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What was the Little Red Book associated with Lin Biao’s promotion of Mao Zedong’s thought?

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Lin Biao, Zhou Enlai, and other Chinese officials stand in uniform, holding up Little Red Books during a 1967 Red Guard rally in China. — Lin Biao At a 1967 Red Guard rally, Lin Biao (left) and Zhou Enlai publicly display copies of *The Little Red Book*.

The Little Red Book, formally titled Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung, was a pocket-sized collection of Mao Zedong’s statements compiled and edited by Lin Biao, who served as China’s minister of defense.12

First published by the People’s Liberation Army in 1964, the book was designed to reassert Mao’s ideological authority following the failures of the Great Leap Forward. Lin Biao utilized the compilation primarily to strengthen the cult of personality surrounding Mao. In his influential preface to the book, Lin praised Mao as the greatest Marxist-Leninist of the era and urged the public to follow his instructions.21

During the Cultural Revolution, the book became a ubiquitous symbol of loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party, often carried as a talisman to avoid persecution. While the book’s success helped elevate Lin to the role of Mao’s designated successor by 1969, his eventual downfall in 1971 led to the project being discredited and the book losing its political prominence.2