Paean to Mao Tse-tung’s Thought From Overseas
[This article is reprinted from Peking Review, Vol. 9, #51, Dec. 16, 1966, p. 10. Thanks are due to the WWW.WENGEWANG.ORG
web site for some of the work done for this posting.]
STIRRING is the news which has reached us from overseas. A valiant, fighting collective armed with the thought of Mao Tse-tung has come to the fore in the storm and stress of the international class struggle.
Forty-one overseas Chinese youths who were locked in a severe struggle with the reactionaries in Indonesia have won a resounding victory. Their heroic feats in battle have spread far and wide among the people of the homeland and Chinese residing abroad. This is another paean to the great thought of Mao Tse-tung.
Chairman Mao has always taught us: Revolutionary fighters of the proletariat must have an indomitable spirit, determined to vanquish all enemies and never to yield. These 41 overseas Chinese youths are such revolutionary fighters with an indomitable spirit.
Behind the prison walls of the Indonesian reactionaries they faced the guns and bayonets of the fascist military and police, fearing neither death nor repression, neither ogres nor brutes. Steadfast, staunch and unafraid, they preserved intact the honour of the Chinese nation and safeguarded the dignity of the great motherland. Before them, the blustering Indonesian reactionaries were mere paper tigers.
These youngsters drew a sharp line between love and hate. For the enemy, they showed a strong hate; for their comrades, they cherished profound class feeling. They encouraged each other, cared for each other and supported each other in the struggle, and united as one man.
Loyal to Chairman Mao, to Mao Tse-tung’s thought and the motherland, these overseas Chinese youths deserve to be called Chairman Mao’s worthy fighters and fine sons and daughters of the Chinese people.
Where did the fighting courage, conviction and strength of these 41 overseas Chinese youths in the face of the threats and white terror of the Indonesian fascists come from?
It all came from the great and invincible thought of Mao Tse-tung. Mao Tse-tung’s thought is the most powerful and the sharpest ideological weapon for fighting and defeating all enemies. Armed with Mao Tse-tung’s thought, one will have a firm, correct political orientation, one will be full of fight and one will become courageous, intelligent and revolutionary to the highest degree. Whether in black Marias, behind prison bars or in one round of struggle after another with the enemy, these 41 overseas Chinese youths at all times persevered in studying and applying Chairman Mao’s works in a creative way and took Chairman Mao’s words as the guide for all action. For them the thought of Mao Tse-tung is an inexhaustible source of strength which led them forward in conquering every difficulty and triumphing over the enemy.
Chairman Mao is the red sun in the hearts of the people of our country; he is also the red sun in the hearts of all patriotic Chinese residing abroad. With boundless veneration, respect and love for the great leader Chairman Mao, one of these heroic Chinese youths wrote with his blood five big Chinese characters — Long live Chairman Mao — on the wall of the Indonesian reactionaries’ prison. Inscribed in blood, these words symbolize not only the ardent love for Chairman Mao in 41 hearts but also the ardent love in the hearts of millions of patriotic overseas Chinese in Indonesia. At critical moments when they were being subjected to wild torture by the Indonesian reactionaries the words of their respected and beloved leader Chairman Mao became audible in their ears and tingled in their hearts. This gave them infinite warmth and strength and inspired them to fight on until victory.
Under the radiance of Mao Tse-tung’s thought China has become a great and strong socialist country. Socialist revolution and socialist construction have scored magnificent achievements in our country. The great proletarian cultural revolution personally initiated and led by Chairman Mao is profoundly changing the spiritual make-up of the people and the face of society. A generation of new people are growing up and there is no end to the miracles being performed in this great land of ours. All this has tremendously inspired our countrymen abroad and evoked in them a still deeper love for our great leader Chairman Mao, for the great Chinese Communist Party and for the great motherland. Their hearts are linked closely with those of the 700 million people at home.
The heroic feats of the 41 overseas Chinese youths have set a glorious example for all Chinese abroad and for the whole nation. We should learn from these heroes and heroines of the Mao Tse-tung era.
The 41 overseas Chinese youths and some of the patriotic overseas Chinese who went through those days of persecution with them have triumphantly returned to the fold of the motherland. We extend to them our lofty greetings and warm regards.
Let us hold higher and higher the great red banner of Mao Tse-tung’s thought and fight together for the great cause of socialist revolution and socialist construction in our motherland!
(“Renmin Ribao” editorial, Dec. 9.)
Contents page for this Peking Review issue.
Peking Review article list (in date order).
Peking Review article list (by subject).