The 48 Laws Of Power

396

‘

LAW 45

emerged

inthe

Communist

Party

inwhich

Mao’s

mainfoewasLin

Piao,

onceaclosefriendofhis.Tomakecleartothemassesthedifferencebe-

tweenhis

philosophy

and

Lin’s,

Maoonce

again

exploited

the

past:

He

casthis

opponent

as

representing

Confucius,

a.

philosopher

Lininfact

would

constantlyquote.

AndConfucius

signified

the

conservatism

ofthe

past.

Maoassociated

himself,

ontheother

hand,

withtheancient

philo-

sophical

movementknownas

Legalism,exemplifiedby

the

writings

of

Han—fei~tzu.The

Legalists

disdainedConfucian

ethics;

they

believedinthe

needforviolencetocreateaneworder.

Theyworshipedpower.

To

give

himself

weight

inthe

struggle,

Maounleashedanationwide

propaganda

campaignagainst

Confucius,

using

theissues

ofConfucianismversusLe-

galism

to

whip

the

young

intoakindoffrenziedrevolt

against

theolder

generation.

This

grand

context

enveloped

a.ratherbanal

powerstruggle,

andMaoonce

again

wonoverthemassesand

triumphed

overhisenemies.

Interpretation

No

people

hadamore

profound

attachmenttothe

past

thantheChinese.

Inthefaceofthisenormousobstacleto

reform,

Mada

strategy

was

simple:

Insteadof

strugglingagainst

the

past

heturnedittohis

advantage,

associ~

ating

hisradicalCommunistswiththeromantic

figures

ofChinese

history.

Weaving

the

story

oftheWaroftheThree

Kingdoms

intothe

struggle

be-

tweentheUnited

States,

theSoviet

Union,

and

China,

becasthimselfas

Chuko

Liang.

Asthe

emperors

had,

hewelcomedthecultlikeadorationof

the

masses,

understanding

thattheChinesecouldnotfunctionwithout

somekindof

father

figure

toadmire.Andafterhemadeaterribleblunder

with

theGreat

Leap

Forward,

trying

toforcemodernizationonthe

country

and

failingmiserably,

henever

repeated

his

mistake:Fromthen

on,

radical

change

hadtobecloakedinthecomfortableclothesofthe

past.

Thelessonis

simple:

The

past

is

powerful.

Whathas

happened

before

seems

greater;

habitand

historygiveany

act

weight.

Use

thisto

your

ad-

vantage.

When

youdestroy

thefa.milia.r

you

createavoidor

vacuum;

peo

ple

fearthechaosthatwillfloodintofillit.Youmustavoid

stirringup

such

fearsatallcost.Borrowthe

weight

and

legitimacy

fromthe

past,

however

remote,

tocreate

a

comforting

and

familiar

presence.

Thiswill

giveyour

actionsromantic

associations,

addto

yourpresence,

andcloakthenature

ofthe

changesyou

are

attempting.

Itmustbeconsideredthatthereis

nothing

more

difficult

to

carry

out,

no?‘more

doubtfulofsmcers,

runmore

dangerous

to

handle,

thantoinitiateaneworder

ofthings.

Niccolo

;’\/iachiavelli,

I

~f69«I 52

7

KEYSTOPOWER

Human

psychology

contains

many

dualities,

oneofthem

being

thateven

while

people

understandtheneedfor

change,knowing

how

important

itis

forinstitutionsandindividualstobe

occasionally

renewed,

they

arealsoir-