---
title: Tại sao Mao Chủ tịch lại cười (Why Is Chairman Mao Laughing), Sacred Sword of the Patriots League leaflet
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sspl-mao-laughing-leaflet-1960s/
description: 'Black-and-white cartoon leaflet in Vietnamese: bombs fall on a landscape of explosions, a corpse and a kneeling woman with a child lie in the foreground…'
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

**Content note:** Cartoon showing a corpse and a woman and child amid bombing explosions. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was)

[![Tại sao Mao Chủ tịch lại cười (Why Is Chairman Mao Laughing), Sacred Sword of the Patriots League leaflet](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/sspl-mao-laughing-leaflet-1960s.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/sspl-mao-laughing-leaflet-1960s.jpg)

# Tại sao Mao Chủ tịch lại cười (Why Is Chairman Mao Laughing), Sacred Sword of the Patriots League leaflet

Black-and-white cartoon leaflet in Vietnamese: bombs fall on a landscape of explosions, a corpse and a kneeling woman with a child lie in the foreground, and a laughing portrait of Mao looms in the smoke. The caption asks why Chairman Mao laughs at the sufferings of 'our compatriots'. The tell: the scene is pinned on Mao, and the leaflet is stamped with the seal of an invented Vietnamese league whose US origin is not shown.

## Text on the object

Original (Vietnamese) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
TẠI SAO MAO CHỦ TỊCH LẠI CƯỜI TRƯỚC CẢNH THẢM KHỐC CỦA ĐỒNG BÀO TA ?

[circular seal at lower left, mostly illegible]
```

English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

```
WHY IS CHAIRMAN MAO LAUGHING AT THE TRAGIC SCENE OF OUR COMPATRIOTS?

[circular seal at lower left, mostly illegible]
```

Caption beneath the drawing only; the seal at lower left is too small to read at the size hosted (it carries a sword device). Translation is FRAME's own literal rendering, machine-assisted and not verified by a fluent reader.

[← Nêu cao ý chí bất khuất (Uphold the Unyielding Will), Sacred Sword of the Patriots League leaflet with Le Loi](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sspl-le-loi-leaflet-1960s/) [Laissez-Passer of the People's Republic of the Congo, Stanleyville (1964) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/stanleyville-laissez-passer-lumumba-1964/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Der Warner (broadsheet lampoon on the Jesuits after Breitenfeld and Rain)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/der-warner-anti-jesuit-broadsheet-1632/) (Holy Roman Empire · 1632 · Scapegoating, Fear appeal)
- [Ondersoeckt de Geesten, ofse van den Duyvel syn, of niet (the De Witt brothers as devils)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ondersoeckt-de-geesten-de-witt-devils-1672/) (Dutch Republic · 1672 · Scapegoating, Name-calling)
- [Proclamation de Sonthonax en créole, Cap-Français (Proclamation of Commissioner Sonthonax in Creole)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sonthonax-proclamation-creole-1793/) (France · Aug 29, 1793 · Fear appeal, Scapegoating). Content note: Colonial-era proclamation on slavery and emancipation in Saint-Domingue; speaks of slaves, whips and 'Nègues' in period terms.
- [Proclamation by the Queen in Council, to the Princes, Chiefs, and People of India (printed sheet, Allahabad, 1 November 1858)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/queens-proclamation-to-the-people-of-india-1858/) (British India · Nov 1, 1858 · Glittering generalities, Scapegoating)
- [De Vlamingen aan de Negers van den Congo (The Flemings to the Negroes of the Congo)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/de-vlamingen-aan-de-negers-van-den-congo-1885/) (Belgium · 1885 · Scapegoating)
- [The Radical Programme, No. 4: Dismemberment of the Empire (Gladstone & Co. auction India), St Stephen's Review Presentation Cartoon](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/radical-programme-selling-india-st-stephens-review-1891/) (United Kingdom · Oct 31, 1891 · Fear appeal, Scapegoating)
- [宣戦ノ詔勅 (Imperial Rescript declaring war on China), Kanpō extra no. 3328, 2 August 1894](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kanpo-declaration-of-war-on-china-1894/) (Empire of Japan · Aug 2, 1894 · Glittering generalities, Scapegoating). Content note: Official wartime declaration assigning blame for the war to the Qing government; no imagery.
- ["England and the War in South Africa" (Der wahre Jacob, 1899)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/war-and-capitalism-der-wahre-jacob-1899/) (German Empire · Dec 5, 1899 · Card stacking, Scapegoating)