Here are a number of quotes for both Russia and China (primary and secondary sources)

Try and remember two different historical perspectives on a topic as it will give you more to
analyse when it comes to Part C Source Analysis questions.

ALSO, something I have not included in here are summaries of historian’s arguments.
Throughout your textbook (Reinventing Russia and China Rising) the authors give sentences
(not quotes) that summarise a perspective on a particular event. You may find this useful if you
are struggling to remember quotes.

This is not a complete list, so if you have alternative quotes you should still use them!

RUSSIA AOS 1 (SOURCE ANALYSIS)

Geography, Demography and Social Classes

Quote Source

‘I conceive Russia to be as a landed estate, Nicholas II (1902)

of which the proprietor if the Tsar, the
administrator is the nobility, and the workers
are the peasantry.’

‘A whole third of our peasantry has become Sergei Kravchinsky (1894)

landless [rural workers] in modern Russia’

‘With many nationalities, many languages, Sergei Witte

and a nation largely illiterate, the marvel is
that the country can be held together even by
autocratic means.’

‘Your Majesty has more 130 million subjects.

Of them, barely more than half live, the rest
vegetate.’

Tsarism/ Autocracy

Quote Source

‘Those who believe they can share in Nicholas II

government dream senseless dreams’

‘I shall adhere as unswervingly as my father Nicholas II (1894)

to the principle of autocracy.’

‘I shall never, under any circumstances, Nicholas II (1904/5)

agree to the representative form of
government because I consider it harmful to
the people whom God has entrusted to my
care.’

‘It was as if the greatest empire in the Richard Pipes

world...were an artificial construction without
organic unity, held together by wires, all of
which converged in the person of the
monarch.’

‘...a word from the Tsar was sufficient to alter, Alan Wood
override or abolish any existing legislation or
institution.’

‘...to lovers of liberty, the provincial Orlando Figes

government was the very personification of
Tsarist oppression and despotism.’

‘In tsarist Russia the capitalist yoke was History of the CSPU short-course
aggravated by the yoke of tsardom. The
workers not only suffered from capitalist
exploitation, from inhuman toil, but, in
common with the whole people, suffered from
a lack of rights.’

‘The tsarist regime was pregnant with Tsuyoshi Hasegawa

irreconcilable internal contradiction that it had
no capacity to resolve.’

Nicholas II

Quote Source

‘The Emperor Nicholas did not inherit his Sir George Buchanan (1910)
father’s commanding personality nor the
strong character and prompt decision making
which are so essential to an autocratic ruler’

‘I am not prepared to be Tsar. I never wanted Nicholas II (1894)

to become one. I know nothing of the
business of ruling.’

‘His mentality and circumstances kept him Alexander Kerensky (1917)

wholly out of touch with his people. From his
youth he had been trained to believe that his
welfare and the welfare of Russia were one
and the same thing, so that ‘disloyal’
workmen, peasants and students who were
shot down, executed or exiled seemed to him
mere monsters who must be destroyed for
the sake of the country.’

‘...committed to absolutism in part because he Richard Pipes

believed himself duty-bound by his coronation
oath to uphold this system, and in part
because he felt convinced that the
intellectuals were incapable of administering
the empire.’

‘weakness of will’ John Hitte

‘...poorly educated, narrow in intellectual
horizons, a wretchedly bad judge of people,
isolated from Russian society…[with a] lack of
grasp of the realities of the country.’

‘...it was not a ‘weakness of will’ that was the Orlando Figes
undoing of the last tsar but, on the contrary, a
wilful determination to rule from the throne,
despite the fact that he clearly lacked the
necessary qualities to do so.’

‘...although his loyalty to his Allies remained RH Bruce Lockhart

unshaken to the last, it was the failure to
harness the loyalty of his own people which
eventually cost him his throne.’

Russo-Japanese War

Quote Source

‘...the origins of the Russo-Japanese conflict Richard Pipes

have long been distorted by the self-serving (Pipes argues that Witte was responsible
accounts of Sergei Witte.’ for pursuing the war while Nicholas did
not want war but was encouraged by his
advisors as it would be a quick and easy
victory.)

‘We need a small, victorious war to stem the Viacheslav Plehve (Interior Minister 1904)
revolution.’

‘We now know that Plehve was reluctant to Michael Lynch

go to war, whereas Witte, wishing to see
Russia expanded economically into the Far
East, knew full well that this made conflict
with Japan a very strong possibility.’
‘That Nicholas decided to take a personal Orlando Figes
interest in the matter only made things worse;
unfortunately foreign policy was the one area
of government where the Tsar felt competent
to lead from the front.’

‘The Japanese are beating us with machine- General Dragomirov (after Nicholas sent
guns, but never mind: we’ll beat them with icons (small religious tokens) to the army
icons.’ to boost morale)

‘The autocracy had shown itself incapable of Orlando Figes

defending the national interest and joining the
opposition now came to be seen...as
something noble and patriotic.’

‘For Russia, the war turned out to be a series Sheila Fitzpatrick

of disasters and humiliations on land and
sea.’

‘The Russo-Japanese War had made tsarism Leon Trotsky

totter…’

Sergei Witte

Quote Source

‘Russia is a colony for all industrially Sergei Witte

developed states, generously providing them
with cheap products of her soil and buying
dearly the products of their labour.’

‘Yet any criticism of Witte should be balanced Michael Lynch

by reference to the problems he faced.’

‘His tragedy was that despite his great

talents...he was never fully trusted by the
people of the tsarist court and system he was
trying to save.’

‘...the origins of the Russo-Japanese conflict Richard Pipes

have long been distorted by the self-serving
accounts of Sergei Witte.’

‘[Witte] initiated progressive reforms that Richard Malone

rapidly increased industrial growth, but
significantly heightened social discontent in
the overcrowded cities.’
‘I am sure that the only man who can help Empress Marie Romanov (wife of Alexander
you now and be useful is Witte.’ III) in reference to 1905 Revolution

Marxism

Quote Source

‘The bourgeoisie is unfit any longer to be the Communist Manifesto (1848)

ruling class in society.’

‘What the bourgeoisie therefore produces, Communist Manifesto (1848)

above all, are its own grave-diggers. Its fall
and the victory of the proletariat are equally
inevitable.’

‘Let the ruling classes tremble at a Communist Manifesto (1848)

Communist revolution. The proletarians have
nothing to lose but their chains. They have a
world to win. WORKING MEN OF ALL
COUNTRIES UNITE!’

‘Revolutions in short are made in the name of AJP Taylor

the proletariat, not by it, and usually in
countries where the proletariat hardly exists.
What is more, these revolutions do not bring
the triumph or dictatorship of the
proletariat.They bring the dictatorship of a
new managerial class, or sometimes the old
class under a new name. In any society, a
few men will aspire to run things, and the
great majority will allow them to do it...The
Communists, from Marx onwards, were the
chosen few who really knew what the
proletariat wanted. They knew only because
they said they knew. This was enough to
convince them that they would always be
right. Someone called Marxists ‘god’s
prompters’. Lenin was the most persistent of
these prophets.’

