Primary Source Document
with Questions (DBQs)
H O W T O B E A G O O D C O M M U N I S T ( 1 9 3 9 )
B y L i u S h a o q i
Introduction
Liu Shaoqi (1898-1969) attended the University of the Toilers of the East in Moscow, where he became a member of
the Communist Party. He returned to China in 1922 and was one of Mao Zedong’s early supporters. After the
establishment of the People’s Republic of China, he was active in economic programs and was President of the PRC
from 1959 to 1968. When Mao’s “Great Leap Forward,” begun in 1958, led to widespread famine in the early 1960s,
Liu moved to oppose Mao’s policies. By 1968, Mao had removed Liu from his Party positions and Liu disappeared.
After Mao’s death, Liu’s fate became known: He had been incarcerated and died of untreated diabetes and
pneumonia in 1969. He wrote How to Be a Good Communist in 1939.
Selected Document Excerpt with Questions
How
to
Be
a
Good
Communist
(1939)

By
Liu
Shaoqi



A
good
Communist
Party
member
is
one
who
combines
the
great
and
lofty
ideals
of

Communism
with
practical
work
and
the
spirit
of
searching
for
the
truth
from
concrete
facts.

What
is
the
most
fundamental
and
common
duty
of
us
Communist
Party
members?
As

everybody
 knows,
 it
 is
 to
 establish
 Communism,
 to
 transform
 the
 present
 world
 into
 a

Communist
world.
Is
a
Communist
world
good
or
not?
We
all
know
that
it
is
very
good.
In

such
 a
 world
 there
 will
 be
 no
 exploiters,
 oppressors,
 landlords,
 capitalists,
 imperialists,
 or

fascists.
 There
 will
 be
 no
 oppressed
 and
 exploited
 people,
 no
 darkness,
 ignorance,

backwardness,
 etc.
 In
 such
 a
 society
 all
 human
 beings
 will
 become
 unselfish
 and
 intelligent

Communists
 with
 a
 high
 level
 of
 culture
 and
 technique.
 The
 spirit
 of
 mutual
 assistance
 and

mutual
 love
 will
 prevail
 among
 mankind.
 There
 will
 be
 no
 such
 irrational
 things
 as
 mutual

deception,
mutual
antagonism,
mutual
slaughter
and
war,
etc.
Such
a
society
will,
of
course,
be

the
best,
the
most
beautiful,
and
the
most
advanced
society
in
the
history
of
mankind.
Who
will

say
that
such
a
society
is
not
good?


At
all
times
and
on
all
questions,
a
Communist
Party
member
should
take
into
account

the
interests
of
the
Party
as
a
whole,
and
place
the
Party’s
interests
above
his
personal
problems

and
 interests.
 It
 is
 the
 highest
 principle
 of
 our
 Party
 members
 that
 the
 Party’s
 interests
 are

supreme.


Primary Source Document with Questions (DBQs) on
HOW TO BE A GOOD COMMUNIST, BY LIU SHAOQI (1939)
Asia for Educators l Columbia University l http://afe.easia.columbia.edu Page 2 of 2
A
 Communist
 Party
 member
 should
 possess
 all
 the
 greatest
 and
 noblest
 virtues
 of

mankind.
 He
 should
 also
 possess
 the
 strict
 and
 clear‑cut
 standpoint
 of
 the
 Party
 and
 of
 the

proletariat
(that
is,
Party
spirit
and
class
character).
Our
ethics
are
great
precisely
because
they

are
 the
 ethics
 of
 Communism
 and
 of
 the
 proletariat.
 Such
 ethics
 are
 not
 built
 upon
 the

backward
basis
of
safeguarding
the
interest
of
individuals
or
a
small
number
of
exploiters.
They

are
built,
on
the
contrary,
upon
the
progressive
basis
of
the
interests
of
the
proletariat,
of
the

ultimate
 emancipation
 of
 mankind
 as
 a
 whole,
 of
 saving
 the
 world
 from
 destruction
 and
 of

building
a
happy
and
beautiful
Communist
world.




Questions:
1. What are the ideals that a Communist Party member should hold?
2. If you were a Communist Party member, or aspired to be, how would you
put Liu’s abstract advice into concrete practice in your own life?
3. Does Liu’s description of how to be a good Communist have anything in
common with Confucian morality?