Echos of Chairman Mao

As historical figures go, Chairman Mao Zedong hasn't accrued much affection in the West, where he tends to fall into the same category of 20th century despots such as Stalin and Hitler. Of course, in China, it's a completely different story, and his face is enshrined on all money bills and his portrait famously hangs at the entrance of the Forbidden City (the imperial seat of the Ming and Qing dynasties which broke ground in 1402).

Recently, I was thumbing through Quotations from Chairman Mao, and while it's not a great philosophical work by any measure, it was certainly one of the most remarkable and influential books of the 20th century, if only in China where it was used as tool of mass indoctrination. Even today, at the entrance of the CCP headquarters at Zhongnanhai, directly adjacent to the Forbidden City, there is a massive banner that reads "long live the invincible Mao Zedong thought."

While the book contains a good measure of vainglorious sophistry, the man who Noam Chomsky has called the "greatest tyrant that ever lived" does have something interesting to say. Below, I have excerpted two quotations and will allow you to draw your own parallels.

U.S. imperialism invaded China' s territory of Taiwan and has occupied it for the past nine years. A short while ago it sent its armed forces to invade and occupy Lebanon. The United States has set up hundreds of military bases in many countries all over the world. China' s territory of Taiwan, Lebanon and all military bases of the United States on foreign soil are so many nooses round the neck of U. S. imperialism. The nooses have been fashioned by the Americans themselves and by nobody else, and it is they themselves who have put these nooses round their own necks, handing the ends of the ropes to the Chinese people, the peoples of the Arab countries and all the peoples of the world who love peace and oppose aggression. The longer the U.S. aggressors remain in those places, the tighter the nooses round their necks will become.

Speech at the Supreme State Conference
September, 1958

Imperialism will not last long because it always does evil things. It persists in grooming and supporting reactionaries in all countries who are against the people, it has forcibly seized many colonies and semi-colonies and many military bases, and it threatens the peace with atomic war. Thus, forced by imperialism to do so, more than 90 per cent of the people of the world are rising or will rise up in struggle against it . Yet im­perialism is still alive, still running amuck in Asia, Africa and Latin America. In the West imperialism is still oppressing the peo­ple at home. This situation must change. It is the task of the people of the whole world to put an end to the aggression and oppres­sion perpetrated by imperialism, and chiefly by U.S. imperialism.

Interview with a Hsinhua News Agency
September 29, 1958

Movies: The Godfather

Now for something completely off-topic. As movie reviews go, I realize that this is somewhat belated, as the original picture was released in 1972. Nonetheless, there is something both timeless and instructive in all great art forms, and it is worth considering here. Thusly, I have just watched the original Godfather for the first time, and thoroughly enjoyed it on many levels.

Above is an excerpt of the audio from Vito (Marlon Brando) and Michael Corleone's (Al Paccino) final conversation as Vito warns Michael of a potential hit on his life in the same breadth as they discuss the regrets of the past and hopes for the future. The scene elegantly overlays the both warmth and intimacy of the familial relationship, and the Machiavellian calculations of the crime family, which is an odd mixture that runs through the film, wherein personal relationships and ruthless business interest coexist in a tangled manifold that yields both riches and an unending cycle of violence and revenge.

Here, enfeebled with age, Vito exposes his very human weakness as he confusedly expresses his generalized anxieties by discussing external threats such as the Barzini meeting and needlessly repeating his order that Michael check the telephone records. Recognizing this, Michael calls his father's hand, and asks him what else is the matter, which promts Vito to express his regret that, contrary to his hopes for Michael's legitimate success and stature in society, circumstances have forced Michael, a soldier and war hero of WWII, into becoming the new Don, thus perpetuating this unhappy business across another generation.

Marlon Brando's character, Vito, is of course the star of the film and his performance is worth noting (as I am sure it has been many times before!). What struck me about Vito's character was his aloofness and inscrutability. The paucity and slow measured pace of his words and actions contrast with the great power and respect that he yields renders him mysterious and unknowable in the Taoist parlance. How is it that this soft-spoken and detatched figure has come to keep all of New York politicians "in his pocket," carry such influence and awe in his community, and place himself above the law, like the ruler of a small principality in New York City? None of these questions are answered in the first film, which together with the film's black-tie and mahogany aesthetic, forms the backdrop that makes Brando's performance so mesmerizing.