Bloody Sunday

Quote Source

‘There is no God any longer. There is no Father Georgiy Gapon

Tsar.’
‘...a renegade priest with police connections.’ Sheila Fitzpatrick (in reference to Gapon)

‘...formed something more like a religious Orlando Figes

procession than a workers’ demonstration.’

‘On that day the workers received a bloody History of the CPSU
lesson. It was their faith in the tsar that was
riddled by bullets on that day.’

‘We, workers and inhabitants of the city of St Opening lines of the petition
Petersburg, members of various sosloviaa
(estates of the realm) our wives, children, and
helpless old parents, have come to you,
Sovereign, to seek justice and protection.’

‘Suddenly the company of Cossacks galloped Father Georgiy Gapon

rapidly towards us with drawn swords...I saw
the swords lifted and falling...moans, curses
and shouts filled the air.’

‘Despite pleas by local police and cavalry Okhrana police report

charges, the crowd did not disperse but
continued to advance...as this had no effect a
number of volleys were fired into the crowd.’

[claimed that the petition contained] ‘rude Pravo (government account)

demands of a political nature.’

1905 Revolution

Quote Source

‘The monarchy had been saved; the economy Bernard Pares (present at the time)
was prosperous; and Russia had - shall we
say - half a constitution.’

‘...although the regime succeeded in restoring Orlando Figes

order, it could not hope to put the clock back.
1905 had changed society for good. Many of
the younger comrades of 1905 were the
elders of 1917. They were inspired by its
memory and instructed by its lessons.

‘Rioting and disturbances in the capitals and Nicholas II (1905)

in many localities of Our Empire fill Our heart
with great and heavy grief.’

‘[at this stage] the monarchy’s fate hung by a Robert Service

thread.’

‘...a mixture of cowardice, blindness and Sergei Witte (in reference to government
stupidity.’ policies in 1905)

‘A government that cannot rely on the loyalty Michael Lynch (reference to the mutiny on the
of its armed services, particularly in a time of Potemkin)
war, is in a very vulnerable position.’

Outcome of the 1905 Revolution (October Manifesto etc)

Quote Source

‘We have been given a constitution, but Leon Trotsky

absolutism remains...everything is given and
nothing is given.’

‘Although with a few broken ribs, tsarism Leon Trotsky

came out of the experience of 1905 alive and
strong enough.’

‘[the outcome was] ambiguous and in some Sheila Fitzpatrick

ways unsatisfactory to all concerned.’

‘Witte defends this [October Manifesto] very Nicholas II

energetically. He says that while it is not
without risk, it’s our only way out at present…’

‘The revolution disclosed that tsardom was History of the CPSU

the sworn enemy of the people, that tsardom
was like the proverbial hunchback whom only
the grave could cure.’

‘The Sovereign Emperor possesses the Fundamental Laws (1906)

initiative in all legislative matters. The
Fundamental Laws may be subject to revision
in the State Council and State Duma only on
His initiative. The Sovereign Emperor ratifies
the laws. No law can come into force without
his approval.’

‘Thank God for the tsar, who has saved us Peter Struve (1905 after joining the a Kadets)
from the people.’

‘The year of revolution had shown the Kochan and Abraham

astonishing resilience of the regime. It could
yield ground on every front, face the bitter
opposition of almost all the articulate strata of
society, endure a crippling general strike, see
outbursts of mutiny in the army and navy,
lose a disastrous war in the Far East, be
discredited internationally - and still survive.
And not only survive; it could also go over to
the offensive.’

The Dumas

Quote Source

‘Curse the Duma. It’s all Witte’s fault.’ Nicholas II

‘I created the Duma, not to be directed by it,

but to be advised.’

‘...a period of uneasy and ambiguous Alan Wood

experimentation with quasi-constitutional
politics.’

‘[rejecting] the very principles of constitutional Richard Pipes (on why the SR and SD
monarchy and parliamentary government.’ boycotted the First Duma)

‘[more] responsible and statesmanlike Pyotr Stolypin (on the Third Duma after
people.’ change in voting laws)

...an impotent appendage of tsardom.’ History of the CSPU (on the dumas)

‘The government did all it could to limit the David Christian

power of the Duma.’

‘...the duma of the people’s wrath.’ Socialist Revolutionaries on the Second

Duma

‘Although the fourth duma was less openly Michael Lynch

obstructive than the earlier one had been, it
still voiced criticism of the tsar’s government.’

Pyotr Stolypin

Quote Source

‘As the revolution is so strong...I must carry Pyotr Stolypin

through effective measures of reform, and at
the same time I must face revolution, resist it,
and stop it.’

‘Marxist revolutionaries’ main hope was that Richard Malone

Stolypin’s land reforms would indeed create a
bitter division between the poor and rich
peasants.’

‘...surpression first and then, and only then, Pyotr Stolypin

reform.’

‘[Stolypin achieved] a sense of national Richard Pipes

purpose and hope.’

‘The triumph of the Stolypin reaction was History of the CSPU

short-lived. A government which would offer
the people nothing but the knout and the
gallows could not endure.’

‘...the reforms made relatively little headway Orlando Figes

in moving Russia towards a constitutional
parliamentary order.’

‘...by 1912, if not before, it had already

become clear that no package of politcal
reforms could ever resolve the profound
social crisis that had caused the first crack in
the system during 1905.’

World War I

Quote Source

‘The fundamental cause of the Russian Christopher Hill

Revolution, then, was the incompatibility of
the tsarist state with the demands of modern
civilisation. War accelerated the development
of revolutionary crisis, but their deep-lying
causes could not be wished away in times of
peace.’

‘While the collapse of tsarism was no Richard Pipes

inevitable, it was made more likely by
deepening cultural and political flaws that
prevented the tsarist regime from adjusting to
the economic and cultural growth of the
country, flaws that proved fatal under the
pressure generated by World War I.’

‘The autocracy’s situation was precarious on Sheila Fitzpatrick

the eve of the First World War. The society
was deeply divided, and the political and
bureaucratic structure was fragile and
overstrained. The regime was so vulnerable
to any kind of jolt or setback that it is hard to
imagine that it could have survived long, even
without the War.’

‘Despite all the efforts at political reform, Orlando Figes

urban Russia on the eve of the First World
War found itself on the brink of a new and
potentially more violent revolution than the
‘dress rehearsal’ of 1905.’

‘War is the mid-wife of every old society Friedrich Engels

pregnant with a new one.’

‘The accelerating arms race is transforming Nicholas II

the armed peace into a crushing burden that
weighs on all nations and, if prolonged, will
lead to the very cataclysm it seeks to avert.’

‘Once started, the wagons and carriages AJP Taylor

must roll remorselessly and inevitably forward
to their predestined goal.’

‘The war of 1914 was a war for the redivision History of the CPSU
of the world and of spheres of influence. All
the imperialist states had long been preparing
for it. The imperialists of all countries were
responsible for the war.’

‘I have no rifles, no shells, no boots’ Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich

‘Sire, we make bold once more to tell you Council of Ministers

that, to the best of our understanding, your
adoption of such a decision threatens Russia,
yourself, and the dynasty with serious
consequences.’

