Chairman Mao’s Guide to Writing History Essays

To all students! Below are some quotes from Chairman Mao Zedong, ripped shamelessly from their context, to help you in the research and writing of your essay.¹

Approaching your Essay with the Right Attitude

“On a blank sheet of paper free from any mark, the freshest and most beautiful characters can be written; the freshest and most beautiful pictures can be painted.”²

“What we need is an enthusiastic but calm state of mind and intense but orderly work.”³

“…One certainly cannot make an investigation, or do it well, without zeal, a determination to direct one’s eyes downward and a thirst for knowledge, and without shedding the ugly mantle of pretentiousness and becoming a willing pupil.”⁴

“The world is yours, as well as ours, but in the last analysis, it is yours. You young people, full of vigor and vitality, are in the bloom of life, like the sun at eight or nine in the morning. Our hope is placed on you. The world belongs to you.”⁵

Get Organized and Stop Procrastinating!

“All loafers must be reformed into good citizens through participation in production.”⁶

“In any given place, there cannot be a number of central tasks at the same time. At any one time there can be only one central task, supplemented by other tasks of a second or third order of importance…It is part of the art of leadership to take the whole situation into account and plan accordingly in the light of the historical conditions and existing circumstances of each locality, decide correctly on the center of gravity and the sequence of the work for each period, steadfastly carry through the decision, and make sure that definite results are achieved.”⁷

“Don’t wait until problems pile up and cause a lot of trouble before trying to solve them.”⁸

The sins of liberalism: “…To work half-heartedly without a definite plan or direction; to work perfunctorily and muddle along – ‘So long as one remains a monk, one goes on tolling the bell.’…to disdain minor assignments while being quite unequal to major tasks, to be slipshod in work and slack in study…To be aware of one’s own mistakes and yet make no attempt to correct them, taking a liberal attitude towards oneself.”⁹

“Prepare a detailed outline for the investigation. A detailed outline should be prepared beforehand, and the investigator should ask questions according to the outline…make your own notes.”¹⁰

Be Realistic

“In a suitable temperature an egg changes into a chicken, but no temperature can change a stone into a chicken, because each has a different basis.”¹¹

“…A careless military strategist bases his military plans on his own wishful thinking, and hence his plans are fanciful and do not correspond with reality.”¹²

Dedication and Perserverence

“Both students and intellectuals should study hard. In addition to the study of their specialized subjects, they must make progress both ideologically and politically, which means that they should study Marxism, current events and politics. Not to have a correct political point of view is like having no soul”¹³

“…Cultivate a firm and correct political orientation, an industrious and simple style of work, and flexible strategy and tactics…It is in accordance with these essentials that the staff teaches and the students study.”¹⁴

“Many things may become baggage, may become encumbrances if we cling to them blindly and uncritically. Let us take some illustrations. Having made mistakes, you may feel that, come what may, you are saddled with them and so become dispirited; if you have not made mistakes, you may feel that you are free from error and so become conceited. Lack of achievement in work may breed pessimism and depression, while achievement may breed pride and arrogance. A comrade with a short record of struggle may shirk responsibility on this account, while a veteran may become opinionated because of his long record of struggle…All such things become encumbrances or baggage if there is no critical awareness.”¹⁵

“…direct your eyes downwards, do not hold your head high and gaze at the sky. Unless a person is interested in turning his eyes downwards and is determined to do so, he will never in his whole life really understand things in China.”¹⁶

“Complacency is the enemy of study. We cannot really learn anything until we rid ourselves of complacency. Our attitude towards ourselves should be “to be insatiable in learning” and towards others “to be tireless in teaching”.”¹⁷

“All men must die, but death can vary in its significance. The ancient Chinese writer Szuma Chien said, “Though death befalls all men alike, it may be weightier than Mount Tai or lighter than a feather.” To die for the people is weightier than Mount Tai, but to work for the fascists and die for the exploiters and oppressors is lighter than a feather.”¹⁸

Engaging with the Historiography

“Who are our enemies? Who are our friends? This is a question of the first importance for the revolution.” ¹⁹

“…We must on no account reject the legacies of the ancients and the foreigners or refuse to learn from them…But taking over legacies and using them as examples must never replace our own creative work…Uncritical transplantation or copying from the ancients and the foreigners is the most sterile and harmful dogmatism in literature and art.”²⁰

Delimit Your Claims and Don’t Overreach

“Knowledge is a matter of science and no dishonesty or conceit whatsoever is permissible. What is required is definitely the reverse – honesty and modesty.”²¹

“Fight no battle unprepared, fight no battle that you are not sure of winning…”²²

