(Mao Zedong remains standing in the dock.)

The Great Emperor: Today Karl Marx, Adolf Hitler, and Joseph Stalin wish to speak. Karl Marx, you may begin.

(Marx steps forward.)

Marx: Mao Zedong liked to call himself “Marx plus Qin Shi Huang.” In truth, he possessed not even half of Marx. He distorted my “Marxism,” reducing it to the single word “rebellion.” Throughout his life he specialized in inciting violent revolt. Mao said, “Marxism has a thousand threads, but in the final analysis it comes down to one sentence: rebellion is justified.” Because he specialized in rebellion, he claimed to be Marx himself. That is a gross distortion.

In 1848, Engels and I wrote The Communist Manifesto, advocating violent revolution. I was 30; Engels was 28. We were young, passionate, and not yet intellectually mature. Mao seized upon a single phrase about rebellion and raised it as a banner. But China had experienced peasant uprisings since ancient times and hardly needed to pluck one sentence from my book as a flag. Lenin and Stalin also used me selectively, taking a phrase as a banner without truly following my theory. After decades, their experiments failed. That shows their rebellions were unjustified and were discarded by history.

Mao, as their student, carried it further in China, with even worse failure—proof that his rebellion too was unjustified. He passed it to his disciples, and in Cambodia it ended in even greater catastrophe.

In my homeland Germany, people say: “We have two Marxes—the young, violent Marx taken by the Russians, who exploded; and the older, liberal democratic Marx taken by Western Europe, who blossomed and bore fruit.” What Mao took from Russia was an even more violent Leninism, which exploded more disastrously. I died too early to systematically lay out my later views; Engels clarified them after my death, explicitly expressing a socialism grounded in freedom and democracy. He represented my considered position.

Mao also had a magic formula called “the Sinicization of Marxism.” In reality it meant “using Marx for my own purposes.” Under my banner he improvised freely and acted at will; the content was his own—so-called “Mao Zedong Thought.” Mao had little interest in my works. He preferred reading Water Margin. In Yan’an, instead of focusing on resisting Japan, he had people fetch outlaw-rebellion novels like Water Margin for him from Nationalist-controlled areas. In The Communist Manifesto, I opposed the lumpenproletariat, whom I saw as decadent and corrosive. Mao, however, favored and recruited such elements to carry out reactionary deeds.

My Capital was wrong. My theory of “surplus value exploitation” was mistaken. Labor and capital can benefit mutually and reasonably depend on one another. The theory of exploitation divided society, fomented class struggle, incited violent conflict, and brought a century of calamity to the world.

I opposed private property and called for its abolition. I was wrong. The proper aim should have been to enable the propertyless to rise and acquire property—not to eliminate those who possess it. In The Communist Manifesto, I also spoke of “the free development of each,” so that everyone might develop freely. Mao opposed freedom and opposed this aspect of my theory; he even wrote an essay titled “Oppose Liberalism.”

The Great Emperor: Mao Zedong, how do you respond to Marx’s accusations?

Mao: Marx’s accusations are entirely true.

The Great Emperor: Mao Zedong admits Marx’s accusations. Adolf Hitler now wishes to speak.

Hitler (rising): I launched the Second World War and brought disaster upon the world. I was utterly defeated; my crimes were immense, and I accepted punishment. The German people rejected me, Germany was reborn, gained the world’s respect, and stood up again. Mao Zedong was different from me. I directed my guns outward; I did not target my own people. Mao learned from Stalin to persecute and kill his own people, establishing a reign of terror. He let Japan invade while focusing on fighting fellow Chinese. People say of him, “inept at foreign war, adept at civil war.” I was genuine in fighting for the poor; Mao was false. I had deep sympathy for the poor because I myself had been impoverished, even begging in the streets. My name, Hitler, in German can mean “one who lives in a small house.” I lived frugally. Mao, meanwhile, toured scenic places, maintained twenty special villas across the country, and while tens of millions starved, he continued his travels.

My starting point, I claim, was good. I did not terrorize or kill my own people. Mao and Stalin’s system was also fascism—one leader, one will, claiming to act for the poor. I differed in two ways. First, their fascism was based on terror and killing; internally I did not rely on terror and still maintained elections. Second, they claimed to serve the people but manipulated the ignorant masses into violence. Mao practiced terroristic fascism. I built and developed my nation, though I committed grave crimes externally—launching war and murdering Jews. Those are my great sins.