‘Everyone knew that Nicholas understood General Brusilov

next to nothing about military matters and
although the word “Tsar” still had magical
power over the troops, he utterly lacked the
charisma to bring that magic to life. Faced
with a group of soldiers, he was nervous and
did not know what to say.’

‘Our army is more like an ill-trained

militia...such men could not be called
soldiers.’

‘The people must interpret your move as one Mikhail Rodzianko

inspired by the Germans around you, who are
identified in the minds of the people with our
enemies and with treason to the Russian
cause.’

‘The country has everything it needs, but

cannot make use of it.’

‘Russia will be flung into hopeless anarchy, Pyotr Durnovo

the issue of which will be hard to foresee…’

‘We summon you to a social revolution. We Vladimir Lenin

appeal to you not to die for others but to
destroy others, to destroy your enemies on
the home front.’

‘...the influence of Bolshevik ideas is General Ruzski

spreading very rapidly.’

Rasputin and the Tsarina

Quote Source

‘It was not the bullets of revolutionary Edvard Radzinsky (2000)

terrorists, nor the state of Germans at the
front, but the existence of a single person that
was threatening to destroy one of the greatest
empires in the world.’

‘I kiss your hand and lay my head upon your Tsarina Alexandra to Rasputin (1912)
blessed shoulders. I feel so joyful then. Then
all I want is to sleep, sleep forever on your
shoulders in your embrace.’

‘We are faced with the strangest of human Bernard Pares

triangles...Rasputin, the empress and the
emperor; set in ascending order or authority
and a descending order of influence.’

‘The Russian ministers were selected by an

ignorant, blind and hysterical woman on the
test of their subservience to and ignorant,
fanatical and debauched adventurer.’

‘The fairly honourable and efficient group who Michael Florinsky

formed the top of the bureaucratic pyramid
degenerated into a rapidly changing
succession of the appointees of Rasputin.’

‘This counted for little after 1914, when, Michael Lynch (on the Tsarina having
despite her undoubted commitment to the converted to the Orthodox Church when she
Russian cause, her enemies portrayed her as married Nicholas)
a German agent.’

‘Russia had four Prime Ministers, five Orlando Figes (on Russia under the Tsarina
Ministers of the Interior, three Foreign between 1915-1917)
Ministers, three War Ministers, three Ministers
of Transport and four Ministers of Agriculture.’

‘My poor Nicky’s cross is heavy, all the more Tsarina Alexandra
so as he has nobody on whom he can
thoroughly rely.’

February Revolution

Quote Source

‘Who led the February Revolution? We Leon Trotsky

can...answer definitely enough: conscious
and tempered workers educated for the most
part by the party of Lenin.’

‘The collapse of the Romanov autocracy in WH Chamberlin

March 1917 was one of the most leaderless
spontaneous, anonymous revolutions of all
time.’

‘When the February Revolution came, it was Steve Smith

not a result of military defeat, or even war
weariness, but as a result of the collapse of
public support in the government.’

The revolution of 1905 had shown that the History of the CPSU
Soviets were organs of armed uprising and at
the same time the embryo of a new,
revolutionary power. The idea of Soviets lived
in the minds of the working-class masses,
and they put it into effect as soon as tsardom
was overthrown.’

‘No-one made the Russian Revolution, unless Bernard Pares

it was the autocracy itself...It was the direct
result of the utter bankruptcy of the
autocracy.’

‘Time and time again, the obstinate refusal of Orlando Figes

the tsarist regime to concede reforms turned
what should have been a political problem,
into a revolutionary crisis...The tsarist
regime’s downfall was not inevitable, but its
own stupidity made it so.’

‘This is a hooligan movement, young people Tsarina Alexandra

run and shout that there is no bread, simply to
create excitement, along with workers who
prevents others from working. If the weather
were very cold they would probably all stay at
home. But all this will pass and become calm
if only the Duma will behave itself.’

‘I order you to stop tomorrow the disorders in Tsar Nicholas to General Khabalov
the capital, which are unacceptable at the
difficult time of war with Germany and Austria.
‘

‘To arms! To arms! They are killing innocent Fedor Linde (a sergeant in the barracks)
people, our brothers and sisters!’

‘...popular risings, having begun in Petrograd, Mikhail Rodzianko to Nicholas II

are taking on uncontrollable and threatening
dimensions...urgently summon a person in
whom the whole country can have faith and
entrust him with the formation of a
government that all the people can trust.’

‘If it is necessary, for Russia’s good, that I Nicholas II

step aside, I am prepared to do so.’

‘I cannot be separated from him [Alexei]’

‘If the anguish felt by Nicholas at this last Robert K Massie

climactic moment of his reign is impossible to
know, the logic of his reasoning is fairly
clear...If it was the advice of his generals that
the highest act of patriotism he could perform
would be to abdicate, then it became
impossible for Nicholas to refuse.’

‘...he [Nicholas] probably found it easier to Orlando Figes

abdicate than to turn himself into a
constitutional king.’
Provisional Government and Dual Authority

Quote Source

‘The Soviet had power without authority...the Alexander Kerensky

Provisional Government authority without
power.’

‘The Old Regime has left everything in chaos’

‘The Provisional Committee of the members Proclamation of the Provisional Government

of the State Duma, with the aid and sympathy
of the troops and population of the capital,
has at present scored such a degree of
success over the dark forces of the old
regime that it can now proceed to a more
durable organisation of executive power.’

‘...only in such cases as they do not conflict Soviet Order No. 1

with the order and resolutions of the Soviet.’

‘We were appointed by the revolution itself.’ PN Miliukov (Kadet leader and Minister of
Foreign Affairs for the Provisional
Government)

‘The Provisional Government does not AI Guchkov (Octobrist and Minister of War)
possess any real power; and it directives are
carried out only to the extent that it is
permitted by the Soviet of Workers’ and
Soldiers’ Deputies.’

‘The fundamental weakness undermining the Richard Malone

Provisional Government’s power was its
dubious political beginnings...They were not
chosen representatives elected by mass vote
and therefore did not have widespread
support.’

‘...the Provisional Government arguably Perfect, Ryan and Sweeney

missed an opportunity - had it quickly sought
elections it might have been able to confer
legitimacy on the elected parliament.’

April Theses

Quote Source
‘Our tactics: absolute distrust, no support for Vladimir Lenin
the Provisional Government; the utter falsity
of all its promises should be made clear.’’

‘Peace, Land, Bread’

‘All Power to the Soviets’

‘...the ravings of a madman!’ Alexander Bogdanov (Menshevik)

‘...planting the banner of civil war in the midst

of revolutionary democracy.’

‘To the bewilderment of those Bolsheviks who Michael Lynch

had been in Petrograd since February and
expected to be praised fall for their efforts in
working with the other revolutionary groups,
Lenin condemned all that had happened
since the fall of the tsar.’

‘...Lenin perceived the soviets, with the most Richard Malone

important being the Petrograd Soviet, as a
strong powerbase from which the Bolshevik
Party could assume sole political power.’

June Offensive

Quote Source

‘...although I am a pacifist, I welcome the Maxim Gorky (socialist leader)

coming offensive in the hope that it may at
least bring some organisation to the country.’

