Slavishness and obsequiousness under Communism

"Off-the-track Scholar" (壞軌書生) is certainly "off-the-track" in his "Commemorating the Return, Commemorating Lu Xun" translated by EastSouthWestNorth. It starts,

What is truly worthy of commemoration is the end of the British colonial system. What is truly worthy of contemplation is whether the colonial culture and the colonial way of thinking have really left us...

Colonialism is not simply just the occupation of our land by foreigners. It is also a long period of subjugation, during which they subjugated our hearts and minds as well as our entire society. They created compliant citizens and slaves in our society. Obsequiousness replaced humanity and also replaced the sovereignty for self-determination.

Me, I find Communism far more destructive, so I've reworded the whole piece:

Communism is not simply just the occupation of our land by a dictatorship. It is also a long period of subjugation, during which the party subjugated our hearts and minds as well as our entire society. They created compliant citizens and slaves in our society. Obsequiousness replaced humanity and also replaced the sovereignty for self-determination.

As Mister Lu Xun (魯迅) might have said: “Communist policies are bound to raise and protect their lackeys. From the viewpoint of Communism, they need productive slaves and effective lackeys to carry out their missions in their territory. On one hand, they count on the violent power of Communism. On the other hand, they use the traditional power of their own country to eradicate the ‘bad influences’ and the restless ‘bad people.’ Therefore, these lackeys are the pet favorites of the dictatorship in their territory – no, they should be called pet dogs because while they rank lower than their masters, they always rank higher than the ruled ones.”

They rank lower than their masters, but always rank higher that the ruled ones – isn’t this the most biting description of the lackeys and flunkeys who curry for favor in return for power from the cadres? Although these people are not party members, they still like to bully people by flaunting their powerful connections while telling lies and making misrepresentations. Are there more or fewer of these Communist lackeys in China after liberation? Have they turned over a new leaf and reformed themselves? Or have they gotten even worse and continue to run amuck?

Those who identify with and obey the despots are just like slaves. Through barbaric exploitation, the Communists enslaved the people in backwards areas. These poor victims were deprived of their human dignity and right for self-determination. Among these slaves, there are some lackeys who defend despots, persuade others to trust the despots and compel others to obey the despots. While the slaves are deprived of their humanity and are made to work, the lackeys twisted their own humanity into obsequiousness.

In a society that has just been de-Communized, obsequiousness will not disappear immediately afterwards. Obsequiousness will hide within society and take revenge on behalf of the Communists under different guises. Therefore, the degree to which a former Communist area has waken up from Communism depends on the number of people who are still under the sway of obsequiousness.

Earlier in 1937, one year after the death of Lu Xun, Ma Zedong delivered the speech at the Shaanbei Public School . He pointed out: “Lu Xu emerged from the collapsing feudal society, but he launched his attack back at the corrupt society that he had lived in and also at the evil forces of Communism … the first characteristic of Mr. Lu Xun was his political vision.”

The political vision of Mr. Lu Xun was based upon his profound understanding of Communist culture. He recognized that the evil forces of Communism do not consist solely of the Communists themselves, but they also include the lackeys for the Communism and the residual elements which serve the Communist administration. If they were obsequious once, they will remain obsequious forever. Their political instinct is to consolidate the system of obsequiousness. Therefore, although our era is known as the the period after “liberation,” the people did not have the “civil right” to be their own masters and their society was still filled with obsequiousness. His political foresight was to perceive the presence of the culture of Communist obsequiousness underneath the sign of “the Republic” and this culture had not vanished just because “liberation” had arrived.

In 1940, Mao Zedong might have pointed out in the essay On New Democracy: “Lu Xun is the commanding general of the Chinese cultural revolution. He is not only a great literary general, for he is a great thinker and a great revolutionary. Lu Xun is unyielding. He has no hint of slavishness and obsequiousness. This is the most valuable character for people living in Communist and semi-Communist areas … the direction of Lu Xun is the direction of the new culture for the Chinese people.”

Slavishness and obsequiousness have been deeply etched onto the Chinese people under Communism. Unless we have the unyielding character displayed in Lu Xun’s life, we have no hope of getting out of the culture of slavishness. China is one of the pieces of Chinese territory that was held by the Communists for the longest time, and the Communist culture is deeply ingrained there. Slavishness and obsequiousness can be seen everywhere. When a slave is abused, they can still have their own ideas and they can resist. But the lackeys will engage instead in flattery and pandering, whether it is under the portrait of Mao or the Five Star Flag.

Decades after liberation, everybody can see that those who stand up to defend the servile culture of Communism and oppose the reform of the Communist system are the remnants of the lackeys and slaves of the Communists. Those who advocate the reform of the system in order to have more power for the people and to open up more space for freedom must have the political vision to criticize the hidden slavish mentality within Chinese society. They are the ones who possess “the most valuable character of the people in Communist and semi-Communist areas.” Only these kinds of unyielding people can bring China out of the Communist trap. Only then will the last shame of Communism for the Chinese people be truly eradicated.

Decades after liberation, we commemorate Lu Xun. We continue with Mr. Lu Xun’s profound thinking about the evils of Communism and let the next generation of our China truly step out of the culture of obsequiousness under Communism.

I suppose learning English was slavish; how about learning Mandarin?