Lin Biao

Lin Biao (Simplified Chinese: 林彪; pinyin: Lín Biāo; born December 5, 1907 - September 13, 1971) was a Chinese politician and Marshal of the People's Republic of China, who was considered a close associate and heir of Mao Zedong until his death in a plane crash in Mongolia on 1971, after attempting to flee following a botched coup against Mao.

Comrade Mao Tse-tung’s great merit lies in the fact that he has succeeded in integrating the universal truth of Marxism-Leninism with the concrete practice of the Chinese revolution and has enriched and developed Marxism-Leninism by his masterly generalization and summation the experience gained during the Chinese people’s protracted revolutionary struggle.

Long live Chairman Mao, great teacher, great leader, great supreme commander and great helmsman. A long life, and a long, long life to him!

The 17 years that have elapsed since the founding of the People’s Republic of China have been no ordinary years. They are years which have witnessed earth-shaking changes in China. They are years which have witnessed earthshaking changes in the world as well.

The pen and gun—these are the two props on which one relies in the seizure of political power.

Quotes

• The Red Guards and other revolutionary organizations of the young people in the colleges and middle schools are the shook force fighting in the van in the great cultural revolution, and a powerful reserve force of the People’s Liberation Army.
  • "Quotation from Vice-Chairman Lin Piao", in Huazhong Normal University Revolutionary Committee, "五.七" 汉英词语汇编 The May 7 Collection of Terms & Expressions (Chinese-English) (Wuhan, 1968), pp. 203-230

• Our attitude towards imperialist wars of, aggression has always been clear-cut. First, we are against them, and secondly, we are not afraid of them. We will destroy whoever attacks us. As for revolutionary wars waged by the oppressed nations and peoples, so far from opposing them, we invariably give them firm support and active aid. It has been so in the past, it remains so in present and, when we grow in strength as time goes on, we will give them still more support and aid in the future. It is sheer daydreaming for anyone to think that, since our revolution has been victorious, our national construction is forging ahead, our national wealth is increasing and our living conditions are improving, wo too will lose our revolutionary fighting will, abandon the cause of world revolution and discard Marxism-Leninism and proletarian internationalism.
  • People's China and International Law, Volume 1: A Documentary Study

• Comrade Mao Tse-tung’s great merit lies in the fact that he has succeeded in integrating the universal truth of Marxism-Leninism with the concrete practice of the Chinese revolution and has enriched and developed Marxism-Leninism by his masterly generalization and summation the experience gained during the Chinese people’s protracted revolutionary struggle.
  • Long Live the Victory of the People's War: Red Chinese Blueprint, Lin Biao, pp. 17

• In the last analysis, whether one dares to wage a tit-for-tat struggle against armed aggression and suppression by the imperialists and their lackeys, whether one dares to fight a people’s war against them, means whether ono dares to embark on revolution. This is the most effective touchstone for distinguishing genuine from fake revolutionaries and Marxist-Leninists.
  • "Quotation from Vice-Chairman Lin Piao", in Huazhong Normal University Revolutionary Committee, "五.七" 汉英词语汇编 The May 7 Collection of Terms & Expressions (Chinese-English) (Wuhan, 1968), pp. 203-230

• It must be emphasized that Comrade Mao Tse-tung’s theory of the establishment of rural revolutionary base areas and the encirclement of the cities from the countryside is of outstanding and universal., practical importance for the present revolutionary struggles of all the oppressed nations and peoples, and particularly for the revolutionary struggles of the oppressed nations and peoples in Asia, Africa, and Latin America against imperialism and its lackeys.
  • American Foreign Policy, Current Documents (1965), pp. 165

• With political power, the proletariat and the working people will have everything and without political power, they will lose everything. No matter how innumerable are the issues, we must never, forget political power. Forgetting political power means forgetting the fundamental viewpoint of Marxism. If we do so, we will become muddle headed fools and we will not be able to know how we are killed even when we forfeit our lives.
  • Daily Report, Foreign Radio Broadcasts, Issues 191-195, Central Intelligence Agency (October 3, 1966)

• If the proletariat does not occupy the positions in literature and art, the bourgeoisie certainly will. This is inevitable. And it represents an extremely broad and deep socialist revolution in the realm of ideology. If things are not done properly, revisionism will prevail.
  • Comrade Lin Piao's Letter to Members of the Standing Committee of the Military Commission of the Party Central Committee (March 22, 1966)

• Imperialism headed by the United States and modern revisionism with the leadership of the C.P.S.U. as its centre are colluding and actively plotting peace talk swindles for the purpose of stamping out the raging flames of the Vietnamese people's national revolutionary war against U.S. aggression, of the national revolutionary struggles in Asian, African and Latin American countries and of the world revolution.
  • "Quotation from Vice-Chairman Lin Piao", in Huazhong Normal University Revolutionary Committee, "五.七" 汉英词语汇编 The May 7 Collection of Terms & Expressions (Chinese-English) (Wuhan, 1968), pp. 203-230

