At least they haven’t changed in China for the past 76 years. On this date, September 21st, Mao Zedong announced at the opening of the 1949 Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference in Peking (now Beijing) that the new Chinese government would thereafter be “under the leadership of the Communist Party of China.” [“This Day In History,” History.com, September 21, 2025.]

Since the 1920s, Mao and his communist supporters had been fighting to wrest control from what he called the corrupt and decadent Nationalist Chinese government. Despite U.S. support for the Nationalists, Mao’s forces finally claimed victory in 1949, and the Nationalist government was driven out of China onto the island of Taiwan.

Yes, that is the same Taiwan that today’s Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, claims is the rightful property of his country and threatens to take by force. So, other than 76 years of technological and economic advancement, not much else has changed in China.

Amidst much flag-waving and cannon-firing, Mao vowed on that autumn day in 1949 to establish a constitutional and governmental framework to protect the so-called “people’s revolution,” announcing:

“Our state system of the People’s Democratic Dictatorship is a powerful weapon for safeguarding the fruits of victory of the people’s revolution and for opposing plots of foreign and domestic enemies to stage a comeback. We must firmly grasp this weapon. The era in which the Chinese were regarded as uncivilized is now over. We will emerge in the world as a highly civilized nation.” [Id.]

He labeled those who opposed the communist government as “imperialistic and domestic reactionaries,” and said that in the future, China would foster the friendship of “the Soviet Union and the new democratic countries.” [Id.]

For China, this is old news, ancient history. What is disturbing, however, is the echo of his words that we are hearing today — three-quarters of a century later — right here in the United States: “plots of foreign and domestic enemies” . . . “imperialistic and domestic reactionaries” . . . “We will emerge in the world as a highly civilized nation.”

In 1949, it was Mao “making China great again.” And we all know how that has turned out.

*. *. *

“Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.”

How many times have we heard that? Truisms become truisms, not simply because they are repeated, but because they prove themselves over time to be true.

We cannot afford to forget today’s history lesson; we are already seeing it repeated . . . but on this side of the Pacific.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
9/21/25