until the day, the people's liberation army led by mao zedong had fought a bitter civil war against theationalists. now they were victorious, and mao took over the reins of government. translation: at that time i thought our country would become a communist country where everybody could be fed and everyone would have a job. in the old society, this was unimaginable. i saw hunger and death at every corner in pre—revolutionary beijing, but no—one cared about it. ever since childhood, my life was tough. when i was six, my father died, and my mother and i had to go on the streets and beg for a living. it was hard trying to survive. everyone was poor. people gave us free buns and bread which help keep us alive for a while. after trying lots of different ways to keep food on the table, my mother had to marry again to survive. i went to a local factory to learn how to make and fix bikes, but i still couldn't earn enough to buy basics like bread and butter, so i learned how to ride rickshaws in beijing to earn more money. after the peaceful liberation of beijing in early 1949, an undercover com

but with the victory of mao zedong and the communist and china in 1949, that completely swung to the i did that this is just another front in the cold war. what is fascinating is that for several years, essentially, u.s. documents talked about independence efforts against the french and indochina. and independence efforts against the judge in what was then the netherlands east indies -- against the dutch in what was then that netherlands east indies against sukarno. as if the europeans on the wrong side of history and we have to ease the passage out. 1949-1950, we still -- weted easing sukarno started viewing the french as part of the cold war. we don't like colonialism but it is better than communism. what is missed in most histories of the world is the fear of the domino theory in the early 1960's. the biggest domino everyone was afraid of in washington was indonesia, because sukarno was seen as playing footsie with the communists, the chinese. 625 there is a19 coup and counter code and military takeover in indonesia. the domino falls in the pro-american direction. but by then we a

the people's republic of china. 0n the people's republic of china. 0n the 1st of october, 1919, mao zedongred china a communist state. 0ne young recruit in the people's liberation army took part in the parade in beijing which marked that momentous day. translation: i was in the infantry, marching ina translation: i was in the infantry, marching in a prominent position. i was so marching in a prominent position. i was so excited and proud to join the parade. i didn't sleep well, i kept thinking about my steps. if my commander ordered, look right, would ibe commander ordered, look right, would i be able to do it? in 1919, i was 19. only some of us could be selected to join a military parade to celebrate the birth of the people's republic of china. we had a month's practice for the parade at a compound in southern beijing. we learned how to do step in unison, marching together as if we were one man, looking to the right towards the audience. 0n the day, i saw chairman mao and the other leaders of the country in tiananmen square, i was so excited and overwhelmed. i felt so optimistic because c

occurred when the communist forces the side to break out from the mountains in the south of china mao zedong led that long march and that's when he emerged as the strongest leader in the communist party the carters of ma would go into the villages and say will you join us because the mandate of heaven is being lifted from those who are corrupt those who have impoverished you those who have given their country to the foreigners. will you rise up with us. i am. 937 japan invaded china 1st 2nd time nationalists and communists came together to fight the japanese occupation as the 2nd world war convulsed the nations of the east and the west. the war would end in 1945 japan would surrender. the chinese communist and its nationalist government continue that one fight against each other. in that 8 years of war while the. central government fought a normal number of troops and you put in and the communist party focused on expanding by the end of the war the communist party had about a 1000000 men on that ho. the communist party of china received an enormous absolutely enormous amount of military hard

and to a certain extent mao zedong. mao, his redbook was required reading for panthers. when we would go to readings, we had to read certain portions of the redbook, trying to acquaint us with international ideas, ideas of how socialism, we should not mince words about this, the panthers were strongly scientific socialists, that was their professed ideology. they required panther members to do intellectual work as well as work in the community. so intellectual abstractions would be grounded in community work, so we were often given these international theorists to study and apply their theories to the situation in this country. >> there was also a very heavy dialogue, discussion that went on about scientific socialism, about revolutionary theory, about the question of the relationship between politics and arms. i want to hasten to add the earlier point made by bernadine, that there are a number of very revolutionary, older generation people around here. a group of cta workers were led by a man you will hear from in a minute, named stan willis. there is a group of afro-am