(4 of 4)
The qualities that have made Mao one of the century's most powerful leaders are apparent throughout the papers. One of his strengths is his conviction that the Chinese government must be at one with the masses. He hates the bureaucracy for having interfered with this sacred relationship. His "Twenty Manifestations of Bureaucracy," one of the papers acquired by the U.S., is among the fiercest diatribes of its kind in modern history. In it, Mao inveighs against those who are "divorced from the masses . . . rotten sensualists who glut themselves for days on end . . . engage in speculation . . . call a doctor when they are not sick." In sum, bureaucrats are "eight-sided and as slippery as eels."
Other sources of Mao's strength are his immense pride in China and his equally immense hopes for its future. In 1958 Mao observed: "Our country is so populous, it has such vast territory and abundant resources, a history of more than 4,000 years, and culture. But what a boast! We are not even as far advanced as Belgium. Our steel production is so low. So few people are literate. But now our nation is all ardor: there is a fervent tide. Our nation is like an atom. After the atom's nuclear fission, the thermal energy released will be so formidable that we will be able to accomplish all that we now cannot do." That was Mao's call to accelerate the Great Leap Forward, which soon turned into a great lurch backward. China is only now beginning to recover from the chaos created by the Great Leap and the Cultural Revolution. In large part its future depends on whether Mao's successors will be able to achieve his lifelong dream of harnessing the fervent tides of China to build a modern society.