Red China: Turning the Screw

He was an obscure truck driver until he was killed in an accident last August, but today Lei Feng is Red China's newest folk hero. Otherwise celebrated as the Forever Rustproof Screw, young Communist Lei Feng soared to posthumous fame when party officials conveniently discovered a 200,000-word diary that established him as the Confucius of collectivism. By contrast with the vast majority of China's peasants, whose reluctance to be herded into agricultural communes in 1958 has been largely responsible for the nation's persistent food shortages, Lei Feng actually waxed lyrical over...

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