Daily Inspiration Quote by Jiang Qing

Jiang Qing’s line reads like a warning and a weapon at once: if “peaceful coexistence” is impossible, then compromise isn’t prudence, it’s decay. The phrasing is deliberately absolute. “Cannot” shuts the door on pluralism; “corrupts” moralizes the issue, turning a strategic disagreement into a hygienic panic. Ideological difference isn’t treated as something to manage but as contamination to purge.

The intent is inseparable from her political role during the Cultural Revolution, where purity was policy and ambiguity was guilt. “Ideological realm” is the key escape hatch: by relocating conflict from material conditions to thought itself, the statement authorizes surveillance over culture, education, and everyday speech. If coexistence is corruption, then tolerance becomes complicity, and moderation becomes a sign you’ve already been infected. That logic doesn’t just justify struggle sessions; it needs them.

There’s subtext here about power as much as principle. Declaring coexistence impossible pre-empts coalition-building and forecloses rivals who might advocate a softer line. It’s a prophylactic against détente, both domestically and internationally, at a time when “peaceful coexistence” was also a Soviet slogan associated with ideological relaxation and geopolitical bargaining. Jiang’s formulation reframes any easing of pressure as betrayal, keeping the revolution permanently “alive” by keeping enemies permanently present.

The rhetorical trick is that it sounds like realism while functioning as escalation. By treating peace as corruption, it makes conflict feel like integrity.