‘It was a paradoxical situation: in order to Michael Lynch

survive the Provisional Government had to
keep Russia in the war, but in doing so it
destroyed its own chances of survival.’

‘For the sake of the nation’s life it was Alexander Kerensky

necessary to restore the army’s will to die.
“Forward to the battle for freedom. I summon
you not to a feast but death.” These were the
words I used before the troops in the frontline
positions.’

‘What had started as an opportunity to evoke Perfect, Ryan and Sweeney

patriotism in Russia degenerated into a
chaotic defeat.’
July Days

Quote Source

‘The only way to save the country now if to Prince Georgi Lvov
close down the Soviet and shoot the people. I
cannot do that. But Kerensky can.

‘...the flight of the shepard [Lenin] could not Richard Pipes

but deliver a heavy blow to the sheep. After
all, the masses, mobilised by Lenin, bore the
whole burden of responsibility for the July
Days...and the real culprit abandons his army,
his comrades and seeks personal safety in
flight.’

‘[Bolsheviks were] caught off balance. They Sheila Fitzpatrick

had talked insurrection, in a general way, but
not planned it.’

‘The Bolshevik Party was opposed to armed History of the CPSU

action at the time, for it considered that the
revolutionary crisis had not yet matured, that
they army and the provinces were not yet
prepared to support an uprising…’

Kornilov Revolt

Quote Source

‘It’s time to hang the German supporters and General Lavr Kornilov
spies, with Lenin at their head, and to
disperse the Soviet.’

‘...the Provisional Government, under

pressure from the Bolshevik majority in the
Soviets, acts in full accord with the plans of
the German General Staff and...convulses the
country from within.’

‘[Lvov] heightened Kornilov’s suspicions Rex A Wade

about Kerensky’s reliability while feeding
Kerensky’s anxiety that Kornilov’s idea of
restoration of order was a much more
sweeping concept than his own, including
even his own destruction.’

‘[Kerensky engineered the threat] to discredit Richard Pipes

the general as the ringleader of an imaginary
but widely anticipated counterrevolution, the
suppression of which would elevate the Prime
Minister to a position of unrivaled popularity
and power, enabling him to meet the growing
threat from the Bolsheviks.’

Bolshevik Majorities in the Soviets

Quote Source

‘All Power to the Soviets’ Vladimir Lenin

‘...the Bolshevik Party exerted an influence Michael Lynch

out of proportion to its numbers.’

‘...[the Bolsheviks] became the political Rex Wade

alternative for the disappointed and
disenchanted, for those looking for new
leadership.’

‘Lenin’s program manifestly reflected and Alan Wood

articulated the increasingly radical temper of
the party rank-and-file and the militant
workers and troops.’

Alexander Kerensky

Quote Source

‘Kerensky’s government had fallen, as the George Buchanan

Empire had fallen, without a struggle
[because] both the emperor and he had been
wilfully blind to the dangers that threatened
them, and both allowed the situation to get
beyond their control before taking measures
for their own protection. It was only when his
hour had already struck...that the emperor
consented to grant a constitution. It was the
same with Kerensky. He waited and
procrastinated. When at last he made up his
mind to act, he found that the Bolsheviks had
secured the support of the garrison and that it
was he, not they, who was to be suppressed.
If I had to write the epitaphs of the Empire
and Provisional Government, I would do so in
two words: lost opportunities.’

October Revolution (1917)

Quote Source

‘Yes there is! There is such a party - The Vladimir Lenin (at the First All-Russian
Bolsheviks!’ Congress of the Soviets)

‘History will not forgive us if we do not take Vladimir Lenin

power now.’

‘If we seize power today, we seize it not in Vladimir Lenin

opposition to the Soviets but on their behalf.’

‘Rather than an immediate seizure of power, Tom Ryan

Trotsky favoured waiting until the Second All-
Russian Congress of the Soviets in late
October.’

These historians argue that the 10th October Arguments set by Rex Wade and Alexander
was a declaration of intent to overthrow the Rabinowitch
government at the most suitable opportunity

Argues that the 10th October was a definite Argument set forth by Richard Pipes
resolution to seize power to coincide with the
Soviet Congress.

‘Kerensky is on the offensive...We need Trotsky as quoted by a member of the

everyone at Smolny!’ Milrevkom

‘This is defence, comrades. This is defence.’

‘The Provisional Government has been Vladimir Lenin in a statement released to the
deposed. Government authority has passed press on October 25th.
into the hands of the organ of the Petrograd
Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies, the
Military Revolutionary Committee, which
stands at the head of the Petrograd
proletariat and garrison.’

‘...Lenin paced around the Smolny like a lion From a member of the Milrevkom
in a cage. He needed the Winter Palace at
any cost: it remained the last gate on the road
to workers’ power. [He] scolded...he
screamed...he was ready to shoot us.’
‘A rising of the masses requires no Trotsky speaking to Martov at the Second All-
justification. What has happened is an Russian Congress of the Soviets
insurrection, and not a conspiracy. The
masses followed our banner and our
insurrection was victorious. And now we are
told: Renounce your victory, make
concessions, compromise. With whom I
ask?...No compromise is possible.’

‘Then we will go!’ Martov’s response to the above quote

‘We shall now proceed to build, on the space Vladimir Lenin

cleared of historical rubbish, the airy, towering
edifice of socialist society.’

‘In his guidance of the uprising, Lenin’s GD Obichkin

genius as a leader of the masses, a wise and
fearless strategist, who clearly saw what
direction the revolution would take, was
strikingly revealed.’

‘October was a classic coup d’etat, the Richard Pipes

capture of governmental authority by a small
band...with a show of mass participation, but
with hardly any mass involvement.’

‘The October Revolution emerges as very Edward Acton

much more than a conspiratorial coup d’etat.
By then the central political issue was that of
soviet power.’

CHINA AOS 1 (ESSAY)

These are HISTORIAN VIEWS ONLY. You need to look through your textbook for PRIMARY
SOURCES to include in your essays.
1911 Revolution

Quote Source

‘The head of the Double Tenth movement Tom Ryan

was a somewhat reluctant revolutionary, as
he was hesitant about assuming such a
prestigious position.’

‘...the flames of dissent skillfully fanned by Jonathan Spence

the radical leaders and their impatient
followers.’

‘...their [Qing] incapacity to adequately cope Immanuel Hsu

with the Western impact.’

‘...[combination of] political

mismanagement, domestic rebellion and
foreign humiliation.’

Sun Yixian

Quote Source

‘The final collapse of the Qing Dynasty was Edwin Moise

to a considerable extent inspired by a
revolutionary from Guangdong named Sun
Yat-sen.’

‘...the decisions to replace the dynasty, and C.P. Fitzgerald

the monarchy, with a republic was, at that
time, a most radical step...That the
Chinese, of all people should choose a
republic rather than a new dynasty seemed
to be wildly idealistic, unpractical and
reckless.’

‘When speaking to fellow Christians, he Lyon Sharman

emphasised the liberating influence of his
Christian schooling and of his association
with foreign missionaries. When he was
making an address at Hongkong University,
the inciting force of the revolution was the
sharp contrast between efficient British
government of the colony and the Chinese
Empire’s malgovernment. When speaking
to Chinese audiences, the urge to
revolution was economic and territorial
encroachment of foreign powers. Doubtless
all these causes and others too must be
combined to account for the turning of Sun
Yixian into a revolutionist.’

