Mao's Trap

The gang of four say...
• 46 questions, some with multiple parts
• 1 point for each part
• No negatives
• Specific answers required
• Standard KQA rules on surnames, 1st answers etc.

Q1. In Marxism, the ____________ __ ___ ___________
is rule by the economic & social class of industrial
workers who derive income solely from their labour. It
It occurs during the transitional phase between the
abolition of capitalism and the establishment of
communism.
Contrary to Marx’s vision, and as George Orwell and
others had foreseen, the proposed ____________ __ ___
__ ___ ___________ eventually became a ____________
____________ of former ____________.
What is this term?

Dictatorship of the Proletariat

Q2. On November 15th 1948, KT Shah of Bihar suggested
this addition. Although not an accurate description of the
of the times, it was meant to be aspirational. He also
noted that it would be “frightening to a number of
people.”
However, the man leading the effort shot it down, saying
saying it made no sense. His prime rejoinder was that it
that it was up to the people to choose how they live,
depending on the time and circumstances. However, in
in about three decades, Shah’s suggestion was forced
upon the nation anyway.
What are we talking about? And who shot it down?

The term ‘socialist’ to the preamble of the Indian
Constitution.
(Sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic
republic)
Dr. B R Ambedkar

Q3. At a Christmas party a few years back, Jeremy
Corbyn, in a lost attempt at humour, told workers that
that “this year will be tougher than last year.” It
provoked a storm of criticism as he was quoting a
notorious figure, who, in 1967, warned his people that
that “This year will be harder than last year. On the other
other hand, it will be easier than next year.”
For more than 40 years, this man had controlled his
country with the help of the Directorate of State
Security, better known as the feared Sigurumi. More
than 100,000 people are supposed to have died under
under his rule, before he died of diabetes, a common
enough problem among commies.
Who?

Enver Hoxha
(Head of State of Albania from 1944 – 1985)

Q4. Its discovery in 1943 by German officers was
considered a coup by none other than Joseph Goebbels.
Goebbels. He successfully used it to drive a wedge
between the USSR and the West. The Fuhrer himself
promoted its use in propaganda, and the Nazis used this
this discovery to promote the dangers of Communism. So
Communism. So intent were the Nazis on proving the
the Soviet hand behind this, that they even included an
an Allied PoW in a commission to investigate the event.

Q5. He was the US Ambassador to China before being
recalled & promoted by Truman. He returned East to
to Moscow to negotiate with the Soviets, but soon felt his
felt his efforts were wasted as Stalin remained
intransigent.
After convincing Truman, who was responsible for its
its nomenclature, that the US shouldn’t wait any longer,
longer, he used the first post-war Harvard
commencement address to publicise his ideas.
What was thus first revealed to a few thousand students
on June 5, 1947?

The European Recovery Programme
OR
The Marshall Plan

Q6. This late 1930s ‘project’
is known in Russia as
Yezhovshchina or the
‘Yezhov phenomenon’ after
this man, one of the key
players involved.
How do we better it?
For an additional point, tell us
what organisation he headed.

The Great Purge/Great Terror
NKVD or People's Commissariat for Internal
Affairs
(not the KGB)

Q7. In 1964, as this person’s campaign was faltering, the
party called in a rising star to stem the tide. In a pre-
recorded oration titled A Time for Choosing (The Speech
Speech to devoted followers) X gave one of the most
rousing speeches in the modern political history of the
the US.
Unfortunately, it didn’t stop the candidate from losing by
losing by the highest margin (% of popular vote) in US
US history.
Both continued to fare well – the losing candidate
became one of the most influential figures in the rise of
of Conservatism, and X didn’t do too badly either.
Name both the people involved.

Q8. Sometime last year, a London-based non-profit
organised a seasonal program titled Red Africa, on the
the Soviet-Cuban-African relationship that flourished
flourished during the Cold War. The centrepiece of this
this was an exhibition titled _____ ___ ____.
The title was quite appropriate, as following the break
break up of the Soviet Union, the entire relationship
went down the drain.
What was the title of the exhibition?

