“If we orient ourselves according to these four points, we will be able to prepare ourselves for the next period of our development, in which we will be born as a political Party that has conquered our proletarian class independence, backed by the force of the worker masses.

It is only in this future – not yet discernible, and only inevitable if we handle the present correctly – that we will be able to light the sky and drive out both the plague and the Plague God – both deadly viruses and the imperialist bourgeoisie that exceeds them in its virulence – and bid farewell to them both.”

Download PDF: FOUR POINTS OF ORIENTATION IN THE CURRENT CRISIS

“The people waved their silvery iron hoes and their solid arms to build water conservancy and renovate mountains and rivers, shaking the earth. / Ask the Plague God, where are you going? People burn paper money, light candles, and light the sky to send the Plague God away.”

— from Mao Tse-tung, “Farewell to the Plague God,” 1958, a poem he wrote after learning that schistosomiasis had been wiped out in Yukiang County, Kiangsi.