‘Sun was careful not to let himself be led Jonathan Fenby

along the Bolshevik ideological path…[he]
was the figurehead round which the regime
gravitated.’

Yuan Shikai

Quote Source

‘He knew how to make the old system work, John King Fairbank
but it turned out that...he had no vision of a
new system’.

‘For all his faults, Yuan Shikai held China Tom Ryan
together - a considerable achievement
given its size and ethnic diversity’

‘While Yuan Shikai did not have the answer Michael Lynch
to China’s problems, he had provided some
degree of cohesion. With his passing,
republican China slid rapidly towards the
fragmentation and misery of the warlord
period.’

May 4th Movement

Quote Source

‘...the May Fourth period marked a unique Rana Mitter

combination of...a sense of real and
impending crisis; a combination of a
plurality of competing ideas aimed at
“saving the nation”, and an audience ready
to receive, welcome, contest and adapt
these ideas.’

‘...encapsulated the frustrations and Jonathan Fenby

ambitions of young intellectuals who
despaired the state of the country.’
‘[The May Fourth Movement] marks the true Maurice Meisner
beginning of the Chinese Revolution...A
massive wave of popular anti-imperialism
engulfed the cities, and the country...was
seething with political as well as intellectual
ferment.’

New Culture Movement

Quote Source

‘...intellectually and socially one of the most Rana Mitter

promising and exciting times in Chinese
history.’

‘...a magazine that jabbed the rapier of Ross Terrill (talking about the New Youth
modern Western ideas through the ribs of magazine)
China’s rigid traditions.’

‘...a reassertion of the prestige of the Jonathan Spence

scholarly elite which had been such a
central part of Confucian-oriented education
under the Qing.’

May 30th Incident

Quote Source

‘The May 30th Incident and its aftermath Rebecca Karl

helped usher in a new hope for social
mobilisation and revolutionary upsurge.’

Jiang Jieshi

Quote Source

‘...peace and order were relative, just as the Lucien Bianco speaking on the Nationalist
unification achieved in this decade was Decade
more apparent than real.’

‘Some Chinese revered him as a flawless Lloyd Eastman

national leader; others reviled him as a
feudalistic militarist. Some foreigners
lauded him as a Christian and defender of
democracy; others denounced him as an
outmoded Confucian and ruthless dictator.’

‘...In preparing himself for the role of an Leon Trotsky (on the Shanghai Massacre)
executioner he wanted to have the cover of
world communism -and got it…’

First United Front

Quote Source

‘The Sun-Joffe Declaration also made it Tom Ryan

clear that China was not yet ready for
communism.’

‘...a marriage of convenience.’ Jonathan Fenby

‘The alliance with the Guomindang provided Maurice Meisner

the Communist revolutionaries wider
access to Chinese society and the powerful
forces of revolution latent within it.’

Northern Expedition/White Terror/Shanghai Massacre

Quote Source

‘This could be portrayed either as fifth Jonathan Fenby (on Communist agitators)
column aid for the Nationalists or as a bid to
set up a Soviet, or both. It was a major
threat to Jiang since the strikers would
greatly outnumber his troops.’

‘...a bloodbath that virtually destroyed both Maurice Meisner

the CCP and the workers’ movement in
China’s largest city.’

‘...an orgy of Nationalist control.’

‘...remained a house divided against Helmut G. Callis (on the left-GMD)

itself...Its revolutionary ardour was broken,
its unity shattered, and its leaders had
become rivals for power.’

‘In all between 5,000 and 10,000 people Jonathan Fenby (on the Shanghai Massacre)
may have died. It began a violent power
struggle between the left [Communists] and
the right [Nationalists] that would take
millions of lives in 22 years of national
dislocation.’

Jiangxi Soviet

Quote Source

‘...a social laboratory...’ Delia Davin (on Ruijin)

‘...good at theory and bad at most other Ross Terrill (on the Politburo)
things.’

‘The Jiangxi Soviet Republic afforded the Shiping Zheng

Communists the first opportunity to test
their ability to govern...Mao Zedong
deliberately used the Jiangxi Soviet
Republic to counterbalance his opponents
who were in control of the Party
organisation. However it did not last long,
and Mao’s dominance of it was even
shorter.’

‘Yet, Mao, as leader of the Jiangxi Soviet, Michael Lynch

was recruiting peasants into the ranks of
the party at a rate unmatched in any other
CCP-held areas.’
‘In insisting on the correctness of his
interpretations and in fighting for his
position within the party, Mao showed a
terrifying ruthlessness which remained a
hallmark of his whole career.’

‘...the welfare of the locals was simply not Chang and Halliday
on the agenda.’

The Nationalist Government/New Life Movement

Quote Source

‘[it aimed to] create a citizenry that was self- Rana Mitter
aware, politically conscious, and committed
to the nation.’

‘...a direct attempt to compete with the Soon Meiling (wife of Jiang Jieshi)
Chinese platform of economic and social
reform, substituting a retreat to Confucius
for an advance to Marx.’
‘...peace and order were relative, just as the Lucien Bianco
unification achieved in this decade was
more apparent than real.’

‘...should be judged...by what took place Jack Gray

where its power was sufficient.’

‘...stunning accomplishments from a William Kirby

position of unenviable weakness.’

‘...there is no doubt that by 1937 in every Jack Gray

respect China under the Nanjing
government was solving her problems, at
least on an experimental scale.’

‘...nevertheless presented an ugly face to

the world.’

The Long March

Quote Source

‘The Long March has always seemed like a John K. Fairbank

miracle, more documented than Moses
leading his chosen people through the Red
Sea. How did so many troops and party
organisers go so far on foot so fast? The
answer of course is that only the leaders
and a very small portion of the troops did go
all the way.’

‘It is apparent that the real reason for the C.P. Fitzgerald
Long March, apart from the pressure of
blockade, was to establish the Communist
base in a position where it could participate
in resistance to, and profit from, the
impending Japanese invasion.’

‘But the heroism and great human drama of Maurice Meisner

the epic should not be allowed to obscure
the fact that it was born out of political and
military failure and ended in near disaster.’

‘Indeed the cult of Mao Zedong...was born

out of the Long March, for Mao was the
prophet who had led the survivors through
the wilderness.’
‘Every nation has its founding myth. For Sun Shuyun
Communist China it is the Long March, for
us a story on par with Moses leading the
exodus out of Egypt. Any Chinese can tell
it.’

‘Mao was not involved in the planning [of Jonathan Spence

the Long March]...it was a nightmare of
death and pain.’

‘[The Zunyi Conference] gave a major boost

to Mao’s prestige and it is to this time that
one can date his move toward a
commanding position within party
leadership.’

‘Mao’s completion of the Long March, and

the factional battles he had fought there,
had brought him a leadership position in the
Party, but it wa by no means
unchallenged...If Mao was to become the
accepted leader of his Party, he not only
had to win on the battlefield and have
successful policies for rural and urban
revolution, he also had to be able to hold
his own as a theorist.’

