“Politics is war without bloodshed, while war is politics with bloodshed.”

–Mao Zedong

Today marks the day Mao Zedong published the “A Single Spark Can Start a Prairie Fire” in 1930. This was in a series of work that Mao wrote, in order to bring a Communist Regime in the People’s Republic of China. In this regard, what separated Mao’s brand of Communism for China from the USSR was: it had been driven by revolutionary activity from the peasants, instead of workers.

When linking this to the contemporary time, it is imperative to realize that Pakistan is moving slowly but surely to a Substantive Democracy. We have noted freedom of judiciary and transference of power in the previous half decade. But, as an ideology, we can learn from Mao’s brand of Communism to improve the current status quo. It can serve as the key to ameliorating the state of Pakistan’s rural population. As the Civil Society, it is imperative to assist the rural class in attaining a quality education, where it can learn to critically think. This will ensure that Pakistan modernizes its economy in the long run. Moreover, it will ensure all stratifications of the population can ameliorate their quality of life, since they can eventually make critically thought out demands from elected governments.