Thank you for following my blog for the last few decades and trusting me to provide you with the unadulterated truth of the glory of the Chinese Communist Party as well as our fearless leader, Chairman Mao. With the guiding lights of Marxism and Mao Zedong Thought, I thought myself immune to the pestilence of capitalist greed. Regrettably, I was wrong, and my apparent lack of revolutionary fervor has left me unknowingly susceptible to the ills of society that I was supposed to be warning and fighting against.
Rather than “immerse (myself) among [the masses],” I instead mistakenly believed myself to be some form of authority and selfishly clung to my position as a reporter (LRB 56). Despite being born a peasant, I left my people behind for school in Beijing when it came to rebuilding China in the hopes of bettering only myself. I have spent my time writing, as I foolishly thought this would be more beneficial to society than working hard in the field or a factory to feed the country and make it prosper. I have inadvertently led the masses astray with my misleading mentions of supposed flaws in the Party, misconceptions borne from my own misunderstanding and miseducation rather than the actual actions of the CCP. I did not allow myself to “learn from [the masses]” and thought myself worthy of guiding them, relying on my own flawed reason rather than the genius theories of our Chairman and his Party (LRB 57).
I published divisive ideas about the position of women and portrayed the Party in a sexist manner, a title which their egalitarian legislation and campaigns have proven they do not deserve. I naïvely criticized the Cause’s use of violence, as if there was any other acceptable response to the years of oppression our people have faced and would have continued to face if the CCP did not carry out an “armed struggle” (LRB 28). Any perpetuation of doubt regarding the capabilities of Mao and the Party was completely unintentional, but this ignorance is no excuse when the path to liberation and enlightenment was made so easily accessible to me through the many educational campaigns carried out by the CCP.
My past behavior is inexcusable, but I hope I will be given the chance to prove myself loyal to the great Communist Cause and do my part in spreading the revolution across the world so that all can be as liberated and advanced as China under Mao and the Party.
You did a good job delivering your self-criticism in class. I like how you are honest about not following Chairman Mao’s teachings, but you use his quotations to get out of the situation. I think the fine line between admitting wrongdoing and defending yourself was key to getting away unharmed.