The Xi’an Incident

Quote Source

‘...from the idea of a two front struggle Jerome Ch’en

against both Japan and Jiang to that of
forcing Jiang to join the United Front.’

‘...Communists gave lip service to the Lily Xiao Hong Lee and Sue Wiles
United Front…’

The Yan’an Soviet

Quote Source

‘...was run like a prison…’ Chang and Halliday

‘...a shining beacon of fervour and Han Suyin

patriotism…’
‘That long, serpentine journey of the ever David Ernest Apter
more purified Long Marchers never lost its
miraculous quality. The retreat into the
caves [of Yenan] created a brotherhood.
The dissemination and spread of both unit
organisation and texts rendered the
enemies at the gates more vulnerable than
their military power would suggest. These
are the ingredients that came together in
Yenan, Mao's republic, and suggest to us a
form of revolutionary Platonism.’

‘The methods whereby Mao’s thought John K Fairbank

reform movement was carried out at Yan’an
in 1942-44 would become very familiar in
CCP history.’

‘The Yan’an era was also the time when Maurice Meisner
Mao and the Maoists laid down rigid
dogmas and orthodoxies in political and
cultural life, conducted witch hunts...and
relentlessly suppressed political and
intellectual dissent in general.’

‘The Communists rightly attribute their

victory [in the Civil War] to the principles
and practices of the Yan’an era.’

‘Viewed as an integrated progema, the Mark Selden

Yenan Way represents a distinctive
approach to economic development social
transformation and people’s war.’

‘Mao in Yan’an could hail the war with Jonathan Spence

‘enthusiasm’, partly because his base area
was well insulated from the most desperate
areas of fighting.’

‘As Chen Boda was thus helping Mao

construct an edifice of ideological
dominance, Mao was also struggling with
the task of keeping Yanan a viable
economic and political base.’

The Sino-Japanese War

Quote Source
‘China was no longer one country but two; C.P. Fitzgerald
Communist China had risen during the war
and [GMD] China had withered in that
wintry climate.’

‘The ending of the war against Japan came Michael Lynch

too soon for Jiang Jieshi...The prize Jiang
most cherished - the defeat of Mao and
Communism - still eluded him.’

‘The ability of communist revolutionaries to Mark Selden

respond creatively and effectively to war-
aggravated problems of rural society lies at
the heart of their popular success during the
[anti-Japanese] resistance.’

‘[The rape of Nanjing] by the Japanese on Jonathan Spence

December 7th 1937 brought a literal and
symbolic end to any myths of Guomindang
power in their own capital city.’

The Second United Front

Quote Source

‘...[journalists] were unable to distinguish Immanuel Hsu

between democratic means and Communist
ends and failed to see that the United Front
policy was a deferral, not an abandonment
of the seizure of power.’

‘If it politically viable to be thought of as a Lyman Van Slyke (on the collapse of the
national hero, it is even more valuable to be Second United Front)
a national martyr. No single event in the
entire Sino Japanese War did more to
enhance the Communists’ prestige than the
destruction of the New Fourth Army
headquarters while it was loyally following
order.’

Rectification Movement

Quote Source

‘Cadre emerged...strengthened.’ Peter Zarrow

‘...unity resulted because those who held John Fairbank
out against Mao were vilified, penalised,
jailed or even executed.’

‘...a Marxist-Leninist educational Ho Kan-Chih

campaign...to rid of the non proletarian
ideas which had once existed to quite a
serious extent in the Party and were still
hindering the implementation of the Party’s
correct line and policy.’

‘There was no doubting how far he was Michael Lynch

prepared to go to enforce his authority.
Members now held him in awe or terror.
Mao Zedong had become the Red emperor
whose words and wishes were to determine
the fate of China for the next thirty years.
What all this suggests is that the sweetness
and light which, according to the
Communist legend, had prevailed at Yan’an
was only half of the story. Behind that amity
and comradeship that undoubtedly did exist
was a darker, grimmer reality.’

‘Newcomers to the base were found to be Jonathan Fenby

70 per cent unreliable. Forty thousand Party
members were expelled amid a wave of
suicides induced by the witch hunt [of
rectification].’

The Chinese Civil War

Quote Source

‘The stone that one builder had rejected Immanuel Hsu (on the peasants)
became the cornerstone of the other’s
house.’

‘...the ruling elite had lost its confidence and Jack Gray
the will to rule.’

‘[The Nationalist Army] were continually Jack Belden

beaten because it had no soul.’

‘[Jiang had a] supercilious, despotic

attitude...blind to the mighty social
convulsions that were shaking China.’

‘Every major area of the Nationalist military Lucien Bianco

weakness was an area of Red Army
strength.’

‘...to deny themselves [the Nationalists] the Suzanne Pepper (on the idea that the USA
ability to consider on any terms other than could not realistically have supported the
their own the nature of the Communist-led Nationalists)
revolution.’

‘Both parties lied, cheated, and broke T. White and A. Jacoby

agreements; but the Communists had the
people with them, and with the people they
made their own new justice.’

‘[The Civil War] was won in 1947 by the C.P. Fitzgerald

negative result of the [GMD] failure to
establish communication with the north or
expand control in Manchuria.’

CCP Leadership

Quote Source

‘Mao was the accepted leader in his group G. Paloczi-Horvath

of experienced soldier-politicians because
by 1936 he had proved himself a master of
political and military strategy. They worked
under him almost like a normal cabinet
under a premier. Zhu De, Lin Biao and
other generals were organising, training and
commanding the army...Zhou Enlai dealt
directly with foreign policy and was the
number-one diplomat of the Red state.’

‘Zhou Enlai is a nobody before Mao’, Ross Terrill

Tanaka [Japanese Prime Minister] told
some Japanese politician friends on his
return to Tokyo. ‘He behaves in front of Mao
like a clumsy secretary attending an
outstanding congressman.’ It was an
interesting comment, even if one feels that
what Tanaka said of Zhou in Mao’s
presence was truer of himself in Mao’s
presence.’
Mao Zedong

Quote Source

‘..most Chinese would admit that Mao Edgar Snow

Zedong accurately analysed the internal
and international forces involved and
correctly depicted the general shape of
events to come…’

‘[Mao’s] application of Marxism-Leninism to John K Fairbank

China resulted in China’s having 2,000
years of feudalism and only 40 years of
capitalism. By European Marxist standards,
China was peculiarly out of shape.’

‘Without the guidance of Marxism-Leninism Hu Qiaomu

and the teachings of Mao Zedong it would
have been impossible to lead the Chinese
working class and the Chinese people to
victory.’

‘Mao did not become a revolutionary Michael Lynch

because he was a Communist, he became
a Communist because he was a
revolutionary…[He] was convinced that the
economic and social backwardness of
China meant that its revolution had to be a
peasant movement…’

CHINA AOS 2 (SOURCE ANALYSIS)

The New Order

Quote Source
‘We shall soon put aside some of the things Mao Zedong
we know well and be compelled to do things
we don’t know well. This means difficulties.’

‘The Chinese revolution is great, but the

road after the revolution will be longer, the
work greater and more arduous.’