Q9. The ________ Party is the name of two parties in
South America – one in Uruguay, and the other, more
more notable one in Paraguay.
From 1947 to 2008 this right-wing party was in power
power in Paraguay, including Alfredo Stroessner’s 35-
35-year one-party dictatorship. At one point, it even
held the record for being the longest-ruling party in
existence.
On the other hand, the ________ Party of Uruguay was
was staunchly anti-Communist, uniting moderate,
liberal and socio-democrat groups.
Neither have anything to do with a water body in the US.
US.
What is the name of the party?

Q10. During a spending review in the House of
Commons, George Osborne, the then Chancellor of
Exchequer, announced that he was planning to sell off a
off a few state assets to the Chinese.
During Labour’s response, the Shadow Chancellor threw
threw something across the table to Hammond, and said:

Mao’s Little Red Book
(which he was quoting from)

Q11. This man lives in Santa
Cruz de la Sierra under a false
false name.
In 2006, he was treated for
free for cataracts by Cuban
physicians which restored his
his sight. The treatment
seemed a fitting reply because
because the patient had
‘executed’ an order 50 years
ago.
For some people, this incident
incident proves that the
someone's legacy is not of
revenge or hate but a doctor's

Mario Teran Salazar
(the man who shot Che Guevara)

Q12. For many years skirmishes between Kottayam-
Malabar and Kolathunadu rulers were common in this
this village, whose name is believed to be derived from
from the words for "dead body" and “funeral pyre”.
In 1938 it saw the first instance of an organized mass
mass movement against landlordism in the state. The
The first clandestine meeting of the Communist Party
Party of India also supposedly happened here.
What place are we talking about?

Q13. David R. Young was a Special Assistant in the
Nixon administration’s National Security Council.
On arriving home from work on Thanksgiving
evening 1972, his grandmother asked him, "What do
do you do at the White House?"
He replied, "I am helping the President stop some
leaks."
Which group got its nickname from what his
grandmother said next?

The White House Plumbers
His grandmother replied “Oh you are a plumber?”
They were a covert White House Special Investigations
Investigations Unit, established July 24th 1971; its
members were responsible for the Watergate break-in.
break-in.

Q14. The 19th-century building was rebuilt in the 1950s
without its distinguishing feature. In the 1990s, a famous
famous architect hired to modernize the building
reinstalled this feature, which had been redesigned thus
thus –
A mirrored cone in the centre directs sunlight into the
the building – making the building largely energy
efficient. It also allows the visitors to climb up and
watch the proceedings below. This "looking down" is
is intentional as it put the people above those who
rule them.
What are we talking about?
(Be specific – we want the building’s distinguishing
feature)

Q15. While talking about his new super-group , this
musician had this to say –
“We're an elite task force of revolutionary musicians
musicians determined to confront this mountain of
of election year bullshit, and confront it head-on
with Marshall stacks blazing.”
He once jokingly described Barack Obama as his
“doppelganger” – born 3 years apart, they both have
fathers who were active in Kenyan politics, white
American mothers, and Harvard degrees.
Who is this musician?

Tom Morello
(of Rage against the Machine)

Q16. The oldest free public reference library in the UK,
Chetham’s Library, was established in 1653 and has
been in operation ever since.
In 1845 the library became the meeting place for 2
people, who developed the habit of studying together at
together at the table in this alcove. The library has
preserved the alcove over the years and still holds the
the books studied by them.
Who were these people?

Frederich Engels and Karl Marx
Engels lived in Manchester and Marx visited
him frequently. The meetings at the Chetham

Q17. Ravachol was a French anarchist who was
guillotined by the French government in 1892 for his
his involvement in two incidents of bombing. He
became a somewhat romanticised symbol of desperate
desperate revolt, with a number of French songs being
being composed in his honour.
In 1893, Auguste Vaillant, another anarchist, decided
decided to avenge Ravachol’s death but ended up being
being guillotined too.
36 years later, Vaillant’s action inspired another
revolutionary in a different part of the world.
Who was this revolutionary?
He basically copycatted what Vaillant did.

