ABSTRACT
Communist terminology commonly describes the people as “the masses.” The usage of this aggregate term for the individuals who make up Chinese society denies their individuality and aspirations and clearly reveals an elite order that lumps nonparty people into a faceless compact body that can be treated and managed as a unit. The dialogue would enable the leaders to give to the masses “frank and accurate reports” on actual conditions, thereby enabling the masses “to understand the aims and the strategy of the leading organs.” The communists were to provide the new ruling elite, but they were also to replace the Confucian ethics with a belief in a doctrine of “scientific socialism.” In the meantime an ersatz philosophy is created in a campaign officially launched by the China Federation of Trade Unions, the Communist Youth League, the China Women’s Federation, and six other mass organizations.
