"On the People's Democratic Dictatorship" () is a speech which was written by

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...

. It was presented to the public on 30 June 1949, twenty-eight years after the founding of the

Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...

(CCP). This speech is part of the fourth volume collection of his works, which was published by the Foreign Languages Press in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

. It is noteworthy for its tone, that it preceded the freeze in

Sino-Soviet relations Sino-Soviet relations (; , ''sovetsko-kitayskiye otnosheniya''), or China–Soviet Union relations, refers to the diplomatic relationship between China (both the Chinese Republic of 1912–1949 and its successor, the People's Republic of China) ...

following the

Sino-Soviet split The Sino-Soviet split was the gradual worsening of relations between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) during the Cold War. This was primarily caused by divergences that arose from their ...

and adoption of

Maoism Maoism, officially Mao Zedong Thought, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed while trying to realize a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic o ...

in China, and that it codifies and embraces

people's democratic dictatorship People's democratic dictatorship () is a phrase incorporated into the constitution of the People's Republic of China and the constitution of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The premise of the "People's democratic dictatorship" is that the part ...

Summary

The speech opens with an allegory that compares the CCP to an aging man. At 28, Mao states the childhood of the communist ''party'' in China is over and that one day the party itself will cease to exist, as an old man dies. He argues that political parties only exist as instruments of class struggle, meaning that when classes disappear, so will the CCP. Mao states that prior to China engaging in communism, it had tried to learn from Western countries, as

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. However, the

Western imperialism Imperialism is the maintaining and extending of power over foreign nations, particularly through expansionism, employing both hard power (military and economic power) and soft power ( diplomatic power and cultural imperialism). Imperialism foc ...

made that impossible because they were formerly aggressive states. That requires

cognitive dissonance In the field of psychology, cognitive dissonance is described as a mental phenomenon in which people unknowingly hold fundamentally conflicting cognitions. Being confronted by situations that challenge this dissonance may ultimately result in some ...

to even entertain the notion that democratic reform was desirable. The on-going aggression at the time that China was trying to modernize in spite of dapped the resources China needed to enact that democratic reform and to dissuade Chinese people from enacting similar, aggressive and imperialistic forms of government. Mao then talks passionately about the early years of the Chinese communist revolution against Chiang Kai-shek, the leader of the

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT) is a major political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). It was the one party state, sole ruling party of the country Republic of China (1912-1949), during its rule from 1927 to 1949 in Mainland China until Retreat ...

(the government of the Republic of China that ultimately relocated to Taiwan), and of destroyed and crumbling imperialist empires. He claims victory for Chinese communism and welcomes former intellectual adversaries to "learn anew" and to warm to

Marxism–Leninism Marxism–Leninism () is a communist ideology that became the largest faction of the History of communism, communist movement in the world in the years following the October Revolution. It was the predominant ideology of most communist gov ...

, a brand of communism that focuses on centralism and expanding communism first to undeveloped countries. Mao credits the CCP for raising the standards of the working class in China and for its strong alliance with the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. That is notable because it precedes the ideological

and establishment of

as a distinct ideology. The speech then addresses some criticisms of the CCP: leftist extremism, aggression of the CCP, foreign relations, international communism, rejection of American and British aid, cries of dictatorship. Chinese has two words that translate to dictator; the one that Mao uses has neutral connotations ("专政", which could be translated into: "monopoly on government", or "supreme government", rather than "person who rules with an iron first and absolute power", the word used for dictator in English). Mao addresses the fact that there is still some

class division Class, Classes, or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used d ...

in China and that only "the people" deserve benevolence. He states that peaceful "reactionaries" will be given some land and forced to work until they become part of "the people". He further states that claims of totalitarianism from the United States are hypocritical since he thinks democracy is a lie perpetuated by the ruling bourgeoisie. Stressing the importance of the alliance between the working class and the peasantry, Mao calls for a common effort with urban bourgeoisie (a term used in this context to mean current communists but former wealth holders) to organize rural production until regulated capitalism until final socialism can extend to agriculture. He warns that the bourgeoisie should not be allowed into powerful positions of the CCP since it will likely corrupt the party for personal gain. Mao ends the speech with a call for continued education, economic growth, and overcoming difficulties in the face of international opposition and for an embrace of Soviet assistance in modernization.

References

On the People's Democratic Dictatorship
(translated) on marxists.org
Mao Zedong, 'On the People’s Democratic Dictatorship: In Commemoration of the Twenty-eighth Anniversary of the Communist Party of China'
o
digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org
{{Mao Zedong 1949 speeches Works by Mao Zedong