Bhagat Singh
Vaillant threw home made bombs into the
French Chamber of Deputies. His bombs were
were weak and meant to cause only slight
injuries.
In 1928 Bhagat Singh threw a bomb into the
the Central Legislative Assembly in Delhi. His
His intention was not to kill anyone but to
“make the deaf hear”.

Q18. On a tour of the front lines during World War I,
this American journalist somehow managed to cross
cross over to the entrenchments of the Germans,
where, at the invitation of a German officer, he fired a
fired a couple of shots in the direction of the French.
French. News of this exploit got out after his return to
to New York, and the French quite understandably
refused to let him back into France.
So he made his next trip to the Eastern Front. The
journey brought him to Russia, and to a passion for the
the country that would determine the course of the rest
rest of his life.
Who is this, one of only three Americans buried in the
Kremlin Wall Necropolis?

John Reed
(Author of Ten Days That Shook The World)

Q19. Germany became the first nation in the world to
adopt a social insurance program in 1889. The
program was introduced in Germany in order to
promote the wellbeing of workers so that the German
German economy operated at maximum efficiency,
and also to stave-off calls for more radical socialist
alternatives.
Who was the main force behind this program?
A persistent myth about this program is that it adopted
adopted the age of 65 as the standard retirement age
age because it was this person’s age at that time.

Q20. Anastasio ‘Tacho’ Somoza García was officially the
21st President of Nicaragua, but ruled as dictator from
from 1936 until his assassination in 1956. He started a
a dynasty that maintained absolute control over
Nicaragua for 44 years.
Even though he was a ruthless dictator, the United States
States continued to support his regime as a non-
communist stronghold . President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Roosevelt (FDR) supposedly remarked in 1939 that
“Somoza may be a ___ __ _ _____, but he's our ___ __
___ __ _ _____”.
Considered apocryphal now, this statement has been
attributed to a variety of US administrations in regard to
regard to foreign dictators.

Q21. What is Esteban Volkov talking about?

The assassination of Leon Trotsky

Q22. P. Lankesh started his eponymous weekly in 1980
with the aim of highlighting issues faced by the poor,
Dalits, women and other marginalised sections of society.
society.
What weekly, first published on 11th February 1932, was
Patrike modelled on?
Patrike brought an irreverent, honest and critical tone
into Kannada journalism, for example, by dubbing then
then CM as ‘Gum’, and senior minister & future CM as
as ‘Bum’. This so infuriated the chief minister that he was
was soon making remarks about throwing journalists
into the Arabian sea.
Who were the two politicians?

Mahatma Gandhi’s Harijan
Gundu Rao was Gum
S Bangarappa was Bum

Q23. It started on 25th December, so General ‘Mad
Max’ Thurman ordered that Christmas music be
played.
For the next 8 days, a bank of loudspeakers blared
music by Guns N’ Roses, The Doors, Billy Idol, Black
Black Sabbath, Funkadelic, Bruce Cockburn, Lee
Greenwood, Twisted Sister etc. By January 3rd 1990,
1990, this opera fan had had enough and gave himself
himself up.
Who?

Q24. Despite its questionable effectiveness, the use of
music for torture became widespread, most infamously
infamously against those held at Guantanamo Bay.
To mark the 60th anniversary of a landmark UN
resolution, in 2008 Reprieve UK and musicians like
Rage Against the Machine, Massive Attack etc. launched
launched a campaign to highlight such abuse, and to get
get governments to stop using their music for torture.

Zero dB
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Q25. Which Nobel Memorial-prize winning political
economist’s work is being alluded to here?

Q26. The earliest use of this epithet was in early 1860s
Missouri to label people opposed to the abolition of
slavery, as they “valued white people over black people”.
people”.
Its current use can be traced back to a 1996 novel, where
where it was used to refer to an overly sensitive person,
person, incapable of dealing with opinions differing from
from their own. Initially used to deride millennials who
who needed ‘safe-spaces’, it is now the epithet of choice
choice for the US Right to deride liberals of all ages.
What’s the good word?
Also identify the 1996 novel, later adapted into a cult film
of the same name.

