Chapter 109 It was all military industry without regard to people’s livelihood 1953-1956

Journalist: “What did the Soviet Union aid?”

Mao: “Stalin’s successor sold me 91 large-scale projects, together with the 50 promised by Stalin, so that on June 15, 1953, I could launch the blueprint for China’s industrialization called the General Line. But few people knew that these projects were centered on military industry, and that my industrialization was, in essence, military industrialization.”

Journalist: “Oh, you want Soviet aid, all the arsenal?”

Mao: “Yes, the army is my lifeblood. I want to achieve this goal in 10-15 years. I repeatedly said to ‘fast,’ ‘ahead of schedule,’ ‘over-achievement,’ said speed is ‘soul.’ Why is it so urgent? I want China to become a military power while I am still alive, so that I can be heard all over the world. Military industry is my favorite, I want to strengthen my position of power, not just rely on more people, more people eating more mouths, a bunch of meat, armed with weapons, only then become my power. Arsenal I must, people’s livelihood is optional, there is an arsenal to produce their own weapons, do not worry about buying. Stalin old cunning, afraid I become Tito second, in fact, I am more iron than Tito, but Stalin is alive, the Soviet Union is strong, and the atomic bomb, I have to use him. When he dies, I will surpass him and become the boss.

I am almost 60 years old. Once I said to the soldiers of the guard regiment, ‘Everyone work hard, 15 years to implement industrialization, Confucius died at 73.’ My sense of urgency was strong. I hope to surpass Britain and become a military power after three 5-year plans. My industrialization, is military industrialization.”

Journalist: “You want to be a communist king during your lifetime?”

Mao: “Yes. As early as 1918, I expressed my complete disinterest in posthumous fame and fortune. I am a thorough materialist, and when I visited Lenin’s tomb in Moscow in 1950, I said: Lenin’s body is well preserved, only for others, from a personal point of view, people do not know anything once they die, there is no need to preserve the body.

I do not want to be immortalized, nor do I care about the legacy, I die without leaving a will. And, unlike most Chinese parents, I don’t care if I lose my children and grandchildren. The one who died in the Korean War was my only son of sound mind, and Kishiyung had no children, nor did I ever express to Kishiyung and his family that I wanted them to have children.”

Journalist: “You are realistic, minding your immediate personal enjoyment and claiming the throne?”

Mao: “That was my goal. 1953 saw the start of the first five-year plan with the military industry as its core. Zhou Enlai presented the draft plan to Stalin, and when he saw the proportion of military industry in the budget, he said, ‘This proportion is so unbalanced that even in wartime, our military expenditures, were not so high.’ The government published the figures: military spending and investment in heavy industry, centered on military industry, accounted for 61 percent of total spending. The real figure is much larger.

And all the money the country spends on education, culture, and health care adds up to a pitiful 8.2%. Westerners think we have free medical care, but in fact, only a portion of the urban population enjoys free medical care. The peasants, who make up the majority of China’s population, and the people at the bottom of the cities, never have free medical care and generally lack medical care.”

Journalist: “Oh, even Stalin criticized you for taking up more than 2/3 of the state’s finances in peacetime military expenditures and for being too careless about people’s livelihood.”

Mao: “Yes, the enterprises that China imported from the Soviet Union, called ‘Soviet aid projects,’ gave the impression that the Soviet Union gave them away. In fact, every screw was paid for, and payment was mostly in the form of exporting food and agricultural products in return for machinery. Throughout the 1950s, rice, soybeans and peanuts, vegetable oil, pig bristles, intestinal coats, raw silk, pork, cashmere, tea, eggs, etc. were exported.

China had only 7% of the world’s arable land, but 22% of the world’s population. The people have less meat and dairy products to eat. Today, food has to be exported in large quantities, with rice at the top of the list. There is also a need to compress sales in the domestic market to ensure exports.”

Journalist: “You are desperately trying to dig out of the people’s mouths to trade for military machinery?”

Mao: “Yes, under the policy of ‘squeezing’ ‘pressing,’ peasants are and the the ones who suffer the most. The peasants had no protection. In order to limit the urban population, the peasants were not allowed to move into the city or to find jobs there. They are pinned to their villages for life, and their children and grandchildren will not have a chance to get ahead. Traditionally, Chinese peasants enjoyed freedom of movement, could become rich and wealthy on the basis of their skills, and could study to become prominent. Under my rule, the restrictions and oppression of the peasants were unprecedented in history.”

Journalist: “The peasants were the worst? Exploited by you much, and trapped in the village?”

Mao: “Yes, I exported agricultural products on the one hand, and did not invest in agriculture on the other. Deng Zihui, who was in charge of agriculture, said, ‘We develop agricultural production by relying on the peasants’ two shoulders and one buttocks.’ That means relying on the manual labor and manure of the peasants.

The peasants who are engaged in production under pitiful conditions not only have to repay me for the huge amount of military industrial equipment imported from the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, but also for the generous gifts that I have asked for in order to expand my sphere of influence. China not only raised up poor countries like North Korea and North Vietnam, but also lavished money on the much richer European countries. When Romania held a youth festival, I donated 3,000 tons of vegetable oil at once. In 1956, I gave Hungary 30 million Rubles of food, plus a loan of 3.5 million pounds. In June 1953, the East Germans were in trouble. I immediately sent 50 million Rubles of foodstuffs to East Germany.”

Journalist: “You are generous with foreign aid, in order to be an international communist king?”

Mao: “Yes, my generosity is not something that the Chinese people are qualified to ask about. I enjoy the satisfaction. When I gave something away, I took on the role of a mentor and told East Germany to ‘suppress counter- revolution’ thoroughly, and suggested that they should learn from China and build the Great Wall to keep the ‘fascists’ out. A few years later, the Berlin Wall was really built.”

Journalist: “Oh, you want to be a teacher of the world revolution? That’s why you are trying to help foreign countries?”

Mao: “Yes, the world’s rich countries foreign aid, rarely more than five thousandths of the gross national product, the United States at the end of the 20th century foreign aid is less than one ten thousandth. But in my Mao Zedong era, China was so poor that in 1973 foreign aid actually reached 6.9% of fiscals pending.

On April 21, 1953, I wrote in a report that ‘about 10 percent of the country’s peasant households suffer from spring and summer shortages, lack of food rations, and even loss of food, and this is the situation every year.’”

Journalist: “Peasants hungry for food you know, but do not care so much?”

Mao: “Yes, I don’t care. In such a situation a large number of food exports, will inevitably lead to a large number of peasants starving to death. Liu Shaoqi did not want such a consequence. He wanted to slow down the pace of industrialization, to improve people’s livelihood first, to build a proper economic base. He stressed that heavy industry should not be developed first. Heavy industry is the military industry as the core of industry. He said the backlog of heavy industry is very strong, need a large amount of money to build, we have no other way to raise money, only by the people to save, now the people’s life is very hard, the peasants want to wear clothes, shoes, soap, towels. Children need to study. He thought these demands should be met first. And I have never said anything of this kind about caring for the people’s lives.”

Journalist: “Oh, Liu Shaoqi is more humane and humanitarian, you are not?”

Mao: “Yes, no, I don’t talk about anything humane, much less humane. That is the bourgeoisie, I want a revolution.”