Nothing
The four agitators “came from Moscow” to make “propaganda,” and build up “the Chinese party” in the factories. The very first thing they had planned to do was to demand a guide who would be able to help them. Fortunately for them, there was a young comrade who was more than willing to assist. However, he wanted something in return. First of all, he needed help, for there was “scarcity and disorder everywhere.” People suffered, for there was “little bread and much struggle.” The man asked if they had brought any locomotives, tractors or seed with them. The answer was no. The four agitators didn’t even brought a letter from the Central Committee. The irony was that they didn’t bring anything, but dared to demand a guide. They said that they brought “the ABC of communism,” but who would even need it in the times of despair and hunger?
Impossible
The four agitators were not moved by the young comrade’s despair; they had seen too many young people like him. They brought the Chinese party and workers nothing but books. They were going to enlighten “the ignorant” about “their condition,” “the oppressed” about “class consciousness,” and “the class consciousness” about “the experience of revolution.” The irony of the situation was that the ignorant, the oppressed, and other classes knew everything they needed to know about the conditions they lived in, at least much more than did the four agitators. The four agitators forgot that a hungry person worried only about bread.
The value of knowledge
In the city of Mukden, the four agitators “made propaganda among the workers.” They had “no bread for the hungry but only knowledge for ignorant.” Therefore they spoke “of the root cause of poverty, did not abolish poverty,” but spoke of “the abolition of the root cause.” The irony was that they didn’t tell the workers anything knew. They were aware of the fact that they were terribly underpaid, and knew that it was not right. What was more, changes were about to make the situation even worse for some of them. Even Bertolt Brecht couldn’t imagine how many years it would take the Chinese communists to overcome poverty.