Deploying Evidence and Using Theory

“Those experienced in work must take up the study of theory and must read seriously; only then will they be able to systematize and synthesize their experience and raise it to the level of theory, only then will they not mistake their partial experience for universal truth and not commit empiricist errors.”²³

“If we have a correct theory but merely prate about it, pigeonhole it and do not put it into practice, then that theory, however good, is of no significance.”²⁴

“Now, there are two different attitudes towards learning from others. One is the dogmatic attitude of transplanting everything, whether or not it is suited to our conditions. This is no good. The other attitude is to use our heads and learn those things that suit our conditions, that is, to absorb whatever experience is useful to us. That is the attitude we should adopt.”²⁵

“Aimless theory is useless and false and should be discarded. We should point the finger of scorn at those who are fond of aimless theory.”²⁶

“Even now, there are not a few people who still regard odd quotations from Marxist-Leninist works as a ready-made panacea which, once acquired, can easily cure all maladies. These people show childish ignorance. It is precisely such ignorant people who take Marxism-Leninism as a religious dogma. To them we should say bluntly, ‘Your dogma is worthless.'”²⁷

The Quality of Writing Matters

“‘Fewer and better troops and simpler administration.’ Talks, speeches, articles and resolutions should all be concise and to the point.”²⁸

“Let us now analyse stereotyped Party writing:…it fills endless pages with empty verbiage…it strikes a pose in order to intimidate people…it shoots at random, without considering the audience…it arranges items under a complicated set of headings, as if starting a Chinese pharmacy…”²⁹

“What did Lu Hsun say? Altogether he set forth…rules of writing…’After writing something, read it over twice at least, and do your utmost to strike out non-essential words, sentences and paragraphs, without the slightest compunction’…’Do not coin adjectives or other terms that are intelligible to nobody but yourself.'”³⁰

“This question of ‘for whom?’ is fundamental.”³¹

Seek Truth From Facts

“…seek truth from facts. “Facts” are all the things that exist objectively, “truth” means their internal relations, that is, the laws governing them, and “to seek,” means to study. We should proceed from the actual conditions inside and outside the country, the province, county or district, and derive from them, as our guide to action, laws that are inherent in them and not imaginary, that is, we should find the internal relations of the events occurring around us. And in order to do that we must rely not on subjective imagination, not on momentary enthusiasm, not on lifeless books, but on facts that exist objectively”³²

“Marxist philosophy holds that the most important problem does not lie in understanding the laws of the objective world and thus being able to explain it, but in applying the knowledge of these laws actively to change the world.”³³

“We are Marxists, and Marxism teaches that in our approach to a problem we should start from objective facts, not from abstract definitions, and that we should derive our guiding principles, policies and measures from an analysis of these facts.”³⁴

“”Have a head for figures.” That is to say, we must attend to the quantitative aspect of a situation or problem and make a basic quantitative analysis. Every quality manifests itself in a certain quantity, and without quantity, there can be no quality. To this day many of our comrades still do not understand that they must attend to the quantitative aspect of things – the basic statistics, the main percentages and the quantitative limits that determine the qualities of things. They have no “figures” in their heads and therefore cannot help making mistakes.”³⁵

Cut the Bullshit

“No investigation no right to speak…There are many people who “the moment they alight from the official carriage” make a hullabaloo, spout opinions, criticize this and condemn that; but, in fact, ten out of ten of them will meet with failure. For such views or criticisms, which are not based on thorough investigation, are nothing but ignorant twaddle…”³⁶

“To behave like “a blindfolded man catching sparrows”, or “a blind man groping for fish”, to be crude and careless, to indulge in verbiage, to rest content with a smattering of knowledge – such is the extremely bad style of work…”³⁷

“You can’t solve a problem? Well, get down and investigate the present facts and its past history! When you have investigated the problem thoroughly, you will know how to solve it. Conclusions invariably come after investigation, and not before. Only a blockhead cudgels his brains on his own, or together with a group, to “find a solution” or “evolve an idea” without making any investigation. It must be stressed that this cannot possibly lead to any effective solution or any good idea.”³⁸

“We must not pretend to know when we do not know.”³⁹

Tackling Challenges Along the Way

“We must recognize difficulties, analyse them and combat them. There are no straight roads in the world; we must be prepared to follow a road that twists and turns and not try to get things on the cheap. It must not be imagined that one fine morning all the reactionaries will go down on their knees of their own accord. In a word, while the prospects are bright, the road has twists and turns.”⁴⁰

