Last Words

#PUBLICATION NOTE

This edition of Last Words has been prepared and revised for digital publication by the Institute of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism under the Central Committee of the Communist Party in Switzerland on the basis of the following edition: Chairman Mao Will Live For Ever in Our Hearts, in Beijing Review, Vol. 19, No. 39 (24th of September, 1976).

#INTRODUCTION NOTE

These are Comrade Mao Zedong's last words, spoken in Beijing, China in the evening of the 7th of September, 1976. First published in the Renmin Ribao (16th of September, 1976).

Comrade Mao Zedong passed away at 00:10 on the 9th of September, 1976 after a protracted period of on-and-off illness — most likely suffering from amyothropic lateral sclerosis. In the course of 1976, he had focused his remaining efforts on two tasks: first, to lead the Movement to Criticize Deng Xiaoping and Beat Back the Right-Deviationist Attempt to Reverse Correct Verdicts, and, second, to sum up his life's work and resolve the problem of succession.

There are strong indications that, after the purge of Deng Xiaoping in the winter of 1975-76, Comrade Mao Zedong intended for Hua Guofeng to lead the daily work of the Party's Central Committee as a temporary measure only. Rather, he intended for Hua to work as Minister of Foreign Affairs or in some similar post, under Comrade Jiang Qing's supervision, as he had previously had her trained for foreign affairs work, while Jiang was to serve as Chairperson of the Party's Central Committee, Zhang Chunqiao as Premier of the State Council, Wang Hongwen as Chairperson of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, and Chen Xilian as Commander-in-Chief of the People's Liberation Army. This collective leadership was presumably intended to make up for Jiang's deficiencies, which Mao had criticized on multiple occasions in 1974-75. Moreover, Mao's nephew, Mao Yuanxin, would presumably have had some important role in this collective leadership as well.

What is certain is that, after the 15th of June, 1976 meeting of the Political Bureau, where Comrade Mao Zedong summed up his life's work and proposed the election of Comrade Jiang Qing as Chairperson of the Party's Central Committee, he quickly determined that Hua Guofeng was no longer trustworthy — an idea he had already floated in his 30th of April, 1976 letter to Jiang. In August, he wrote a poem for Jiang, advocating the reinitiation of people's war in China in the event of a capitalist restoration. On the 26th of August, he sent Jiang on an inspection tour of a number of model people's communes, industrial enterprises, and military units to build up her prestige — she was explicitly sent «on behalf of Chairman Mao and the Party's Central Committee». In early September, he dictated a letter to the upcoming Third Plenary Session of the Party's Tenth Central Committee, which was likely intended to be held in his home village of Shaoshan, Hunan Province in late September, where Mao was supposed to go on the 15th of September to recover from his illness, in which he drew further conclusions on the nature of socialism and the class dictatorship of the proletariat. However, Mao's deteriorating health prevented this task from being fulfilled. On the 5th of September, he called Jiang home from her inspection tour, as he was sure of his impending death.

After Comrade Jiang Qing returned from her inspection tour, Comrade Mao Zedong, deeply distrustful of the Right wing in the Party's Central Committee (headed by Ye Jianying and masterminded by Deng Xiaoping), proposed that Political Bureau members Hua Guofeng, Wang Hongwen, Zhang Chunqiao, and Wang Dongxing should take turns standing vigil by his side until his death. It was when Comrade Zhang Chunqiao stood vigil by Mao's side that the latter said his last words.

These words were not an empty admonition to adhere to the principles of Mao Zedong's Thought. Rather, they constitutes a directive with a specific strategic content — to relaunch the armed struggle in the face of the immediate threat of a revisionist coup. Just prior to Comrade Jiang Qing leaving for her inspection tour on the 26th of August, Comrades Mao Zedong, Jiang Qing, and Zhang Chunqiao had met briefly, together with Wang Dongxing, to adopt a plan for this armed struggle. According to Ye Jianying's official biography, this plan consisted of the following outline:

First, they were to insist on continuing the Movement to Criticize Deng Xiaoping and Beat Back the Right-Deviationist Attempt to Reverse Correct Verdicts, and to deepen and broaden its scope, particularly its mass character.
Second, they were to win over Hua Guofeng to work under the new collective leadership.
Third, they were to overthrow Ye Jianying, the leader of the Right wing in Deng Xiaoping's absence and de facto Commander-in-Chief of the People's Liberation Army.

If this plan would fail, they were to launch an armed uprising in Shanghai and begin a people's war, in accordance with the poem written by Comrade Mao Zedong for Comrade Jiang Qing in August.

Comrade Mao Zedong's last words were thus a concrete call to action for the members of the Party's left wing.

Unfortunately, the plan failed due to the betrayal by Wang Dongxing, who was part of the group around Ye Jianying which carried out the counter-revolutionary State coup and restored capitalism in China only one month later on the 6th of October.

On the 8th of September, 1976, Comrade Mao Zedong met with the members of the Political Bureau one last time, but he was unable to speak anymore. Thus, his words the night before came to be his last.

#Workers and oppressed people of the world, unite!

#LAST WORDS

#Mao Zedong

#7th of September, 1976

#★

Act according to the principles laid down.