• We should regard ourselves as a part of the strength of the revolution and at the same time constantly make ourselves a target of revolution. We should revolutionize ourselves in the revolution. Without doing this is impossible to make the revolution a success.
  • "Quotation from Vice-Chairman Lin Piao", in Huazhong Normal University Revolutionary Committee, "五.七" 汉英词语汇编 The May 7 Collection of Terms & Expressions (Chinese-English) (Wuhan, 1968), pp. 203-230

• We should regard ourselves as a part of the strength of the revolution and at the same time constantly make ourselves a target of revolution. We should revolutionize ourselves in the revolution. Without doing this is impossible to make the revolution a success.
  • "Quotation from Vice-Chairman Lin Piao", in Huazhong Normal University Revolutionary Committee, "五.七" 汉英词语汇编 The May 7 Collection of Terms & Expressions (Chinese-English) (Wuhan, 1968), pp. 203-230

• The great proletarian- cultural revolution is aimed precisely at eliminating bourgeois ideology, establishing proletarian ideology, remoulding people’s souls, revolutionizing their ideology, digging out the roots of revisionism, and consolidating and developing the socialist system.
  • Daily Report, Foreign Radio Broadcasts, Issues 191-195, Central Intelligence Agency (October 3, 1966)

• The question now is not whether we do or do not study but whether we can truly grasp and apply what we study. To grasp and apply truly, we must combine study with reality. Only by linking it with reality can we understand it, fix it in our minds and apply it. Without linking it with reality, we cannot understand it, fix it in our minds and apply it.
  • "Quotation from Vice-Chairman Lin Piao", in Huazhong Normal University Revolutionary Committee, "五.七" 汉英词语汇编 The May 7 Collection of Terms & Expressions (Chinese-English) (Wuhan, 1968), pp. 203-230

• 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. '
  • "Quotation from Vice-Chairman Lin Piao", in Huazhong Normal University Revolutionary Committee, "五.七" 汉英词语汇编 The May 7 Collection of Terms & Expressions (Chinese-English) (Wuhan, 1968), pp. 203-230

• With the brilliant leadership of Chairman Mao and having mastered Mao Tse-tung’s thought which is the keenest weapon, we will be invincible and all-conquering and will achieve complete victory in the great proletarian cultural revolution!
  • "Quotation from Vice-Chairman Lin Piao", in Huazhong Normal University Revolutionary Committee, "五.七" 汉英词语汇编 The May 7 Collection of Terms & Expressions (Chinese-English) (Wuhan, 1968), pp. 203-230

• This revolution is a great revolution, an entirely new and creative revolution, carried out after the seizure of political power by the proletariat. It is to overthrow through struggle the small handful of persons within the Party who have been in authority and 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.
  • "Quotation from Vice-Chairman Lin Piao", in Huazhong Normal University Revolutionary Committee, "五.七" 汉英词语汇编 The May 7 Collection of Terms & Expressions (Chinese-English) (Wuhan, 1968), pp. 203-230

Quotes about Lin Biao

• Lin Biao and the "Gang of Four" completely deviated from the fundamental principles of Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought. Lin Biao also separated Mao Zedong Thought from Marxism-Leninism. This is a serious distortion of Mao Zedong Thought, which is extremely detrimental to our Party and socialist cause, and is extremely detrimental to the international communist movement.
  • Deng Xiaoping, "Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping" (Volume II). Beijing: People's Publishing House, October 1994

• During the autumn, preparations for [Richard Nixon's] visit to Beijing moved rapidly, assisted by a dramatic tilt in China’s internal politics. On September 13 a plane carrying Lin Biao, his family and entourage crashed in Mongolia. The story remains murky but officially it was claimed that the army leader was fleeing after a failed coup. His son certainly seems to have concocted an inept assassination plot. The death of Mao’s handpicked heir amid accusations of betrayal was a damaging blow to his image of infallibility. This sparked a crisis of faith among millions of Chinese about the “continuous revolution” to which they had been subjected so brutally for two decades. A foreign policy triumph was now even more important for Mao. Lin was supposedly an opponent of détente with the United States. Certainly his death and disgrace strengthened Zhou Enlai, even though strong opposition remained to Nixon’s visit from Mao’s estranged wife, Jiang Qing, and from radicals in Shanghai. Zhou pushed ahead with arrangements and in October Kissinger paid a second visit to China—this time in public—to agree the agenda and draft the all-important communiqué.
  • David Reynolds, Summits: Six Meetings that Changed the Twentieth Century (2007), p. 242

• Lin Biao and the "Gang of Four" wantonly undermined the revolutionary united front and seriously interfered with the realization of the four grand goals of modernization.
  • Xi Zhongxun, "Selected Works of Xi Zhongxun". Beijing: Central Literature Publishing House, June 1995