Snowflake
Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club

Q27. He founded the Dasholi Gram Swarajya Mandal in
1964 to organize villagers for self-employment, but a
decade later became the (one of the) face of a
revolutionary movement. This movement was directly
directly inspired by a ‘sacrifice’ committed by 363
villagers in Rajasthan back in 1730 AD.
Identify this revolutionary, seen here receiving the 2013
Gandhi Peace prize.
Also identify the villagers OR the 1730 incident.

Chandi Prasad Bhatt
(of the Chipko movement)
Bishnois
OR
the Khejarli massacre

Q28. Opera based on Ann Patchett’s award-winning
2001 novel, a fictionalized re-telling of a 1996 event.
The novel/opera get its name from the Italian phrase for
for “beautiful song/singing”.
What phrase?
The radical group involved in this event was founded in
in the early 1980s with the aim of establishing a socialist
socialist state & ridding the country of all imperialist
elements. It was named in homage to an 18th century
rebel leader, who was himself named after his
‘illustrious’ 16th century ancestor.
Identify the group OR the 18th century rebel after whom it
was named.

Bel Canto
The Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement
(or Tupac Amaru II)
Tupac Amaru was the last indigenous monarch
of the Inca peoples.

Q29. In January 2016, a group of 150 armed, libertarian
militants led by Ammon Bundy took over the Malheur
Malheur Wildlife Refuge in Oregon – the culmination of
of a long-running dispute with the government over
rights to public land. Hacks on the internet were quick to
quick to ridicule them, resurrecting a phrase coined by
by sports broadcaster Jason Marks in 2011.
What phrase?

Y’All Qaeda
(also called YewHadists, Vanilla ISIS, Yokel Haram
Haram etc.)

Q30. The Oregonian reported on this incident with an
article headlined “Effort to free federal lands” - an effort
effort that was soon widely condemned.
Which Portland resident & literary giant responded thus
to the newspaper’s shoddy reporting?
“The headline is inaccurate and irresponsible. The article that
that follows is a mere mouthpiece for the scofflaws illegally
illegally occupying public buildings and land, repeating their
their lies and distortions of history and law.
Ammon Bundy and his bullyboys aren't trying to free federal
federal lands, but to hold them hostage… The people it doesn't
doesn't belong to and who don't belong there are those who
who grabbed it by force of arms, flaunting their contempt for
for the local citizens…
Instead of parroting the meaningless rants of a flock of Right-
Right-Winged Loonybirds infesting the refuge, why doesn't The

Q31. Flag of Aung San Su Kyi’s National League for
Democracy that was setup in the aftermath of the
8888 uprising.
What nickname does this flag have?
Why were the Burmese pro-democracy protests
labelled as the 8888 uprising?

Fighting Peacock
8th August 1988

Q32. 1819 poem by Percy Shelley seen as the first
modern statement of the principle of non-violence. Some
Some consider it the greatest political poem written in
in English.
Give us the title of the poem OR identify the event that
Shelley was responding to in his poem.
Jeremy Corbyn frequently quoted the last stanzas of this
this poem during the 2017 election campaign, with
many suggesting that the title of Labour’s 2017
manifesto was derived from the poem.
What was Labour’s manifesto called?

The Masque of Anarchy
OR
The Peterloo Massacre
For the Many, Not the Few

Q33. Eco-socialists/Ecological Marxists are critical of
traditional Green politics & environmentalism, arguing
arguing that such politics cosies up to capitalism, which
which is the root cause of poverty, war, and
environmental destruction. They also criticize left-wing
wing collectivism/state-capitalism saying that a top-
top-down approach ignores indigenous rights, the issue
issue of the commons over private property etc.
Right wing critics like Petr Beckman and Walter
Brookes (who also criticize environmentalism)
pejoratively call such people ___________, stating that
stating that they may be “Green on the outside, but are
are Red on the inside”.

