Terebess Asia Online (TAO)
Index
Home

Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung
(Mao zhuxi yulu, the 'Little Red Book', published in May 1964)
The text here is verbatim from the second edition, Peking, 1967
http://art-bin.com/art/omaotoc.html
http://www.marx2mao.org/Mao/QCM66.html

The Little Red Book: 5 Billion of Them

During China’s Great Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976, the famous “Little Red Book”, officially known as Quotations of Chairman Mao Zedong, was a must-have item for the Chinese. It is estimated that during those years altogether 5 billion copies of the collected Mao sayings were printed, which came in 500 different editions and 50 languages. Back then, the total world population was about 3 billion. So there was more than one and half a copy of the little red book for every inhabitant on earth.

Mao Tse-tung (Mao Zedong) Internet Library: http://www.marx2mao.org/Mao/Index.html

Study Chairman Mao's writings, follow his teachings and act according to his instructions.

Lin Piao

CONTENTS

1. The Communist Party
2. Classes and Class Struggle
3. Socialism and Communism
4. The Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People
5. War and Peace
6. Imperialism and All Reactionaries Are Paper Tigers
7. Dare to Struggle and Dare to Win
8. People's War
9. The People's Army
10. Leadership of Party Committees
11. The Mass Line
12. Political Work
13. Relations Between Officers and Men
14. Relations Between the Army and the People
15. Democracy in the Three Main Fields
16. Education and the Training of Troops
17. Serving the People
18. Patriotism and Internationalism
19. Revolutionary Heroism
20. Building Our Country Through Diligence and Frugality
21. Self-Reliance and Arduous Struggle
22. Methods of Thinking and Methods of Work
23. Investigation and Study
24. Correcting Mistaken Ideas
25. Unity
26. Discipline
27. Criticism and Self-Criticism
28. Communists
29. Cadres
30. Youth
31. Women
32. Culture and Art
33. Study

Unless otherwise stated, the page number given for the source of a quotation refers to the first English edition of the book or pamphlet cited as published by the Foreign Languages Press, Peking.

In cases where a word or phrase linked to the preceding text has been omitted in the opening sentence of the quotation, an asterisk is placed after the source. This is also done in a number of places where the English rendering has been reworded to make up for omission of context or to improve the translation.

Translator

FOREWORD TO THE SECOND EDITION

Comrade Mao Tse-tung is the greatest Marxist-Leninist of our era. He has inherited, defended and developed Marxism-Leninism with genius, creatively and comprehensively and has brought it to a higher and completely new stage.
Mao Tse-tung's thought is Marxism-Leninism of the era in which imperialism is heading for total collapse and socialism is advancing to world-wide victory. It is a powerful ideological weapon for opposing imperialism and for opposing revisionism and dogmatism. Mao Tse-tung's thought is the guiding principle for all the work of the Party, the army and the country.

Therefore, the most fundamental task in our Party's political and ideological work is at all times to hold high the great red banner of Mao Tse-tung's thought, to arm the minds of the people throughout the country with it and to persist in using it to command every field of activity. The broad masses of the workers, peasants and soldiers and the broad ranks of the revolutionary cadres and the intellectuals should rcally master Mao Tse-tung's thought; they should all study Chairman Mao's writings, follow his teachings, act according to his instructions and be his good fighters.

In studying the works of Chairman Mao, one should have specific problems in mind, study and apply his works in a creative way, combine study with application, first study what must be urgently applied so as to get quick results, and strive hard to apply what one is studying. In order really to master Mao Tse-tung's thought, it is essential to study many of Chairman Mao's basic concepts over and over again, and it is best to memorize important statements and study and apply them repeatedly. The newspapers should regularly carry quotations from Chairman Mao relevant to current issues for readers to study and apply.

The experience of the broad masses in their creative study and application of Chairman Mao's works in the last few years has proved that to study selected quotations from Chairman Mao with specific problems in mind is a good way to learn Mao Tse-tung's thought, a method conducive to quick results.

We have compiled Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung in order to help the broad masses learn Mao Tse-tung's thought more effectively. In organizing their study, units should select passages that are relevant to the situation, their tasks, the current thinking of their personnel, and the state of their work.

In our great motherland, a new era is emerging in which the workers, peasants and soldiers are grasping Marxism-Leninism, Mao Tse-tung's thought. Once Mao Tse-tung's thought is grasped by the broad masses, it becomes an inexhaustible source of strength and a spiritual atom bomb of infinite power. The large-scale publication of Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung is a vital measure for enabling the broad masses to grasp Mao Tse-tung's thought and for promoting the revolutionization of our people's thinking. It is our hope that all comrades will learn earnestly and diligently, bring about a new nation-wide high tide in the creative study and application of Chairman Mao's works and, under the great red banner of Mao Tse-tung's thought, strive to build our country into a great socialist state with modern agriculture, modern industry, modern science and culture and modern national defence!

Lin Piao

December 16, 1966