“Make up your minds! We abhor fence straddlers. There is no middle of the road! Not in all China, not in all the universe,” he continued. “One must be either on the side of Imperialism or on the side of Communism!”
In a speech commemorating the 28th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party, Mao, addressing a mass meeting early in 1950, said:
“Internationally, China belongs to the anti-imperialist front. To Russia we proudly look for genuine, friendly aid, and to no other country. The second world war, with the Soviet Union as the principle fighting force, defeated the great Imperialist powers, Germany and Japan. It weakened England and France, and left only one Imperialist country in the world—the United States of America! Even she suffered great losses. Her economy was smashed and her domestic crisis is acute! There is great unrest in the country, and the people have no leader. They are fighting among themselves. And yet she thinks she can enslave the world! She is nothing but a weakling! By aiding Chiang Kai-shek, she is responsible for the slaughter of millions of Chinese!”
An outburst of applause and cries of “Ding How!” (Good! Good!) greeted his words.
Mao continued, waving his arms: “In China, some Imperialism still exists in our ‘New Democracy,’ but we will work steadfastly for a complete Communist Society. Our tools are the People’s Army, Police and Communist Court. Under the leadership of the working class, we will unite to form our own dictatorship over the lackeys of foreign Imperialism. We will drive them out like dogs, howling through the streets! Let us establish a People’s Dictatorship over the reactionaries, to be known throughout the world as the People’s Democratic Dictatorship. Let us raise China from an agricultural country by eliminating all classes, and realizing the state of universal fraternity!”
Another storm of applause from the duped audience followed these closing words, along with shrill cries of “Long live our People’s Dictatorship! Long live our Chairman Mao! Long live our Comrade Stalin!”
Chapter VI
Manchuria, the Prize
Manchuria is the home of the Manchus who conquered China and ruled it until 1911. It is the Prize, the bone of contention over which the bloodiest battles have been fought, and the one area in all Asia without which neither the Communists nor the Nationalists could hope to become a world power.
Studded with Japanese industrial plants, Manchuria is known as the Pittsburgh of China, due to the fact that here both coal and iron are mined close together. Here, also, is contained seventy per cent of the industrial potential of all China. A rugged, windy land, much like our American prairie states, it is one of the few places in Asia that has a food surplus and serves as the granary of that vast region. Farmers, using shaggy Mongol ponies, till broad fields of soybeans, millet, corn, wheat and opium poppies. With the great abundance of grain, the people are able to produce beef and mutton for export.