Page 136 - Communism in Ambush

COMMUNISM IN AMBUSH
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p paper paste in bread to study the effects on digestion, while in another
study marsh plankton were mixed with rice water. The first experiment
caused atrocious constipation throughout the camp, which caused many
deaths. The second also caused much illness, and many who were already
weakened ended up dying. 89
The "Great Leap" was actually a kind of experiment in natural se-
lection. Mao forced the Chinese into the most difficult conditions in
order to eliminate the weak and those opposed to Communism. On the
one hand, he tried to brainwash the peasants by starving them so as to
make them dependent on him and the Communist organization. This
basis of this attempt was Darwinism. At the same time as he began the
Great Leap, Mao also initiated a "leap in education." The dialectical ma-
terialism and Darwinism played the main roles in this education cam-
paign. In a speech from this period, Mao revealed the principles
supporting his savagery when he said, "The foundation of Chinese
Socialism rests on Darwin and the theory of evolution." 90
Immediately after the Great Leap, on January 30, 1962, Mao ex-
plained the parallels between the Chinese Communist Party and
Darwin in a speech delivered before members of the Party:
In history doctrines of natural scientists such as Copernicus, Galileo and
Darwin were for a very long period not recognized by the majority of peo-
ple, but instead were thought to be incorrect. In their time they were in the
minority. When our Party was founded in 1921 we only had a few dozen
members; we were also in the minority, but these few people represented
the truth and represented China's destiny. 91
In these words, Mao compared his party's efforts to Darwin's enter-
prise and expressed his respect and admiration for him. At first, he
stated, few accepted his Communist Party's ideas, just as few people ac-
cepted the theories of Darwin. But that would not change the validity of
either man's ideas.
But just as in Darwin's case, Mao's ideas were all myths.
In the Great Leap, between 30 and 45 million people died because
of the famine. Many peasants who resisted collectivization died of tor-
ture. Tens of thousands, because they showed the slightest negative atti-
tude towards Communism, were labeled "class enemies," arrested and