MCLC: new edition of little red book (1)

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: Delia Davin <D.Davin at leeds.ac.uk>
Subject: new edition of little red book (1)
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Tania Branigan doesn't do China's former foreign minister, Chen Yi,
justice in this (possibly apocryphal) story which circulated widely in
many versions China from 1966.

First, Mao is supposed to have called Chen Yi a "good comrade" rather
than, as Branigan has it, a "good cadre." A small point, but when words
are used a scripture, accuracy becomes vital.

Secondly, it was indeed as Red Guards were screaming at Chen Yi at a mass
criticism meeting in the Foreign Languages Institute to tell them a
meaningful quotation from Chairman Mao that he waved the Little Red Book
and told them to 'turn to page 271,  'Chairman Mao says Chen Yi is a good
comrade'. Despite their supposed familiarity with the sacred text
thousands obeyed. He was also sending them up. The Little Red Book did not
contain that many pages.

In the end Zhou Enlai was asked to confirm that Mao had indeed called Chen
Yi a good comrade leaving the young revolutionaries somewhat deflated. It
is often said that Chen Yi in fact invented this quotation but strangely
it became true when Mao' who unexpectedly attended the funeral of the
disgraced foreign minister's funeral in 1972, told the grieving widow that
her husband had been a good and loyal comrade.

Delia