(The first person: Aidit enters)

Emperor: What is your name?

Aidit: My name is Aidit (D. N. Aidit). I am Indonesian, former leader of the Indonesian Communist Party.

Emperor: What accusations do you bring against Mao Zedong?

Aidit: Mao Zedong exported revolution and incited Indonesia to launch a coup, recklessly attempting to seize power. As a result, the military suppressed us. I, along with all the leaders of the Indonesian Communist Party and 500,000 communists, was killed.

Emperor: Aidit, please present your accusations in detail.

Aidit: Mao Zedong had great ambitions in Indonesia and encouraged me to vigorously expand the Communist Party. Beginning in 1957, I secretly went to China five times to seek guidance and receive assistance. By 1965, the Indonesian Communist Party had grown to a claimed membership of three million.

In 1965, President Sukarno’s health deteriorated. Mao Zedong encouraged us to launch a coup and seize power. I gained the support of three officers in the presidential guard and secretly assassinated army generals in preparation for taking power. Unfortunately, the conspiracy was exposed. General Suharto counterattacked and crushed us. All the Communist Party leaders were rounded up; only one Politburo member survived because he happened to be in China at the time and later remained there in retirement. Five hundred thousand members of the Indonesian Communist Party were massacred. The party was declared illegal. A few fled abroad; inside Indonesia, it virtually disappeared.

After the disastrous defeat and massacre of the Indonesian Communist Party, Mao Zedong remained aloof and instead criticized us, absolving himself by saying that we had made mistakes, that we had wavered and failed to fight to the end. With what were we supposed to fight? It was completely divorced from reality. Indonesians hated Mao Zedong, and diplomatic relations between Indonesia and China were severed for more than twenty years.

Emperor: Mao Zedong, what is your defense against Aidit’s accusations?

Mao: Aidit’s accusations are true. I harmed him, harmed the Indonesian Communist Party, and harmed the Indonesian people. I bear full responsibility.

Emperor: Mao Zedong admits his guilt. Aidit, do you have any further accusations?

Aidit: My daughter left the Soviet Union for China, then left China for France, where she gained freedom and French citizenship, and was later able to return to Indonesia. I am deeply comforted. Indonesia is doing well now. There is no Communist Party; people are free and live in peace and prosperity. But when I look at China, I still see the old Maoist Communist system—no freedom under authoritarian rule. I deeply regret this.

Emperor: Aidit accuses China of remaining under Mao Zedong’s influence, authoritarian and without freedom.

(The second person: Strong enters)

Emperor: What is your name?

Strong: My name is Strong (Anna Louise Strong). I am American.

Emperor: What accusations do you bring against Mao Zedong?

Strong: I publicized Mao Zedong’s claim that “American imperialism is a paper tiger” and served as his mouthpiece. Mao deceived me and detained me in Beijing like a hostage. I lost my freedom and ultimately died alone there.

Emperor: Strong, please recount everything from the beginning.

Strong: I was deceived by communism all my life; I took the wrong path. In the 1920s, I was misled by Soviet propaganda and went to the Soviet Union, promoting communism to the world on its behalf. I married a communist writer who later died during World War II. I lived in the Soviet Union for twenty years.

In the 1940s, I turned to China. In 1946, I met Mao Zedong in Yan’an. He said, “American imperialism is a paper tiger,” and I promoted that slogan worldwide, helping him expand influence in Africa and other poor regions. In 1949, I tried to return to China. Passing through Moscow, I was detained by the Soviets, falsely accused of being an American spy, held for six days, and then sent back to the United States. In fact, Stalin was preventing me from going to China, fearing I would promote Mao Zedong too much—even beyond Stalin himself.

In 1958, I finally had the opportunity to return to China. I continued promoting Mao Zedong and publicizing China’s achievements. Later, however, I discovered that the materials provided to me by the Communist Party were false. The propaganda about miraculous production feats during the Great Leap Forward was fabricated. The deaths from famine were concealed. I failed to report China’s real situation to the world. I became the Party’s loudspeaker, able only to publish official propaganda.

When the Cultural Revolution began in 1966, I and some Americans in Beijing were deceived and joined the Red Guards. In 1968, when I heard that Liu Shaoqi had been denounced as a “capitalist roader, traitor, hidden agent, and scab,” and expelled from the Party, I was bewildered and sat alone for hours in confusion.

In 1969, my grandnephew wanted to visit me in China. I applied continuously for five months, but approval was never granted. I was furious. I requested permission to go to Phnom Penh to see him; that too was denied. I lost my freedom, like a bird in a cage. I wanted to return to the United States, but there was no hope.

