ss creative power," and that "the people, and the people alone, are the motive force in the making of world history." The mass line consisted of a combination of mass work รป the work of building a revolution and carrying out its goals and objectives. Here again, Mao (2, 2) emphasizes pragmatism and characterizes as evil "dogmatism, empiricism, commandism, talism, sectarianism, bureaucracy, and an arrogant attitude in work." Mao (2, 3) saw the mass line as requiring the CCP and its leaders to link themselves with the masses and to "act in accordance with the needs and the wishes of the masses. All work for the masses must start from their needs and not from the desire of any individual, however, well-intentioned." He further held that the CCP should not impose changes on the masses until, through its work, "most of the masses have become conscious of the need and are wiling and determined to carry it out (Mao, 2, 3)."
These comments played out in Maoist policies prior to 1955-1956 in Mao's use of the peasantry as the basis of his revolutionary force (Chang and Halliday, 324). In October 1950, supported by the masses of the peasantry, Mao launched a nationwide campaign
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