Essay: Serve the People

Overview
"Serve the People" is a succinct, rhetorical essay and speech delivered by Mao Tse-Tung in 1944 that exhorts Party cadres, soldiers, and supporters to place the interests of the masses above personal gain. It frames service to the people as the defining moral and political duty of revolutionaries, tying everyday conduct to the broader goals of the Chinese Communist movement. The piece is compact and direct, built around moral exhortation rather than dense theoretical argument.

Context and Purpose
Written during the later stages of the anti-Japanese and civil conflicts, the essay responds to concerns about privilege, corruption, and distance between leaders and the population they claimed to represent. It was addressed to members of the Chinese Communist Party and the Red Army at a time when popular support and discipline were politically crucial. The immediate occasion included the death of a soldier, which Mao used as a springboard to emphasize the ethical meaning of sacrifice and to encourage humility among officials.

Main Arguments
Mao insists that the legitimacy of the Party derives from its service to the people, and that every official action must be measured by whether it benefits the masses. He denounces special treatment, ostentation, and bureaucratic separation from the populace, arguing that such behaviors undermine revolutionary goals. Central to the essay is the claim that true revolutionary virtue requires readiness to sacrifice personal comfort or even life for the people's interests; this is captured in the memorable contrast that dying for the people is weightier than Mount Tai, while living for them can be lighter than a feather.

Ethics and Practice
The piece links ethical posture with concrete practices: leaders are to live simply, share burdens with ordinary people, and willingly accept criticism or even punishment when their conduct harms the masses. Mao promotes a culture of mutual accountability and moral example rather than reliance on formal rules alone. Service is presented not as a temporary tactic but as a continuous discipline informing how power is exercised and how interpersonal relations within the movement should be organized.

Rhetorical Style and Symbols
Economical language, vivid metaphors, and concrete anecdotes characterize the writing, allowing broad accessibility and emotional appeal. Personal stories and emblematic images, of soldiers, peasants, and everyday acts of service, stand in for abstract theory, making the exhortation feel immediate and practicable. The symbolic weight of sacrifice and simple living draws on cultural references to duty and honor, repurposed to legitimate the political project and to inspire grassroots fidelity.

Legacy and Impact
"Serve the People" became one of the Chinese Communist Party's most cited moral statements, frequently invoked in cadre training, propaganda, and public ceremonies. Its central slogan shaped expectations of conduct for officials and soldiers and provided a normative standard against which behavior was judged. Over time, the phrase and its ideas were mobilized in varying ways: as a sincere call for humility and mass connection, as an educational ideal in civic campaigns, and at moments as a rhetorical instrument for political discipline. Its brevity and clarity helped ensure its lasting presence in the rhetoric of the Chinese revolutionary state.