In 1970, my health deteriorated. I felt life had no meaning. I refused medication and hospitalization. They forcibly carried me to the hospital, and I went on a hunger strike. In the end, Zhou Enlai visited me, urging me to eat and take medicine, and immediately ordered that my grandnephew be allowed to come to Beijing. But it was too late. The next day, I went to meet God.

Emperor: Mao Zedong, are Strong’s accusations true? What is your defense?

Mao: Strong’s accusations are entirely true. She was a well-known veteran Marxist-Leninist who did extensive propaganda work for me. I was grateful to her. Once she entered my iron barrel, she lost her freedom and died alone in Beijing, unable to see even a single relative. I bear full responsibility.

Emperor: Mao Zedong admits deceiving Strong, depriving her of freedom, and letting her die alone in Beijing like a hostage.

(The third person: Pol Pot enters)

Emperor: What is your name?

Pol Pot: My name is Pol Pot, leader of Cambodia’s “Khmer Rouge.”

Emperor: What accusations do you bring against Mao Zedong?

Pol Pot: First, I confess my own crimes. I was the chief culprit of Cambodia. My Khmer Rouge killed two million people, making me notorious worldwide as a mass murderer. In the end, the Khmer Rouge collapsed. My own people captured me, put me on public trial, and sentenced me to life imprisonment. I died of a heart attack in 1998. I committed monstrous crimes against Cambodia and deserved death.

Emperor: You admit committing heinous crimes against Cambodia. What accusations do you bring against Mao Zedong?

Pol Pot: Mao Zedong was my teacher. My methods of killing were all learned from him. Mao provided me with aid—from weapons and ammunition to clothing and supplies—all shipped from China. It can be said that without Mao Zedong, there would have been no me.

As early as 1965, I secretly went to Beijing for three months of study. Mao instructed Chen Boda and Zhang Chunqiao to indoctrinate me in detail, teaching me about the gun barrel and class struggle. I returned and implemented it all. I followed Mao’s teachings and even surpassed them. Mao sent students to the countryside; I expelled all city residents to rural areas. Furniture and cars were discarded. Mao invented grain and cloth ration coupons; I abolished even ration coupons and money itself, distributing everything in kind. Even marriages were arranged by officials. Men and women were separated into labor brigades. I went further than Mao’s people’s communes.

In 1975, I went to Beijing again. Mao personally lectured me on line struggles within the Communist Party, saying the Chinese Communist Party had conducted ten such struggles and that class struggle and line struggle would continue for a hundred years. I followed his instructions completely and carried out nine major purges within the Khmer Rouge, executing senior leaders and many cadres, creating universal fear.

Emperor: Mao Zedong, Pol Pot accuses you of being the backstage mastermind behind Cambodia’s disaster. What is your defense?

Mao: Pol Pot’s accusation is entirely true. I was his mentor and his backer. The roots of Cambodia’s catastrophe lie with me.

Emperor: Mao Zedong admits he was the root of Cambodia’s disaster. Pol Pot, do you have any further accusations?

Pol Pot: After Mao’s death, his enormous influence passed to his successors. In 1977, his successor Hua Guofeng invited me to Beijing. I received an unprecedented welcome from one hundred thousand people lining the streets— the most glorious moment of my life, which made me lose all restraint. Yet just over a year later, the Vietnamese captured Phnom Penh, because I had killed not only Cambodians but also ethnic Vietnamese and overseas Chinese. Vietnam’s intervention won public support. I was forced back into the jungle and continued armed struggle for another twenty years.

In early 1979, Deng Xiaoping sent 200,000 troops to attack Vietnam, nominally calling it a “self-defense counterattack,” but in reality retaliating against Vietnam for attacking me. Deng Xiaoping sought to save me. In one month of war, tens of thousands died and both sides suffered heavy losses. This shows how deep the calamities Mao left behind were, and how profoundly he influenced his successors.

Emperor: Mao Zedong, Pol Pot accuses you of continuing to influence your successors and support him, which was unjust to Cambodia.

Mao: Pol Pot’s accusation is true.

Emperor: Mao Zedong acknowledges your accusation. Do you have anything further to say?

Pol Pot: Cambodia has now eliminated my evil influence. It has established a constitutional monarchy, separation of powers, and a system of freedom and democracy. But China continues to bear the enormous evil influence of Mao Zedong, still practicing communist authoritarianism, causing unease throughout the world.

Emperor: Pol Pot points out that Mao Zedong’s crimes still influence China today.

NEXT: The Great Trial Day Eight