Reddest Red Sun
Mao Badges
World's People Eagerly Seek Chairman Mao Badges
Proudly we wear the badges of Chairman Mao, On the streets of China's cities and towns, in the trolleys and buses, at meetings and public places, in roads and villages of the countryside, wherever the revolutionary people see each other wearing Chairman Mao badges they greet each other with an especially warm smile. Their boundless love for our respected and beloved Chairman Mao draws them together. |
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Abroad too, in countries around the world, revolutionary
people often crowd around a Chinese wearing a badge of Chairman Mao to
ask him for one. And when they get it, they shout with joy, "Long
live Chairman Mao Tse-tung!"
This eager demand for the shining Chairman Mao badges is an expression
of the increasing depth with which Mao Tse-tung's thought has taken root
in the hearts of the world's people as the great proletarian cultural
revolution in China continues its victorious march. A Malian friend put
it this way: "Chairman Mao says that 'The salvoes of the October
Revolution brought us Marxism-Leninism'. Today, it is China's great proletarian
cultural revolution which has brought to the whole world the Marxism-Leninism
of our era, the invincible thinking of Mao Tse-tung the revolutionary
fighters' weapon everywhere."
This is why, with great warmth, the revolutionary people not only of China
but throughout the world call Chairman Mao the red sun in their hearts.
And their sources of inspiration and strength are the writings of Chairman
Mao, his photos, and the Chairman Mao badge.
Making the Badges
Chairman Mao badges arose with the cultural revolution, an explosion of
the revolutionary masses' deep love for Chairman Mao. The Peking Red Flag
Badge Factory began to make them. Then from every corner of China letters
began to arrive by the hundreds at the factory every day. In simple, sincere,
beautiful language, people across the nation, their hearts filled with
love for our great leader Chairman Mao, poured out their faith in Mao
Tse-tung's thought. Varied in a thousand ways, these letters made one
demand "Make more Chairman Mao badges!"
A medical worker in Kiangsu, about to leave for the countryside
in response to Chairman Mao's call to go among the broad masses of workers
and peasants, wrote the factory workers: "In the days and nights
to come, we cannot depart from Mao Tse-tung's thought even for a second.
We especially long for a shining badge of Chairman Mao so that in the
hard struggle ahead of us we can draw strength and courage from it. "
The factory workers had personally experienced the people's demand for
badges. For example, peasants in out-of-the-way villages had sent delegates
to the cities, crossing mountains and rivers with sacks of food on their
backs, to get badges of Chairman Mao. When the coveted badges at last
lay in the peasants' hands for the first time, their eyes shone with tears.
To deeply moving letters and scenes such as these, the revolutionary workers
and staff members of the badge factory responded with a solemn pledge:
"More and better badges of Chairman Mao!"
Their factory used to make souvenir pins of scenic spots and ornaments
with feudal and superstitious themes. The revolutionaries had suggested
many times that they produce Chairman Mao badges, but the idea had always
been suppressed by the handful of Party capitalist-roader leaders in the
factory.
Then the cultural revolution opened the floodgates, the factory revolutionaries
rebelled and began turning out Chairman Mao badges. Their first month's
production of 30,000 were snatched up by the eager masses. In 1967, when
the "January Revolution" in Shanghai swept out across the whole
nation, the factory's revolutionaries fought together and seized the power
back from the handful of capitalist-roaders. Monthly production of Chairman
Mao badges rose to 6,000,000, with variety increasing from two kinds to
twenty. Today, besides Peking, Shanghai and Canton where the greatest
quantity and varieties are produced, factories in the provinces are also
making the badges, Still, the supply never meets the demand.
A Well-honoured Badge
Of all the many kinds of Chairman Mao badges, there is one especially
loved. It is a five-pointed star in gold, with Chairman Mao's portrait
in gold on red, accompanied by a red and gold bar worn below it carrying
Chairman Mao's words "Serve the People" (see badge above). Put
out by a decision of the Central Military Commission, it has been worn
since May 1967 by commanders and fighters of the army, navy and air force,
who cherish it as a tremendous encouragement and honour.
When the badges were distributed to the heroic Company No. One of a certain
unit .1 its commanders and fighters recalled their glorious past in which
they had followed Chairman Mao across the country in many crucial battles.
The company was born in 1928 in the Chingkang Mountains and, under the
leadership of Chairman Mao, had helped smash one Kuomintang encirclement
and suppression campaign after another, During the Long March (1934-35)
it fought in the capture of Tsunyi in Kweichow province and defended the
town during the famous Tsunyi Meeting which established Chairman Mao's
leadership in the Party. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese
Aggression (1937-45) it fought in the world-famous battle of Pinghsingkuan.
During the War of Liberation (1945-49) it took part in the Peiping-Tientsin
campaign and the march into Peiping (Peking).
Now, with the honoured badge in their hands, these fighters who had long
fought beside Chairman Mao and defended him, exclaimed, "We owe all
our achievements to the warm concern and teachings of Chairman Mao, to
the nourishment of his thinking. Mao Tse-tung's thought lights our way
forward." Wearing Chairman Mao's badge and quotation proudly on their
uniforms, they swore that they would study Chairman Mao's works harder,
follow his teachings, act according to his instructions and become even
better soldiers of Chairman Mao.
When the badges reached the land, sea and air men guarding our country's
coasts and borders, great cheers of "Long live Chairman Mao!"
went up and they vowed to redouble their vigilance, smash any enemy war
provocation, and make new contributions in the cultural revolution.
