Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors, who describes herself as a “trained Marxist” while also owning four homes in high-end neighborhoods worth more than $3.2 million, celebrated comparisons of the American left-wing movement to the deadly Chinese Cultural Revolution orchestrated by Mao Zedong.
In a 2010 video of a United States Social Forum panel on “Transformative Organizing Theory” unearthed by the National Pulse, Cullors shares a story of a young activist in Arizona who showed interest in a left-wing book Cullors was promoting and compared it to Mao’s “Little Red Book.”
“He grabbed the book,” Cullors said, referring to “The 7 Components of Transformative Organizing Theory” by Eric Mann, “and he said ‘it’s like Mao’s red book.'”
Cullors was elated.
“I was like, ‘man that’s what I was thinking,’ and it was just really cool to hear him make that connection.”
BLM founder Patrisse Cullors, who describes herself as a “trained Marxist” said it’s “really cool” people think her new book “is like Mao’s Red Book” [from 2010] pic.twitter.com/ZjbJm63ort
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) May 7, 2021
Mao’s “Little Red Book” is a collection of 427 quotes Mao used as the former Chinese dictator engineered the mid-20th century cultural revolution with propaganda related to communism, socialism, Marxism and class. The work was first produced in 1964 by the People’s Liberation Army, which initially included 200 quotes from the Chinese chairman. The Ministry of Culture sought to distribute the title to every Chinese citizen and became required reading for schoolchildren.
Cullors said she recommended the Arizona activist she spoke with buy 10 to 15 of Mann’s book and form a group to discuss and disseminate its ideas.
The Hong Kong-based Dutch historian Frank Dikötter estimates at least 45 million died under Mao’s rule.
