Experience has proved, Mao claimed, that whenever the practice of
the Party proves correct, it comes from the masses, and goes back for
implementation by the masses themselves. Mao termed this as ‘‘from
the masses, to the masses,’’ meaning that the discrete, inchoate ideas
from the masses must first be collected, studied, and synthesized, after
which, the ‘‘processed’’ ideas must be propagated and explained to the
masses for their willing execution of the ideas. The dialectical cycles of
‘‘from the masses, to the masses’’ will make the Party’s leadership
more correct, more vital, and more enriched. Mao called this the
Marxist epistemology (Mao, 1975 ).^7
Some may find peculiar congruence between Mao’s mass line and
Abraham Lincoln’s take on the popular opinion. Lincoln was credited
with saying, ‘‘Without the opinion of the public, you can do nothing;
with the opinion of the public, you can do nothing.’’ What this means, in
Maoist terms, would be an opposition to both ‘‘command-ism’’ and
‘‘tail-ism’’ (Mao, 1975 ). On the one hand, leaders must study and
understand the opinions of the masses. On the other hand, leaders must
not follow those opinions mechanically or slavishly. The voice of the
masses must be not only heeded, but also refined and educated before
the masses can effectively practice ‘‘their own’’ voice. According to Li
( 1994 ),Maowasclear-sightedaboutthepowerofthemasses.Bothinthe
pre- and post-liberation eras of his career, he deftly framed his ambitions
in a way to win almost spellbound support from the general populace.
The mass line, according to Wilson ( 1977 ), was a major contribu-
tion by Mao. It helped to de-bureaucratize the Party. Russians had
shown that the injustices of capitalism could be rectified by the instal-
lation of a vast new bureaucracy, but they failed to address the injust-
ices which, in turn, were created by the new bureaucracy. Wilson
( 1977 ) affirmed that Mao was the only major leader to tackle this
thorny problem, which he did with his mass line.
Mao’s second leadership style or methodology, ‘‘democratic central-
ism,’’ conforms closely with his mass line. The ‘‘democratic’’ part of
the concept represents listening to the masses while the ‘‘centralism’’
part represents refinement of the public voice, as explained previously.
Mao’s charismatic leadership and personality
Mao’s imprint on China and the world, by all standards, cannot be
ignored. He belongs in the company of the few great political figures
218 Xin-an Lu and Jie Lu