Mencius — A Trumpeter for Restoring the Slave System

Abstract

Born in what is now known as Shantung Province's Tsou hsien, Mencius (c. 390-305 B.C.), whose family name was Meng and his name K'o, was a student of a disciple of Tzu Ssu who was Confucius' grandson. Mencius was a trumpeter for restoring the slave system and was long revered by the reactionary ruling classes as the No. 2 sage, second only to Confucius, because he had inherited and made contributions in developing the reactionary theories of the Confucian school. The so-called policy of benevolence, which was incisively criticized by Chairman Mao in On the People's Democratic Dictatorship, was a reactionary slogan which Mencius had done his utmost to advertise in his effort to restore the slave system. By criticizing his reactionary words and deeds and. analyzing the class content of his political line, we can better understand how the overthrown reactionary classes worked overtime to revive the old system and how they viciously attacked the new system. Through such criticism and analysis, we can also...