‘...window dressing; the non-Communist Jonathan Fenby

politicians were known as “flower vases” -
there for decoration’

‘The new regime was authoritarian and Maurice Meisner

often repressive, but the cities were
governed honestly and efficiently for the
first time in modern Chinese history.’

‘His aim was to scare and brutalise the Jung Chang and Jon Halliday
entire population.’

‘Here was a dedicated government that John King Fairbank

really cleaned things up - not only the
drains and streets but also the beggars,
prostitutes, and petty criminals, all of whom
were rounded up for reconditioning.’

‘Most Chinese did not experience the Joseph W. Esherick

success of the revolution and the coming to
power of the CCP as some form of personal
liberation...but the PRC ushered in a better
world in part because the CCP brought
order and discipline to their environment.’

‘The first decade of Maoism was one of the Frank Dikotter

worst tyrannies in the history of the
twentieth century, sending to an early grave
at least 5 million civilians and bringing
misery to countless more.’

The Korean War

Quote Source

‘The Chinese people absolutely will not Zhou Enlai

tolerate foreign aggression, nor will
they...tolerate seeing their neighbours
invaded by imperialists.’

‘Resist America, Aid Korea.’ Chinese slogan

‘In this superheated atmosphere, the Philip Short
campaign to suppress counter-
revolutionaries burned white-hot.’

‘100 percent wrong’ Mao Zedong

Fanshen

Quote Source

‘The peasants are clear-sighted. Who is bad and who is Mao Zedong
not, who is the worst and who is not quite so vicious, who
deserves punishment and who deserves to be let off lightly
- the peasants keep clear accounts.’

‘...peasants who killed with their bare hands the landlords Philip Short
who oppressed them were wedded to the new revolutionary
order in a way that passive spectators could never be.’

‘In a pact sealed in blood between the party and the poor.’ Frank Dikotter

Sanfan, Wufan and Thought Reform

Quote Source

‘We definitely have no benevolent policies Mao Zedong

towards the reactionaries or the counter-
revolutionary activities of the reactionary
classes.’

‘We need a good clean up...which will

thoroughly uncover all cases of corruption
whether major, medium or minor, and aim
the main blows at the most corrupt, while
following the policy of educating and
remoulding the medium and minor
embezzlers so that they will not relapse.’

‘...[a] carefully cultivated Auschwitz of the Frank Dikotter

mind.’

‘Many capitalists simply turned red when Ross Terrill

the heat went on, silently, like lobsters put
in hot water.’

She argues that for some Chinese, Thought Patricia Buckley

Reform was a genuine personal conversion
and an understanding of the self in a new
way.

First Five-Year Plan

Quote Source

‘The Soviet road is the road all humanity will Liu Shaoqi
eventually take. To bypass this road is
impossible.’

‘...no collectivisation without

mechanisation.’

‘We must guide the movement forward Mao Zedong

boldly and must not fear dragons ahead
and tigers behind.’

‘Did they prescribe the wrong medicine, or Craig Dietrich

was the dose too small? Should they go
backward or forward?’

‘Mao’s backing of Gao during the Five-Year Tom Ryan

Plan would indirectly lead to the first major
political purge of the CCP in the era of the
People’s Republic.’

The First Five Year Plan produced results Marc Blecher

that were impressive enough to sustain the
Chinese leaders’ dreams… Of course,
agriculture could not grow at anything like
this pace. Though agricultural production
and rural economic conditions were not in
deep crisis, their level of performance was a
thin reed upon which to rest grandiose
plans for rapid industrialisation.

Mao exploited the atmosphere, in which Michael Lynch

anything short of total acceptance of the
plan was deemed counter-revolutionary

The Hundred Flowers Campaign

Quote Source

‘Let a hundred flowers bloom, let a hundred Mao Zedong

schools of thought contend.’
‘...distinguishing between fragrant flowers
and poisonous weeds.’

‘Any word or deed at variance with

socialism is completely wrong.’

‘The overwhelming majority of intellectuals Zhou Enlai

have become government workers in the
cause of socialism and are already part of
the working class.’

‘The main point was not to secure the Jack Gray

suppression of those who were hostile, but
to secure a renewed and strengthened
consensus. In this way, to return to his
[Mao’s] metaphor, China would be
inoculated with a benign form of the
Hungarian distemper, and so saved from
the real disease.’

‘In reality the case was much more Harrison Salisbury

complex...His ideas were not popular within
the Party. Non-Party people reacted with
extreme caution. They realised that there
was a split in the Party and did not want to
be crushed between the two sides.’

‘The treachery of Mao Zedong in repeatedly Nien Cheng (historian)

inviting frank and constructive criticism and
then harshly punishing those who gave it
completely cowed the Chinese intellectuals
so that China’s cultural life came to a virtual
standstill.’

‘...cooked up a devious plan...Mao was Jung Chang and Jon Halliday

setting a trap...He was inviting people to
speak out so that he could use what they
said as an excuse to victimise them.’

‘It implies that the Communist Party knew Alan Lawrence

what it was doing; that it was in control all
along.’

‘The ‘Hundred Flowers’ was the most Philip Short

ambitious attempt ever undertaken in any
communist country to combine a totalitarian
system with democratic checks and
balances...It became a trap not for the few
but for the many - for the hundreds of
thousands of loyal citizens who had taken
the Party at its word.’’
‘Mao of course was shocked. He had never Li Zhisui (Mao’s Doctor)
intended that any of the criticisms be
directed against him. He had never meant
the party as an institution to come under
attack...Mao had grossly miscalculated.’

The Great Leap Forward

Quote Source

‘I have witnessed the tremendous energy of Mao Zedong

the masses. On this foundation, it is
possible to accomplish any task
whatsoever.’

‘...seek truth from facts.’

‘The people’s commune is great!’

‘Even if there’s a collapse, that’ll be alright.

The worst that will happen is that the whole
world will get a big laugh out of it.’

‘...on an adrenaline high pumped up by the Philip Short

limitless vista of a bright communist future
in which nothing would be able to withstand
the concerted efforts of 600 million people.’

‘...achieving greater, faster, better, and Great Leap Forward slogan

more economical results.’

‘The state had become the ultimate John King Fairbank

landlord.’

‘The aims was to make slave driving more Jung Chang and Jon Halliday
efficient.’

‘The country looked like it had been picked Harrison Sailsbury

clean by iron-eating ants.’

‘We should be like Marx, entitled to talk Kang Sheng

nonsense. What is science? Science is
simply acting daringly. There is nothing
mysterious about it...just act recklessly and
it will be alright.’

‘[Mao had] an almost metaphysical Jung Chang

disregard for reality, which might have been
interesting in a poet, but in a political leader
with absolute power, it was another thing.’

‘With each repetition, the lies became more Jasper Becker

and more fantastic, a ghastly parody of
Chinese Whispers.’

‘Everyone was hurrying to jump on the Li Zhisui (Mao’s Doctor)

utopian bandwagon...everyone was caught
in the grip of this utopian hysteria...The
excitement was contagious.’

‘Admiration goes to the Chinese working Han Suyin

people, who gave all of themselves, in an
unbelievable maelstrom of activity, to break
the chains of stagnation, misery and
ignorance. Without the Leap, today’s China
would not be.’

