a background knowledge about these political and historical topics, terms, theories and powers. And that they are critical readers with interests in China’s history, which includes Mao Tse-Tung and his political thoughts. The author assumes that with his information the audience can understand Mao’s thoughts better and that they can be better informed about communism. And he also highlights the fact that a third world war is possible and with Mao’s thoughts, he mentions that people should not be afraid of war, but be (mentally) prepared and aware of the possibility. He also warns people with Mao’s translated thoughts and quotes about the imperialists and all reactionaries and that they will never change. This is a Marxist law, which means that the imperialists will never lay down their butcher knives and that they are ferocious. Thus, with this, the author assumes that the public can be warned about ‘the danger’ or the possibility of another war. He wants the public to be aware of this. The translated message is: ‘just because we have won victory, we must never relax our vigilance against the frenzied plots for revenge by the imperialists and their running dogs’ (course pack, p. 99). Hereby, the author wants to encourage communists to have faith, stay strong, be prepared and not being afraid. At least, that is Mao’s thought and translated quote with Schram’s interpretation and chosen words (that are written by him).

This document can be a credible document, because its based on two different theories through one man’s eyes, without the author who used the translated words to explain Mao’s thoughts. This document makes the reader fall into a systematic pattern of behavior. With this I mean, that everybody wants peace and no wars, everybody has the desire to live without fear and live safe for now and in the future. But do we have to be a communist or socialist and against capitalism and imperialism to achieve this? Is Marxism and Leninism the way of living? This document makes you think about these questions and drags you into the ‘good zone’ with or without a lot of knowledge on these topics. Or, the challenge is: can the audience read this document without being on any side and see this document just as a short view on Mao’s political thinking?

Than you can really decide if the audience is being manipulated or that this document is a credible one. Still I cannot say that this document is credible or not, because its based on Mao’s saying and thoughts. I can’t say if they are true or false or right or wrong. I do know that a professor who is specialized in Chinese history, and who uses many references, would not write this document if it wasn’t based on ‘the truth’ (real quotes and thoughts of Mao).

During 1968, the year that this document was published by Praeger in New York, China had been true a lot. It had survived many wars, like the Nationalist-Communism war, the Second Sino-Japanese war, the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis, etc. Mao was still the ruler of the Republic of China. There were many national and international interests in Mao’s political thoughts and strategy. Mao had survived a lot as China’s political leader. This document was very interesting, especially in Western countries. The audience is being encouraged keeping faith and to desire peace, just like communists do. ‘Fight, fail, fight again, fail again, fight again....till their victory; that is the logic of the people, and they will never go against this logic. This is a Marxist law. The Russian and Chinese people’s revolution followed this law’ (course pack, p. 99). This is a quote and an example of the way people were encouraged keeping faith and being (staying) communists.

People were vulnerable and unstable, thus quotes like this, even if it includes lies, makes people feel good and gives them hope. Another good quote about this is: ‘The world is progressing, the future is bright and no one can change this general trend of history. We should carry on constant propaganda among the people on the facts of world progress and the bright future ahead so that they will build their confidence in victory’ (course pack, p. 100). When I read this sentence, I start to think if the author or Mao with his thoughts, really thought that people were that shallow at that time, or were they really that superficial? The society, back then, was worried that a third world war would and could brake out. People, especially of China, probably thought and believed that the imperialists would continue to gang up against the Chinese people in every possible way. So thoughts of Mao like: ‘We must be mentally prepared and do some analysis’ and ‘We are against war, but not afraid of it’, were very appropriate.

Everybody should care about these topics, because history keeps repeating itself and by studying it, we can prevent political issues and wars in the future. Also, these topics on capitalism, communism, etc. are very important to know about, because mighty countries are today living by these theories. Thus, it concerns everybody. And I do care, because I am very interested in Chinese history, because I believe that China is growing and soon it will become more powerful than ever in at least an economic and political matter. As a Journalism student I need to broaden my knowledge and read a lot of critical documents. It is impossible to live in the 21th century and not knowing anything about communism, capitalism, socialism, Marxism, etc. By reading these kinds of documents, the audience can get to know these theories better and understand people better. It is the same with religion. If you know what a certain religion is about, you can react and understand people better and not judge them, because their behavior is not familiar to you.

Documents have to be read in a critical and limited way. This document can be read to extend my knowledge and learn more about China’s history and theories of world politics. In this way I can learn to become a critical reader. This is necessary, because people should not always believe what they read or being told.

For example: According to Marxist theory of the state, the army is the chief component of a state power. Whoever wants to seize and retain state power must have a strong army. And according to communism, there is only one way to eliminate war and that is to oppose war with war. And according to Mao’s translated quote, the logic of imperialism and all reactionaries is about making trouble, fail, make trouble again fail again...till their doom. They will never go against this logic.

So basically, this document says and it means that the imperialists are the ones who want to start a war and they will not stop until they victory or collapse. So the communist have to be strong and aware of the possibility of another war, but keep trying to prevent any possible war. This by unite with people of imperialist countries and strive to coexist peacefully, do business with them and prevent wars. This means that all imperialist are ‘bad guys’ and want to start a war and want to make Chinese people’s life miserable by making them live in fear of another war and that only communists and ‘innocent non-imperialist people’ desire peace. As I already mentioned: according to Marxism and accordingt to communism. It doesn’t mean that it’s true and involves everybody.

This document criticizes all imperialistic and capitalistic countries and people, but it’s not really insulting because its a collection of Mao’s thoughts and quotes. And almost everybody knows that Mao was a communist and so against capitalism and imperialists. This document can be used as an appropriate source based on Mao’s political and communistic thoughts, because it is a collection on his quotes and thoughts. They can not be truly false. But what the audience has to consider is that this document is based on translated thoughts and quotes of Mao, which originates from the Chinese language. Also, the interpretation of the author has to be considered if this document is going to be used as an appropriate source. As a Journalism student, I know that no one should count on and use only one source. There are at least three sources necessary to get enough information about a topic like this.