“What is work? Work is struggle. There are difficulties and problems in those places for us to overcome and solve. We go there to work and struggle to overcome these difficulties. A good comrade is one who is more eager to go where the difficulties are greater.”⁴¹

“Comrades, you must all analyse your own responsibility. If you have to shit, shit! If you have to fart, fart! You will feel much better for it.”⁴²

Moving Beyond the Surface of Things

“When we look at a thing, we must examine its essence and treat its appearance merely as an usher at the threshold, and once we cross the threshold, we must grasp the essence of the thing; this is the only reliable and scientific method of analysis.”⁴³

“At first, knowledge is perceptual. The leap to conceptual knowledge, i e., to ideas, occurs when sufficient perceptual knowledge is accumulated. This is one process in cognition. It is the first stage in the whole process of cognition, the stage leading from objective matter to subjective consciousness, from existence to ideas…Then comes the second stage in the process of cognition, the stage leading from consciousness back to matter, from ideas back to existence, in which the knowledge gained in the first stage is applied in social practice to ascertain whether the theories, policies, plans or measures meet with the anticipated success…Man’s knowledge makes another leap through the test of practice. This leap is more important than the previous one. For it is this leap alone that can prove the correctness or incorrectness of the first leap in cognition…”⁴⁴

“Lacking an analytical approach, many of our comrades do not want to go deeply into complex matters, to analyse and study them over and over again, but like to draw simple conclusions which are either absolutely affirmative or absolutely negative…. From now on we should remedy this state of affairs.”⁴⁵

Considering Different Approaches and Identifying Shortcomings

“In this world, things are complicated and are decided by many factors. We should look at problems from different aspects, not from just one.”⁴⁶

“In studying a problem, we must shun subjectivity, one-sidedness and superficiality. To be subjective means not to look at problems objectively, that is, not to use the materialist viewpoint in looking at problems. I have discussed this in my essay “On Practice”. To be one-sided means not to look at problems all-sidedly…. Or it may be called seeing the part but not the whole, seeing the trees but not the forest.”⁴⁷

“To talk as though our work is good in every respect is at variance with the facts. It is not true that everything is good; there are still shortcomings and mistakes. But neither is it true that everything is bad, and that, too, is at variance with the facts. Here analysis is necessary.”⁴⁸

Retain your Focus and Don’t Miss the Big Picture

“The way these comrades look at problems is wrong. They do not look at the essential or main aspects but emphasize the non-essential or minor ones. It should be pointed out that these non-essential or minor aspects must not be overlooked and must be dealt with one by one. But they should not be taken as the essential or main aspects, or we will lose our bearings.”⁴⁹

“If in any process there are a number of contradictions, one of them must be the principal contradiction playing the leading and decisive role, while the rest occupy a secondary and subordinate position. Therefore, in studying any complex process in which there are two or more contradictions, we must devote every effort to finding its principal contradiction. Once this principal contradiction is grasped, all problems can be readily solved.”⁵⁰

“In approaching a problem a Marxist should see the whole as well as the parts. A frog in a well says, “The sky is no bigger than the mouth of the well.” That is untrue, for the sky is not just the size of the mouth of the well. If it said, “A part of the sky is the size of the mouth of a well”, that would be true, for it tallies with the facts.”⁵¹

The Role of Critique

“…All the propaganda work of our Party should be vivid, clear-cut and sharp and should never mutter and mumble…Since we want to teach the people to know the truth and arouse them to fight for their own emancipation, we need this militant style. A blunt knife draws no blood.”⁵²

“All erroneous ideas, all poisonous weeds, all ghosts and monsters, must be subjected to criticism; in no circumstance should they be allowed to spread unchecked. However, the criticism should be fully reasoned, analytical and convincing, and not rough, bureaucratic, metaphysical or dogmatic.”⁵³

“The only way to settle questions of an ideological nature or controversial issues among the people is by the democratic method, the method of discussion, of criticism, of persuasion and education, and not by the method of coercion or repression.”⁵⁴

“We must undoubtedly criticize wrong ideas of every description. It certainly would not be right to refrain from criticism, look on while wrong ideas spread unchecked and allow them to monopolize the field. Mistakes must be criticized and poisonous weeds fought wherever they crop up. However, such criticism should not be dogmatic, and the metaphysical method should not be used, but efforts should be made to apply the dialectical method. What is needed is scientific analysis and convincing argument.”⁵⁵

“Truth develops through debate between different views. The same method can be adopted with regard to whatever is poisonous and anti-Marxist, because Marxism will develop in the struggle against it. This is development through the struggle of opposites, development conforming to dialectics.”⁵⁶