In 2012 Germany published the novel Look Who’s Back, which sold 1.5 million copies there and was translated into over thirty languages, later adapted into a film in 2015. The novel imagines me returning as a civilian, still morally strict, idealistic, courteous, fond of animals, concerned for the weak, and driven by mission. It suggests repentance and survival after seventy years. Mao has never repented, nor have his successors.

The United States is a bastion of modern civilization. Germany challenged it in two world wars and was crushed. The Soviet Union confronted it in the Cold War and collapsed. Now Mao’s successor Xi Jinping refuses to abandon communism and confronts America—that is to confront civilization itself. History will show that Mao’s remaining followers will also be defeated.

The Great Emperor: Hitler speaks of repentance and issues a stern warning to Mao. Joseph Stalin will now speak.

Stalin (rising): Mao was my student, but more ruthless than I. When I killed, I shot and finished it. Mao invented elaborate methods of persecution—torment first, then death, prolonging suffering. I did not destroy religion; Mao destroyed both people and civilization. During the famine in which tens of millions died, he built dozens of private villas and accelerated his atomic bomb program.

In 1945, after the war, I urged Mao to negotiate peace with Chiang Kai-shek and form a coalition government. Mao insisted on fighting until he monopolized all of China. In early 1949, I urged negotiations again; he insisted on total victory. I feared he was too hardline and might provoke American intervention. The United States is formidable: in both world wars Germany drew it in and was defeated. Without Roosevelt supplying me with massive military aid in World War II, I would have lost to Hitler. If China had drawn America in further, I might have been dragged into conflict I could not win. Fortunately for Mao, Truman pursued mediation rather than strong intervention, giving Mao the opportunity to seize all of China and drive Chiang Kai-shek to Taiwan.

Mao’s ambition was boundless. Now his successor Xi Jinping inherits his red empire’s ambition for world dominance, confronting the United States while relying on economic gains built with American cooperation during Deng Xiaoping’s era. He speaks of “global governance” and “a community with a shared future for mankind,” but using my bankrupt communist model. The outcome will be even worse than the failures of Mao and myself.

The Great Emperor: Stalin criticizes Mao and warns his successor. Nikita Khrushchev will now speak.

Khrushchev (rising): Mao was a militarist who delighted in war. After two years of the Korean War, Stalin believed it should end. Mao demanded Soviet assistance to build ninety military-industrial plants and demanded atomic technology before agreeing to an armistice. In peacetime he did not want civilian industry—only military industry. When Stalin refused, Mao prolonged the war another year. After Stalin’s death in 1953, I agreed to his demands, and only then did Mao sign the armistice.

The Great Emperor: Mao Zedong, how do you answer the charge of militarism?

Mao: Khrushchev’s accusation is entirely true. The army was my lifeblood. War was my first priority throughout life.

Khrushchev: Mao was inhumane. He did not care how many died and concealed the true numbers. He announced 180,000 Chinese dead in Korea. Liu Shaoqi admitted 400,000. Soviet intelligence estimated one million. Mao never told the truth.

The Great Emperor: Mao, you are accused of indifference to human life and deception.

Mao: The accusation is true. I did not concern myself with casualty figures. I instructed that numbers released publicly be minimized.

Khrushchev: In 1957 I invited Mao to Moscow for a communist conference. He demanded atomic technology as a condition for attending. I agreed. At the conference he declared that even if one-third of the world died in global revolution, it would be worth it. In private he told me that even half the world’s population dying would be acceptable for global communist victory. He sought to be king of world communism.

The Great Emperor: Mao, how do you answer?

Mao: It is true. After Stalin’s death, I intended to launch global revolution and become leader of world communism.

Khrushchev: In 1959 I visited the United States, and we agreed on peaceful coexistence. I then went to Beijing hoping for cooperation. Mao insisted on his People’s Commune experiment. In 1961, when famine struck and tens of millions died, I offered one million tons of grain in aid. Mao refused. He did not open granaries to save lives, accelerated nuclear weapons development, and built twenty villas during the same period.

The Great Emperor: Mao, how do you respond?

Mao: All of Khrushchev’s accusations are true. I admit them.

The Great Emperor: Mao Zedong admits all accusations. Court is adjourned for today.

NEXT: The Great Trial Day Ten