The Badge Goes Out Over the World
That the revolutionary peoples struggling for national liberation in Asia,
Africa and Latin America cherish Chairman Mao badges is shown in hundreds
of simple and moving stories.
Early in 1967 in the socialist Democratic Republic of Vietnam, veteran
57-year-old longshoreman Nguyen Van Tu was working on the Haiphong docks
when he saw a Chinese sailor drop his badge of Chairman Mao. It bounced
and rolled off into the icy water. Nguyen Van Tu immediately dived in
and retrieved it. The sailor gripped Nguyen Van Tu's hand gratefully and,
insisting that he accept it, pinned it on his Vietnamese brother worker.
The old Vietnamese worker, a man who, before the establishment of proletarian
power in his land, had had his fill of oppression, exploitation and humiliation
under the feudal landlords and colonialists, told him, "Haiphong
is a long way from Peking, but the great image of Chairman Mao and your
people's passionate support of our people's fight against the Yankee imperialists
is engraved in my heart. So when I saw your Chairman Mao badge fall into
the water, I just had to plunge in to rescue it."
In Zanzibar, a sanitation worker went to the Chinese consulate to ask
for a Chairman Mao badge.
"Chairman Mao has led the Chinese people to accomplish all kinds
of great things," he told them. "Your doctors sent by Chairman
Mao put a Zanzibar worker's hand back on after it was almost cut off and
saved him from becoming a cripple. Chairman Mao truly cares about our
people!" When they gave him a badge, he joyfully exclaimed, "Comrades,
I will love Chairman Mao always."
A Havana bus ticket collector saw some Chinese students wearing Chairman
Mao badges and begged them for one. A student unclasped his precious badge
and pinned it on the man. The ticket collector was so happy that he pointed
to a Lenin badge on his collar and said, "I have Lenin, so I'm strong.
Now I have Mao Tse-tung, so I'm even stronger!" Turning to his passengers
and pointing to his new badge, he shouted, "Viva Mao Tse-tung! Viva,
viva Mao Tse-tung!"
Defending the Badge of Chairman Mao
All reactionaries in the world sense their days getting shorter and tougher
when they see how the hearts of the revolutionary peoples are turning
towards socialist China, towards the revolutionary leader Chairman Mao.
They are mortally afraid of the spread of the great thinking of Mao Tse-tung,
for this is the biggest obstacle to their plots against the world revolution.
It is inevitable that they should frantically oppose Mao Tse-tung's thought
and the Chinese people. So whenever they see the red book of Quotations
from Chairman Mao Tse-tung or a bright Chairman Mao badge, they call in
armed police and the military to beat and arrest people.
Last year, various reactionary governments often began their anti-China
campaigns when revolutionary people refused to obey their decrees to stop
wearing Chairman Mao badges. In Burma, for example, the reactionary Ne
Win clique started its anti-China campaign by suppressing overseas Chinese
students who were protesting because school authorities had forbidden
them to wear Chairman Mao badges. When they saw young Chinese wearing
the badges, thugs of the fascist, bloodsucking Ne Win military clique
tried to force them to take them off. When a Chinese refused, the thugs
would grab badge, shirt and skin and cut it all off, leaving the youth's
chest bleeding.
But the threats and suppression of reactionaries cannot frighten revolutionary
people armed with Mao Tse-tung's thought. The patriotic overseas Chinese
in Burma fought a dauntless, heroic struggle. Thousands were arrested
and jailed, but when many of them were released, the badge of Chairman
Mao still shone on their chests.
In the middle of last October, a British cargo ship anchored in the Japanese
port of Moji. Working on the ship were 35 Chinese seamen. Some Japanese
dock workers who had boarded the ship to unload, asked the Chinese seamen
for Chairman Mao badges. As a Chinese seaman was pinning his badge on
a Japanese worker with friendly warmth, the British first mate suddenly
lunged forward, tore the badge off and threw it into the sea. The Chinese
seamen and Japanese workers immediately protested this provocation. The
Chinese held a meeting on the deck demanding that the captain and first
mate admit their mistake and apologize, and that the first mate be discharged
from the ship. When the demand was refused, they went on strike. Their
struggle was supported by local Japanese friends and overseas Chinese.
Two days of heroic persistence brought victory and safeguarded the honour
of the great land of Chairman Mao. The captain and first mate were forced
to admit their crime.
Chairman Mao is the greatest Marxist-Leninist, the proletariat's most
outstanding leader and genius in our era. The thinking of Mao Tse-tung
is the highest crystallization and newest summary of the experience of
the Chinese and world revolution. And when one defends the badge of Chairman
Mao, he is defending truth. Deeply moved when he received a Chairman Mao
badge, an old Bulgarian Communist said, "Our hopes are on Comrade
Mao Tse-tung. He leads the Chinese people to persist in Marxism-Leninism,
so we have hope. Someday socialism must win in my country too."
One's attitude towards a tiny Chairman Mao badge actually reflects one's
attitude towards Chairman Mao and Mao Tse-tung's thought. The Chinese
people are united around Chairman Mao and Mao Tse-tung's thought. The
revolutionary course pointed out by Chairman Mao is clear before us. China
will flourish and the world's peoples will win liberation. No matter what
the storms, as long as we and the world's revolutionary peoples use the
compass of Marxism-Leninism, Mao Tse-tung's thought to guide us, communism
is bound to be realized throughout the world.
The golden sun illuminates
the plane's controls, With the golden sun on our chests, |
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