Q34. Yanis Varoufakis compares 2 versions of the same story to
illustrate the change in early modern Europe from that of “societies
“societies with markets” to “market societies”.
In the late 16th century version, our hero is a philosophical &
religious rebel, who takes on debt by offering “the ultimate form of
form of interest”. Usury was considered a mortal sin then, and so our
so our hero is deservedly punished at the end of the play.
By the early 19th century, debt/interest & profit had partnered up,
up, with Europe transforming into a “market society”. Protestantism
Protestantism had also taken hold – an ethic that praised the
merchant, a person who directed his own affairs – usury was no
no longer seen as a sin. Our hero gains redemption by performing
performing good deeds & public service, and therefore, is not
punished for making the debt/interest bargain. Incidentally, this
this latter play is the more popular version.
What story? Identify both playwrights.

Faust & Mephistopheles
1590 – Christopher Marlowe (Doctor Faustus)
1808 – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (Faust)

Q35. Nisi Shawl’s steampunk + alternate history novel
chooses as its historical point of divergence the
moment when the ______ _______ – an organisation
organisation that was involved in the founding of the
the Labour Party & The New Statesman – decides not
not to endow a college, but opts to buy large tracts of
of land from King Leopold and create a safe haven for
for refugees fleeing from tyranny. In partnership with
with African-American missionaries, the nation of
Everfair is thus founded, with its people working to
to develop technology to protect them from European
European powers.
Identify this real life socialist organisation.
What ‘college’ was setup in our world?

The Fabian Society
The London School of Economics

Q36. Four rebellions have occurred here since the 1960s,
the most recent in 2012, led by the National Movement
Movement for the Liberation of Azawad. The primary
cause has been the post-colonial division of what was
traditionally the territory of a group of nomadic people
people between different countries.
Just identify the group of nomadic people.

Q37. The 3rd rebellion in 1990 included among the
rebels members of a musical group formed in the 1970s
1970s by Ibrahim Ag Alhabib. Alhabib’s father was
executed in the 1963 rebellion, and he grew up in
various refugee camps where he met his bandmates. The
The group were only part-time musicians, and enlisted
enlisted in Gadaffi’s army in the 1980s to receive
military training. When the rebellion ended in 1991
with the Tamanrasset peace accords, the group decided
decided to become musicians full-time.
Just identify the band.

Q38A. This scientific sounding term AC was an ideal of
the revolution, though the term itself was not used. The
The revolution would, it was thought, create new, better
better Soviet people. A 1974 monograph used AC
seriously, saying “Soviet Union is the fatherland of a
new, more advanced type of AB – AC”.
Alexander Zinoviev wrote a book titled AC, where he
used it in the opposite sense, to refer sarcastically to an
an average conformist person in the Soviet Union, also
also observed in other communist countries.
In 1989, sociologists led by Yuri Levada began to study
study what they called AC (English translation), an
artificial construct of doublethink, paternalism,
suspicion and isolationism, as they erroneously thought
thought it was vanishing.

Q38B. The term AD is used in social sciences as an
idealisation in models. An English version of AD was
used by John Stuart Mill in his Political Economy. It is
is also found in an 1906 work by Pareto.
The OED traces it back to an 1883 work by CS Devas,
Devas, where he commented on Mill's work writing
“Mill has only examined the AD, or the dollar-hunting
hunting animal”.
A couple of recent Nobel prizes have been awarded for
for showing AD isn't quite true or useful in reality.
What is the term AD?

AC = Homo sovieticus
AD = Homo economicus

Q39A. Futurist poet Vladimir Mayakovsky started the
first of the poem cycle in 1920 as a tribute to a 50th
birthday celebration going on all over the country.
The second, titled “We do not believe”, was written in
in response to sad (joyous?) news from 1923.
What did Mayakovsky and others not believe?.

Q39B. The last of the poem cycle in 1924, with an apt 3
word title, was praised (?) by the Life of Art magazine

A. That Lenin was dying / dead
B. 1
Who needs a “1”?
The voice of a “1”
is thinner than a squeak.
Who will hear it?
Only the wife...
A “1” is nonsense.
A “1” is zero.