‘...in the outside world there was a general Wilfred Burchett

impression that it [the GLF] was one of
Mao’s failures...According to our own in-the-
spot observations at the time and follow-up
investigations ever since, the Great Leap
Forward was an epoch-making success, the
full dimensions of which are only dimly
being realised in the outside world.’

Curbing the Great Leap Forward

Quote Source

‘I am absolutely no good at construction, Mao Zedong

and I don’t understand industrial planning.’

‘The achievements are tremendous, the

problems are numerous, the experience is
rich, and the future is bright.’

‘...but putting politics in command is no Peng Dehuai

substitute for economic principles, much
less for economic measures.’

‘Do you hear the people outside? They are

not crying “Long live Chairman Mao,” but
“We’re hungry. We want food.” What did we
fight the war for?’

‘Mao had turned his band of brothers into a Harrison Sailsbury

claque (tame group of followers), clapping
hands and nodding heads like mechanical
dolls.’

‘After Lushan the whole Party shut up. We Wang Bingnan (Communist Official)
were afraid to speak out. It stifled
democracy. People didn’t tell Mao their
honest opinions. They were afraid. This led
straight to the terrible times of the Cultural
Revolution.’

‘...an all-time first-class man made John Fairbank

famine...The Great Leap Forward had
played itself out as a Mao-made
catastrophe.’

The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution

Quote Source

‘Had Mao died in 1956, his achievements Chen Yun

would have been immortal. Had he died in
1966, he would have still been a great man.
But he died in 1976. Alas, what can one
say?’

‘...a movement to better Chinese society Mobo Gao

and humanity in general.’

‘The period of revolutionary storm and Liu Shaoqi

stress is past; let’s get down to practical
work.’

‘I am shocked to see my fellow-villagers are

leading such a harsh life...I feel responsible
for causing so much suffering to you, and I
must apologise.’

‘Never forget class struggle. From now on Mao Zedong

we must talk about this every year, every
month, every day.’

‘Capitalist roaders are power-holders who

follow the capitalist road...They do not take
the socialist road, but they now hold the
power.’

‘The Great Proletariat Cultural Revolution is

a revolution that touched the souls of the
people.’
‘Learn from the PLA’ Mass campaigns during the Cultural Revolution

‘Learn from Lei Feng’

‘...a hardship to be endured rather than an Immanuel Hsu on the Socialist Education
experience to be cherished’ Movement

Joan Robinson writes that the Cultural Joan Robinson

Revolution was, in part, Mao’s attempt to
infuse socialism into China’s
superstructure, thereby strengthening and
purifying the base

‘...a weapon of mass instruction…’ Alexander Cook on the Little Red Book

‘I’d rather steel myself in the storm of hard “Attributed” to Lei Feng
and arduous struggle than spend my days
peacefully and tranquilly.’

‘My name is Liberation Army and I live in

China.’

‘The whole Party must follow Comrade Mao Extract from the May 16 Circular
Zedong’s instructions, hold high the great
banner of proletarian Cultural Revolution,
thoroughly expose the reactionary
bourgeois stand of those so-called
academic authorities…’

‘The Cultural Revolution reflected Mao’s Ross Terrill

evolution from a Marxist to the ‘Monkey
King’ of one of his favourite novels...The
novel’ hero is a monkey with a red behind
called Sun who performs fantastic feats…’

‘The Cultural Revolution had nothing Simon Leys

revolutionary about it except the name, and
nothing cultural about it except the first
tactical excuse. It was a power struggle
fought at the top between a handful of men
and behind the smokescreen of [an
invented] mass movement.’

‘This movement defies simple classification, Jonathan Spence

for embedded within it were many impulses
at once feeding and impeding each other.’

‘The revolutionary torrents of the masses Lin Biao

are washing away all the sludge and filth
left over from the old society.’
‘In 1968, a raging tide of youth, a raging tide Ma Bo on the Up to the Mountains, Down to the
of hot blood, a raging tide of innocence Countryside campaign
surged toward the countryside, the
mountains, and the vast wilderness.’

The Cult of Mao

Quote Source

‘[Mao was] seeking immortality by Jonathan Fenby

identifying himself with symbols that would
live on after him.’

‘Father is close, Mother is close, but neither Popular Chinese saying

is as close as Chairman Mao.’

‘Red Guards tramping down the street, the Jung Chang and Jon Halliday
bonfires of destruction, and the screams of
victims being set upon - these were the
sights and sounds of the summer nights off
1966.’

‘He was obviously a paragon of athleticism, John King Fairbank on the Good Swim
capable of superhuman feats’.

Whereas the Maoist movement initially Maurice Meisner

‘stimulated iconoclasts’ it later ‘produced
icons.’

Peng Dehuai

Quote Source

‘The Jiaqing Emperor dismissed Hai Rui Mao Zedong

from office. We dismissed Peng Dehuai
from office. Peng Dehuai is indeed Hai Rui.’

Liu Shaoqi

Quote Source
Lin Biao

Quote Source

‘Some people are creating trouble...They Lin Biao

are ambitious conspirators.’

‘[accusations within the CCP] caused Philip Short

pandemonium.’

‘Mao’s face collapsed when Zhou Enlai told Li Zhisui (Mao’s Doctor)
him that Lin Biao had fled.’

Jiang Qing

Quote Source

‘Comrade Jiang is very sharp politically on Lin Biao

issues of art and literature...From now on,
all army documents on the arts will cross
her desk.’

‘The more brutal, the more revolutionary.’ Jiang Qing

‘To act is to fight.’

‘To stop production is revolution itself.’

Women

Quote Source
Red Guards

Quote Source

‘Marxism consists of thousands of truths, Mao Zedong

but they all boil down to one sentence, “It is
right to rebel.”

‘Chairman Mao is the red sun in our Chen Boda

hearts...Whoever dares to oppose him shall
be obliterated.’

‘Young people who had grown up in New Patricia Buckley Ebrey

China responded enthusiastically to calls to
help oust revolutionaries.’

‘[The Cultural Revolution] also had Rana Mitter

widespread support; it was a genuinely
mass political movement which left many
youths feeling as if they had the best days
of their lives.’

‘[on Red Guard rallies] a delirious exaltation Jonathan Fenby

in which the individual melded into the
mass.’

‘[the movement grew] responding to social

and human elements that had little to do
with ideology.’

‘They were repressed, angry, and aware of Jonathan Spence

their powerlessness.’

‘...a complicated mix of pre-existing Jonathan Unger

grievances and animosities [that] got played
out an amplified.’

‘...[secondary school students before the

CR] had faced increasing difficulties in
getting admitted to a university, and
increasingly difficult career prospects if they
were not admitted.’

Mao Zedong

Quote Source

‘[Mao] is not a true Marxist-Leninist. Rather Lin Liguo (son of Lin Biao)
he is the greatest feudal tyrant in Chinese
history...wrapping himself in the guise of a
Marxist-Leninist and behaving like the First
Emperor.’

‘Mao became convinced that it was not his Immanuel Isu

policies that were wrong; rather, it was
those in high party positions who were
subtly foot-dragging, distorting, and diluting
their implementation.’