Rereading these documents as my own class continues to work through Animal Farm, I am continually struck by the similarities. Mao Tse Tung wrote of the conflict between the accounts of the peasants and the gentry, which compares to the differences between the pigs' proclomations and the other animals' experiences. My favorite line from Liu Shaoqui's document is "heighten our comrades' sense of the need to subornidate themselves to the majority." This line, along with his distinction between inner-party and mass workers shows that even in communism, or perhaps especially in communism, this distinction occurs. As a class, when we talk about communism as a workable theory, we look at the nuclear family. As toddlers, they contributed what they could and they recieved what they need, even if it was more or less than another family member. Even in a family, however, decisions are usually made by the inner circle parents, and not by the mass worker children. Pervasive in both documents is the idea that while workers have rights and dignity, they are not necessarily capable of making the best decisions without guidance. This highlights the differences between communism as it is practiced and modern democracies. I don't like my neighbors voting choice, but I generally accept her right to vote.
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