Review and Revise your Work

“Conscientious practice of self-criticism is still another hallmark distinguishing our Party from all other political parties. As we say, dust will accumulate if a room is not cleaned regularly, our faces will get dirty if they are not washed regularly. Our comrades’ minds and our Party’s work may also collect dust, and also need sweeping and washing. The proverb “Running water is never stale and a door-hinge is never worm-eaten” means that constant motion prevents the inroads of germs and other organisms.”⁵⁷

“We should rid our ranks of all impotent thinking.”⁵⁸

“The mistakes of the past must be exposed without sparing anyone’s sensibilities; it is necessary to analyse and criticize what was bad in the past with a scientific attitude so that work in the future will be done more carefully and done better. This is what is meant by ‘learn from past mistakes to avoid future ones’.”⁵⁹

Writing an Essay about China

“Contemporary China has grown out of the China of the past; we are Marxist in our historical approach and must not lop off our history…”⁶⁰

“China’s problems are complicated, and our brains must also be a little complicated.”⁶¹

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1. The images in this post come from the pages of the 1970s issues of the journal Chinese Literature which you can browse online here. Consider looking up some of these quotes to see what was excluded before, after, and sometimes in the middle of them as they were displayed here. Of course, this is one of the interesting features of the Quotations from Chairman Mao and shows how easily some banal extracted portions of such “odd quotations,” as Mao might put can be. This was not uncommon during the high Maoist period when quotations of him were deployed for all manner of self-help and daily use matters.  ↩

2. Quotations Ch 3. “Introducing a Co-operative” (April 15, 1958).  ↩

3. Quotations Ch 22. “Problems of Strategy in China’s Revolutionary War” (December 1936), Selected Works, Vol. I, p. 211.  ↩

4. Quotations Ch 23. “Preface and Postscript to Rural Surveys” (March and April 1941), Selected Works, Vol. III, p. 12.  ↩

5. Quotations Ch 30. Talk at a meeting with Chinese students and trainees in Moscow (November 17, 1957).  ↩

6. Selected Readings p300 “Get Organized!”  ↩

7. Quotations Ch 22. “Some Questions Concerning Methods of Leadership” (June 1, 1943), Selected Works, Vol. III, p. 121.  ↩

8. Quotations Ch 22. Introductory note to “Contract on a Seasonal Basis” (I955), The Socialist Upsurge in China’s Countryside, Chinese ed., Vol. III.  ↩

9. Quotations Ch 24. “Combat Liberalism” (September 7, 1937), Selected Works, Vol. II, pp. 31-32.  ↩

10. Selected Readings p48 “Oppose Book Worship”  ↩

11. Quotations Ch 22. “On Contradiction” (August 1937), Selected Works, Vol. I, p. 314.  ↩

12. Selected Readings p60 “Important Thing is to be Good at Learning”  ↩

13. Quotations Ch 12. On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People (February 27, 1957); 1st pocket ed., pp. 43-44.  ↩

14. Quotations Ch 12. To Be Attacked by the Enemy Is Not a Bad Thing but a Good Thing (May 26, 1939), 1st pocket ed., p. 3.  ↩

15. Quotations Ch 24. “Our Study and the Current Situation” (April 12, 1944), Selected Works, Vol. III, p. 173.  ↩

16. Selected Works p 194. “Preface to Rural Surveys”  ↩

17. Quotations Ch 33. “The Role of the Chinese Communist Party in the National War” (October 1938), Selected Works, Vol. II, p. 210.  ↩

18. Quotations* Ch 17. “Serve the People” (September 8, 1944), Selected Works, Vol. III, p. 227.  ↩

19. Quotations Ch 2. “Analysis of the Classes in Chinese Society” (March 1926), Selected Works, Vol. I, p. 13  ↩

20. Selected Readings p265 “Yenan Forum on Literature and Art”  ↩

21. Quotations Ch 33. “On Practice” (July 1937), Selected Works, Vol. I, p. 300.  ↩

22. Quotations Ch 8. “The Present Situation and Our Tasks” (December 25, 1947), Selected Military Writings, 2nd ed., p.349-50  ↩

23. Quotations Ch 33. “Rectify the Party’s Style of Work” (February 1, 1942), Selected Works, Vol. III, p. 42.  ↩

24. Quotations Ch 33. “On Practice” (July 1937), Selected Works, Vol. I, p. 304.  ↩

25. Quotations Ch 33. On the Correct Handling of Contradictions among the People (February 27, 1957), 1st pocket ed., p. 75.  ↩

