U.K. Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell created a stir among his comrades in the British Parliament Wednesday by reciting a passage from “Quotations from Chairman Mao,” better known as Mao’s Little Red Book, during a debate.
McDonnell, who speaks on economic policy for the Labour Party, pulled the book from his pocket and quoted the following passage to howls and hoots from members on the opposite benches: “We must learn to do economic work from all who know how, no matter who they are. We must esteem them as teachers, learning from them respectfully and conscientiously, but we must not pretend to know what we do not know.”
Yes this actually happened #littleredbook https://t.co/T2OaS7WqPo
— Laura (@laurapoulter) November 25, 2015
We found some more of Mao’s political wisdom that might have been useful during the debate (which set off a Twitter revolution):
Get it together
“Members of the Party committee maintain only formal, not real, unity among themselves. This situation must be changed.”
Leadership advice
“The secretary of a Party committee must be good at being a ‘squad leader’. A Party committee has 10 to 20 members; it is like a squad in the army, and the secretary is like the ‘squad leader’. It is indeed not easy to lead this squad well.”
Be open
“Place problems on the table. This should be done not only by the ‘squad leader’ but by the committee members too. Do not talk behind people’s backs.”
Be flexible
“Learn to ‘play the piano’. In playing the piano, all 10 fingers are in motion; it will not do to move some fingers only and not others. However, if all 10 fingers press down at once, there is no melody.”
Be a team player
“Thousands upon thousands of martyrs have heroically laid down their lives for the people; let us hold their banner high and march ahead along the path crimson with their blood!”
Don’t be daft
“‘Lifting a rock only to drop it on one’s own feet’ is a Chinese folk saying to describe the behavior of certain fools. The reactionaries in all countries are fools of this kind.”
Power to the people (sort of)!
“Our duty is to hold ourselves responsible to the people. Every word, every act and every policy must conform to the people’s interests, and if mistakes occur, they must be corrected — that is what being responsible to the people means.”
Plan ahead
“In some places, meetings of cadres are called without first preparing reports and draft resolutions, and only when people have arrived for the meeting are makeshifts improvised; this is just like the saying, ‘Troops and horses have arrived, but food and fodder are not ready’, and that is no good. Do not call a meeting in a hurry if the preparations are not completed.”
Enforce party discipline
“One requirement of Party discipline is that the minority should submit to the majority. If the view of the minority has been rejected, it must support the decision passed by the majority. If necessary, it can bring up the matter for reconsideration at the next meeting, but apart from that it must not act against the decision in any way.”
Be constructive
“As for criticism, do it in good time; don’t get into the habit of criticizing only after the event.”