A Marxist Philosophy of Life - Reading Mao’s Three Essays

From Mao’s three essays, namely In Memory of Norman Bethune, Serve the People, and The Foolish Old Man Who Removed the Mountains, we can see that the two defining themes of Mao’s rendition of Marxist philosophy towards life are altruism and pragmatism, both of which are in line with Marxist theories. However, considering the historical context of the three essays, Mao’s philosophy of life as shown in the aforementioned essays can be seen as propagandistic and does not necessarily reflect Mao’s true opinions on life. In Mao’s essays, the idea of pragmatism is shown mainly by Mao’s emphasis on the importance of practice. The word pragmatism comes from the Greek word pragma, which means "deed, act"; the latter, in turn, derives from the Greek word prassÃ… , which means "to practise, to achieve". Advocates for pragmatism argue that the value of an ideology or proposition lies in the fact whether it works satisfactorily in practice (McDermid). Such principle is evident in most of Mao’s works. For instance, In In Memory Of Norman Bethune, Mao commended the Canadian doctor for â€Å"putting this Leninist line into practice† (Mao, In Memory Of Norman Bethune). In Serve the People, Mao stressed again on the significance of practice. He argued that â€Å"Anyone †¦ if what he proposes will benefit the people, we will act upon it† (Mao, Serve the People). Here Mao suggests that an idea, as long as it is in line with the Communist Party’s goal of serving the p eople, should be put into practice, no matter of its origins. This has once again shown the stress Mao had laid on the importance of practice, which is in line with pragmatism principles. Altruism is another element in Mao’s philosophy of life shown in the three essays. Altruism is the tendency t... ... the two themes of Mao’s philosophy of life as is featured in the three essays, namely pragmatism and altruism, reflect Mao’s true opinions on life, they are in line with orthodox Marxist teachings and can be seen as a Marxist philosophy towards life. Works Cited Mao, Zedong. "In Memory Of Norman Bethune." 21 12 1939. Marxists Internet Archive. 2 12 2013 . —. "Serve the People." 8 9 1944. Marxists Internet Archive. 2 12 2013 . —. "The Foolish Old Man Who Removed the Mountains." 11 6 1945. Marxists Internet Archive. 2 12 2013 . McDermid, Douglas. Pragmatism. 15 12 2006. 5 12 2013 .