26. *Selected Readings p216 “Rectify the Party’s Style of Work”  ↩

27. *Selected Readings p219 “Rectify the Party’s Style of Work”  ↩

28. Quotations Ch 10. “Methods of Work of Party Committees” (March 13, 1949), Selected Works, Vol. IV, p. 380.  ↩

29. *Selected Readings pp234-245 “Oppose Stereotyped Party Writing”  ↩

30. *Selected Readings pp246-7 “Oppose Steretyped Party Writing”  ↩

31. Selected Readings p262 “Yenan Forum on Literature and Art”  ↩

32. Quotations Ch 23. “Reform Our Study” (May 1941), Selected Works, Vol. III, pp. 22-23.  ↩

33. Quotations Ch 22. “On Practice” (July 1937), Selected Works, Vol. I, p. 304.  ↩

34. Quotations Ch 22. “Talks at the Yenan Forum on Literature and Art” (May 1942), Selected Works, Vol. III, p. 74.  ↩

35. Quotations Ch 10. “Methods of Work of Party Committees” (March 13, 1949), Selected Works, Vol. IV, p. 379.  ↩

36. Quotations Ch 23. “Preface and Postscript to Rural Surveys” (March and April 1941), Selected Works, Vol. III, p. 13.  ↩

37. Quotations Ch 23. “Reform Our Study” (May 1941), Selected Works, Vol. III, p 18.  ↩

38. Quotations Ch 23. Oppose Book Worship (May 1930), 1st pocket ed., and p. 2.  ↩

39. Quotations Ch 33. “On the People’s Democratic Dictatorship” (June 30, 1949), Selected Works, Vol. IV, p. 423.  ↩

40. Quotations Ch 21. “On the Chungking Negotiations” (October 17, 1945), Selected Works, Vol. IV, pp. 59-60.  ↩

41. Quotations Ch 21. “On the Chungking Negotiations” (October 17, 1945), Selected Works, Vol. IV, p. 58.  ↩

42. “Speech at the Lushan Conference” July 23, 1959.  ↩

43. Quotations Ch 22. “A Single Spark Can Start a Prairie Fire” (January 5, 1930), Selected Works, Vol. I, p. 119.  ↩

44. Quotations Ch 22. Where Do Correct Ideas Come from? (May 1963), 1st pocket ed., p. 1-3.  ↩

45. Quotations Ch 22. “Our Study and the Current Situation” (April 12, 1944), Selected Works, Vol. III, p. 165.  ↩

46. Quotations Ch 22. “On the Chungking Negotiations” (October 17, 1945), Selected Works, Vol. IV, p. 54.  ↩

47. Quotations Ch 22. “On Contradiction” (August 1937), Selected Works, Vol. I, pp. 323-24.  ↩

48. Quotations Ch 22. Speech at the Chinese Communist Party’s National Conference on Propaganda Work (March 12, 1957), 1st pocket ed., and pp. 16-17.  ↩

49. Quotations Ch 22. On the Question of Agricultural Co-operation (July 31, 1955), 3rd ed., pp. 17-18.  ↩

50. Quotations Ch 22. “On Contradiction” (August 1937), Selected Works, Vol. I, p. 332.  ↩

51. Quotations Ch 22. “On Tactics Against Japanese Imperialism” (December 27, 1935), Selected Works, Vol. I, p. 159.  ↩

52. Selected Readings p359 “Talk to Shansi-Suiyuan Daily Editorial Staff”  ↩

53. Quotations Ch 2. Speech at the Chinese Communist Party’s National Conference on Propaganda Work (March 12, 1957), 1st pocket ed., and pp. 26-27.  ↩

54. Quotations Ch 4. On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People (February 27, 1957), 1st pocket ed., pp. 5-6.  ↩

55. Quotations Ch 4. On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People (February 27, 1957), 1st pocket ed., pp. 5-55-56.  ↩

56. “Speech at the Chinese Communist Party’s National Conference on Propaganda Work” March 12, 1957 in Selected Readings p494.  ↩

57. Quotations Ch 27. “On Coalition Government” (April 24, 1945), Selected Works, Vol. III, pp. 316-17.  ↩

58. Quotations Ch 7. “The Present Situation and Our Tasks” (December 25, 1947), Selected Works, Vol. IV, p. 173.  ↩

59. Quotations Ch 27. “Rectify the Party’s Style of Work” (February 1, 1942), Selected Works, Vol. III, p. 50.  ↩

60. *Selected Readings p156 “Role of the Chinese Communist Party…”  ↩

61. Quotations Ch 7. “On the Chungking Negotiations” (October 17, 1945), Selected Works, Vol. IV, p. 56.  ↩