Q40. Built in 1898 to serve as the HQ of Rossiya, or the
All-Russia Insurance Company, it is situated in its
namesake square. It served its original purpose until
1917, before it was taken over for an infamous purpose
purpose in 1919, which is what we know it for even
now. As it was running out of space, an expansion was
was planned and going on even as late as 1983. What?
What?
A joke from its heydays, related to its basement, was that
that it was the tallest building in Moscow.
Why was it considered the tallest building in Moscow?

Lubyanka
Siberia (aka the Gulag) could be seen
from its basement

Q41. Originally titled Sonnenfinsternis, it was the 2nd in
what was later classified as a trilogy of novels. It is about
about an old Bolshevik arrested for treason against the
the government he helped create, and is a thinly veiled
veiled account of the Moscow show trials. Well known
known under its English translation's title, which came
came from Victor Hugo, and refers to the unnatural
condition at mid day during the crucifixion of Jesus.
What is this English title?
The trilogy - The Gladiators, Sonnenfinsternis, and
Arrival and Departure, is unusual in a way, showing the
range of its author.
How is the trilogy unusual?

Darkness at Noon, by Arthur Koestler
Each part was first written/published in a
different language
Gladiators was published in Hungarian
Darkness at Noon written & published in
German
Arrival and Departure was written/published in
English

Q42. The phrase was famously used in the novel 1984
as an example of an obviously false dogma. Descartes
Descartes used it as an idea that has no reality outside
outside the mind. In a 1789 work about the 3rd Estates,

Q43. The Dewey Commission headed by philosopher
John Dewey was setup in 1937 by the American
Committee for the ____ ____ ____ ____ , to investigate
investigate claims against a specific person. The
commission included John Dos Passos, Sidney Hook,
Hook, Reinhold Neibuhr, Norman Thomas and Edmund
Edmund Wilson among its 13 members. After multiple
multiple hearings in US and south of the border, the
committee issued its findings titled “Not Guilty” in Sep
Sep 1937, clearing ____ ____ of all charges.
During the Nuremberg trials, Orwell, Wells, and others
others wrote an open letter suggesting that Rudolph
Hess and capturedGestapo records be examined to verify
verify the conclusions reached by the Dewey
Commission.

Defence of Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky was found not guilty of charges
charges against him in the Moscow Show
Trials

Q44. One of the last show trials in European
communist countries happened in this country, when
when it was the turn of the fleeing dictator to face one.
one. He was convicted and executed with his wife 5
minutes after he was found guilty of genocide &
crimes against national economy among other things.
things. This was the last instance of death penalty in
in this country, as it was soon abolished. Which
country?
When the revolution was going on, a version of the
country's tricolor flag (drapelul cu gaură) was flown by
Mihai Viteazul. Others quickly followed this, and it
became an iconic symbol of the protests. Even now this
this version of the flag is flown during anti-
government protests in the country.

Romania
Flag with a hole / Flag with communist coat of arms
in the centre removed

Q45. He claimed to have worked under Auguste Escoffier
at the Carlton Hotel in London for many years starting in
starting in 1913. Escoffier supposedly offered to teach
teach him cooking and the art of making desserts if he
he abandoned his revolutionary ideas. In 1917, after the
the teenage emperor of his country was overthrown by
by colonial forces, he left London on a new mission, and
and later took a name that meant “He who has been
enlightened”.
Who?

Q46. After Congo's independence from Belgium,
Lumumba became its democratic leader. He was
assassinated a year later and this precipitated a rebellion
rebellion in 1964. The rebel army loyal to Lumumba
took on a name from a Swahili word that entered
cultural consciousness world wide about 30 years later.
later. Che Guevara was one of its advisors, and they took
took Americans and Europeans (including nuns) hostage,
hostage, requiring a rescue effort.
What was this rebel army/rebellion called?

Simba, meaning Big Lion in Swahili

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