Lin Biao
Illustration, not an archive object
Marshal; Minister of National Defence (1959-1971); Vice-Chairman of the CCP and designated successor to Mao (1966-1971) · China
On the regime page: People's Republic of China under Mao Zedong
6 quotes, oldest first. Filter with other speakers.
“Taking the entire globe, if North America and Western Europe can be called “the cities of the world”, then Asia, Africa and Latin America constitute “the rural areas of the world”.”
English: Foreign Languages Press, Peking (1965 pamphlet, as transcribed on Marxists.org). Original-language text not found.
Essay published for the 20th anniversary of victory over Japan, setting out Mao's rural-based revolutionary strategy as a model for the "Third World" and criticising Soviet policy.
"Long Live the Victory of People's War!", written 3 September 1965, Foreign Languages Press, 1965, section 7 'The International Significance of Comrade Mao Tse-tung's Theory of People's War' Source
Content note: Call to remove "ghosts and monsters" and the "four olds"; period of mass persecution followed. The words are shown as they were said or written. Why
“This is a great revolution, an entirely new and creative revolution carried out after the seizure of political power by the proletariat. Its aim is to overthrow through struggle the small handful of persons within the Party who are in authority who have taken the capitalist road, to sweep away all ghosts and monsters in our society., and to break the old ideas, culture, customs and habits of the exploiting classes and foster the new ideas, culture, customs and habits of the proletariat, with a view to further consolidating the dictatorship of the proletariat and developing the socialist system.”
English: Foreign Languages Press, Peking (Forward Along the High Road of Mao Tse-tung's Thought, 1967, as transcribed on Marxists.org). Original-language text not found.
Speech by the Vice-Chairman on the 17th anniversary of the People's Republic, delivered at the height of the Red Guard rallies in Peking, stating the aims of the Cultural Revolution.
Speech at the National Day celebration rally, 1 October 1966, in Forward Along the High Road of Mao Tse-tung's Thought (Peking: Foreign Languages Press, 1967) Source
“Therefore, the most fundamental task in our Party's political and ideological work is at all times to hold high the great red banner of Mao Tse-tung's thought, to arm the minds of the people throughout the country with it and to persist in using it to command every field of activity.”
English: Foreign Languages Press, Peking (Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung, 2nd ed., as transcribed on Marxists.org). Original-language text not found.
Foreword Lin wrote for the second edition of the "Little Red Book", which was printed in very large numbers and issued to the public, the army and schools.
Foreword to the Second Edition of Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung, 16 December 1966 Source
“The newspapers should regularly carry quotations from Chairman Mao relevant to current issues for readers to study and apply.”
English: Foreign Languages Press, Peking (Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung, 2nd ed., as transcribed on Marxists.org). Original-language text not found.
From the paragraph on how the book should be studied, instructing the press to print Mao quotations alongside current news.
Foreword to the Second Edition of Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung, 16 December 1966 Source
“Once Mao Tse-tung's thought is grasped by the broad masses, it becomes a source of strength and a spiritual atom bomb of infinite power.”
English: Foreign Languages Press, Peking (Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung, 2nd ed., as transcribed on Marxists.org). Original-language text not found.
Final paragraph of the Foreword, on the effect of mass study of the quotations.
Foreword to the Second Edition of Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung, 16 December 1966 Source
Content note: Accusation of treason against a named leader; later reversed by the Party. The words are shown as they were said or written. Why
“Now it has been proved through investigation that Liu Shao-chi betrayed the Party, capitulated to the enemy and became a hidden traitor and scab as far back as the First Revolutionary Civil War period, that he was a crime-steeped lackey of the imperialists, modern revisionists and Kuomintang reactionaries and that he was the arch-representative of the persons in power taking the capitalist road.”
English: Foreign Languages Press, Peking (Documents of the 9th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, 1969, as transcribed on Marxists.org). Original-language text not found.
Political report to the congress that confirmed Liu Shaoqi's expulsion from the Party and named Lin Biao as Mao's successor in the new Party constitution. Liu Shaoqi died in custody in November 1969, after the congress; the Party reversed the verdict on him in 1980.
Report to the Ninth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, delivered 1 April 1969, adopted 14 April 1969 Source