What determines an individual 's deservingness to be labeled as a Communist? Is it his or her actions, status, education, mindset, or something entirely different? According to Liu Shaoqi, Chinese Communist Party theoretician and Mao Zedong 's successor as the head of state, it is not a singular aspect of an individual 's life that will make them a true Communist, but a combination of them all. In his 1939 speech, How To Be a Good Communist, Liu outlines the main actions, practices, and lifestyle choices that need to be exacted in order to create a good party member. In addition, Liu compares the ideologies and theories of Marxism-Leninism to those of past Confucian scholars and authority figures. Liu makes it known throughout his speech that
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He desperately wants to avoid repeating the past, so he states that the best way to move away from China’s unstable and embarrassing past is to completely dedicate themselves to participating in and supporting the Communist Party. In return for doing this, China will see itself become free of war, oppression, exploitation, capitalism, imperialists, ignorance, etc. and morph into a society …show more content…
There is much in his speech either contradicts his own beliefs and practices as a Communist, or leads to an event that make the points he belabored objects of ridicule. By the end of Liu’s speech, one would be able to mold themselves into a dedicated Communist party member by taking the Confucian route of cultivating him or herself in an effort to improve the Communist Party as a whole, but at the same time rejecting anything that resembles traditional Chinese culture, which includes Confucianism. This individual will ascend to the level of “good Communist” and live in a country free of all corruption. If one wants to become a good Communist, then he or she most definitely should reflect on their own judgment and reflect on why they want to indoctrinate themselves with a contradictory ideology that hides behind a farce built to look harmless and inviting. It all comes down to that fact that even though Communism is presented as the cure to all societal ills, it is actually the
He desperately wants to avoid repeating the past, so he states that the best way to move away from China’s unstable and embarrassing past is to completely dedicate themselves to participating in and supporting the Communist Party. In return for doing this, China will see itself become free of war, oppression, exploitation, capitalism, imperialists, ignorance, etc. and morph into a society …show more content…
There is much in his speech either contradicts his own beliefs and practices as a Communist, or leads to an event that make the points he belabored objects of ridicule. By the end of Liu’s speech, one would be able to mold themselves into a dedicated Communist party member by taking the Confucian route of cultivating him or herself in an effort to improve the Communist Party as a whole, but at the same time rejecting anything that resembles traditional Chinese culture, which includes Confucianism. This individual will ascend to the level of “good Communist” and live in a country free of all corruption. If one wants to become a good Communist, then he or she most definitely should reflect on their own judgment and reflect on why they want to indoctrinate themselves with a contradictory ideology that hides behind a farce built to look harmless and inviting. It all comes down to that fact that even though Communism is presented as the cure to all societal ills, it is actually the