“Serve the People!” This is both the name and slogan of many Marxist-Leninist-Maoist collectives’ solidarity programs across the USA. They establish themselves among the people, provide the people with necessities through collective effort, commence propaganda and agitation among the people, and most importantly remind the people that there is power in them—that there is, in them, the ability to control their lives. This is serving the people: acting in their interests, sharing their sufferings, and leading them. Every communist in the USA must learn from these comrades. To do so, let us study what it means to “serve the people.”

The Chinese communist Mao Zedong addressed a memorial meeting for a comrade, then, by the name of Chang Szu-teh—a revolutionary soldier in the Chinese revolution who had died in a workplace accident in 1944—with a short speech entitled “Serve the People.” In it, he spoke on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party, stressing two key principles: “to die for the people is weightier than Mount Tai;” and that communists should welcome criticism and have our shortcomings pointed out. The running-theme of this communist morality, as expressed here, means we communists must care about the people over ourselves individually and over the party, that we should “have the interests of the people and the sufferings of the great majority at heart,” in Mao’s words.

If a person concerns themselves with their life and no one else’s, they’re going to be scared of death—it’s the end of the thing they care about most! Looking at life this way is of no benefit for the larger, revolutionary cause we must build. This type of people are opportunists, careerists, and do not have the working-class’ interest at heart; they cannot be a valuable member of the revolutionary party, nor can they honestly serve the people. Only those who are “wholly dedicated to the liberation of the people” will have a lasting impact; and so, ironically, though they wish to preserve themselves and their individual ego, their inevitable death will be “lighter than a feather.”

In dedicating ourselves to the people and combatting egos, we must also not be afraid of criticism and having our shortcomings pointed out by whoever. If our organization is following a wrong line or some of us, as individuals, are expressing reactionary, anti-people behavior, we should be watering at the mouth for criticism and ideological struggle. As dialectical materialists, we know that development only comes out of struggle; and as Maoists, we know that developing our ability to serve the people and stopping anti-people behavior and policies are the lifeblood of our movement. We are nothing without the masses and are useless if we separate ourselves from them.

All this talk, we can see that serving the people produces many benefits for the revolutionary cause: it builds up the revolutionary party, maintains it on a socialist-road, creates principled and humble cadres out of the people, and so on, and so on. If we abide by these fundamental communistic principles and resolutely carry them out through our mass-work, we can effectively build working-class power. At all times, communists must ask: are we serving the people with this policy and line? Party cadres must ask: am I serving the people through my actions or alienating myself from them? The non-stop evaluation of our positions on this measure is a sure guarantee that we can combat revisionism, egos, and alienation from the people. Serve the People!