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PaperclipPerfector  5mo ago (text post)   27479 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of November 27, 2023

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I was wondering if sun_the_second was referencing the old Mao story about Italians. I've seen it in a couple forms and I think the main source is Khruschev's memoirs.

Mao: In the worst case, half the people would die, but the other half would survive, and imperialism would be wiped off the face of the earth, and the whole world would become socialist.

Italian Communist: How many Italians will survive?

Mao: None at all. But why do you think Italians are so important to humanity?

That must have been what I was thinking of since it's from the 1957 Moscow Conference of Communist countries. I read it first in Julia Lovell's "Maoism: A Global History". I do remember it having a little more, or maybe just her having some specific commentary, but unfortunately I've only got the physical book and can't search through it.

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