A Clear Distinction Must Be Made Between The U.S. Imperialist Elements And The American People



A CLEAR DISTINCTION MUST BE MADE
BETWEEN THE U.S. IMPERIALIST ELEMENTS
AND THE AMERICAN PEOPLE*
(November 25, 1965)
There is now one thing in the world that deserves our attention. Not only
are the broad masses of Japan rising against U.S. imperialism and domestic
reaction, but also the broad masses of youth of the United States itself are
rising against the U.S. government's policy of aggression in Vietnam. This
started in February this year, when the U.S. air force bombed North Vietnam,
continued for months, and recently a mass struggle on a fairly large scale has
developed in the United States, with some 100,000 young students taking to
the streets and holding demonstrations against aggression in Vietnam.
In countries like Japan and the United States, the fact that young students
take to the streets to hold demonstrations is an indication that a struggle by
broad social strata of people is brewing. Particularly the college students, whose
families are not particularly poor—even they are opposed to the reactionaries
of their own country. Their struggle will influence the broad masses of people
and other social strata, that is, the working class and the peasant class.
The process of the Chinese revolution was also like this, beginning with
the May 4th Movement, which was a students' movement. On May 4, 1919
a demonstration was organized and led by the students of Beijing University,
and they burned down the residence of a then minister of the government. A
revolution does not need very many people to start. The Chinese Communist
Party had only a few dozen people in 1921, and almost all were intellectuals.
That year the First National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party was
held in Shanghai, with the participation of 12 delegates. Before that I wasn't
a Communist, and my knowledge was perhaps less than yours is now. I had
no idea that there was such a thing as Marxism in the world until the October
* This is the principal part of Mao Zedong's talks with the heads of various Japanese
delegations and other Japanese friends participating in the Chinese-Japanese Youth Friendship
Get-Together.
Revolution, when I came to know about Marxism, about Lenin. In this respect
Japan was more advanced. A number of Marxist books had already been
translated in Japan before the October Revolution.
There are two movements in the world today: one is that in which you
and we are united against our common enemy, and the other the coalition of
the imperialist and their pals against us. Here "against us" means not only
against the Chinese people but also against the Japanese people as well. The
so-called "Three-Prong Plan" has been exposed by some Japanese professors.
The secret of the development of bacteriological weapons by the United States
at one of its bases in Japan was also exposed by Japanese professors. They
might not be Communists but they exposed the dark side of U.S. imperialism
as their conscience dictated.
When we oppose U.S. imperialism, our opposition is confined to the
imperialist elements only; a clear distinction must be made between the U.S.
imperialist elements and the American people. This viewpoint has been
confused in China for quite a long time, and was gradually made clear only
after decades. Before this, we always thought that the people in a country
which committed aggression against China were all bad, thus resulting in an
"anti-foreign" policy. It was not until after the May 4th Movement that we
came to have a clear conception of this matter. After the founding of the
Chinese Communist Party we read a few Marxist books and began to know
about the make-up of the world, about political and social structures. There-fore, we rejoice at and welcome the rise of Americans against their own
government's policy of aggression. But, unlike you, the Americans have not
sent several hundred people over to have a look at China. You managed to do
so after a struggle lasting three months, but no such thing has yet happened
in the United States. Young American students wish to come to China, but
they are prevented from doing so by the U.S. government. They have not yet
reached the point of fighting for three months in order to come and see China.
We will welcome young American students, but we won't welcome U.S.
journalists, or most of them, with the exception of a few individual ones. In
this respect Japan's relations with us are different. Japan and China have
reciprocally sent journalists and established trade offices. In speaking of how
evil your government is, I think it is a little better than the U.S. government,
and also a little better than my old friend Chiang Kai-shek. We have neither
economic nor personnel exchanges with Chiang Kai-shek; of course, he is not
a foreigner.
(From the verbatim record)