BANNEDTHOUGHT.NET

Radical or Revolutionary Journalists and Writers

Banned or Difficult to Find Books and Articles

      This page is devoted to making available the banned or very difficult to find books, articles and other works by a number of important international journalists and writers. These people often reported from different countries at different times, and for that reason it seems better to make their work available here. (There are often links to their works within the individual country sections of BannedThought.net as well, when those works relate to that country specifically.)

      This section of BannedThought.net is just getting started, and we hope to greatly expand it in the future.

      If you know of other books, articles or other items by radical or revolutionary journalists, which are suppressed or at least very difficult to find, and which should therefore be posted here, please contact us at: freespeech@bannedthought.net

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Burchett, Wilfred G.   (1911-1983)
        [Australian journalist sympathetic to radical and communist revolutions, who especially focused on the Vietnamese Revolution.]

• 1940s-1950s:
  • [Book:]   Democracy With a Tommygun, (Melbourne/London: 1946), 300 pages. With reports on events, struggles and revolutions at the end of World War II in China, India, Burma, Australia, the Philippines and Japan.   PDF format   [15,028 KB]
  • [Book:]   China’s Feet Unbound, (London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1952), 196 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [29,748 KB]
• Works About Wilfred Burchett:
  • [Book:]   Rebel Journalism — The Writings of Wilfred Burchett, edited by his son George Burchett and Nick Shimmin, (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2008), 337 pages. Thirty journalistic reports from 1941-1981.   Searchable PDF format   [14,174 KB]

Engst, Fred   [阳和平 Yáng Hépíng]   (1952-  )
        [Born-in-China economist and writer about revolutionary China, son of the Americans Joan Hinton & Erwin (Sid) Engst (see below).]

• 2000s:
  • “Mass Organizations and Socialism in China: A Preliminary Analysis of the Cultural Revolution Experience”, by Fred Engst, July 2006, 19 pages.   English: Searchable PDF format   [167 KB];   English: MS Word format (.doc)   [138 KB]  
  • “On the Relationship between Democracy, Public Sentiment, and Class Rule”, a talk delivered at the Utopian Bookstore, end of October 2007, by Fred Engst, 17 pages.   English: Searchable PDF format   [268 KB];   English: MS Word format (.doc)   [199 KB]  
  • “Different Experiences Working in China in the Mao Era and in America”, by Fred Engst (Yang Heping), a talk given on December 27, 2009, 8 pages.   Chinese: PDF Format (311 KB)   English translation: PDF Format (57 KB)
• 2010s:
  • “Tribute to My Parents”, by Fred Engst, June 20, 2010, 3 pages (in Chinese and English).   Searchable PDF format   [105 KB];   MS Word format (.doc)   [28 KB]  
  • “The Rise of China and Its Implications”, by Fred Engst, University of International Business and Economics, Beijing. This is the edited and approved version of this important essay, parts of which were presented at the ILPS 4th International Assembly in the Philippines on July 9, 2011. 15 pages.   PDF Version (204 KB);   MS Word Version (60 KB) * “Experiences Working in Guanghua Timber Mill during the Cultural Revolution”, an interview of Fred Engst by Lao Tian, n.d., translated into English, 15 pages.   PDF Format (79 KB)
  • “Experiences Working in Guanghua Timber Mill during the Cultural Revolution”, an interview of Fred Engst by Lao Tian, n.d., translated into English, 15 pages.   PDF Format (79 KB)
  • “On the Relationship Between the Working Class and Its Party Under Socialism”, by Fred Engst, February 2015, 37 pages. This very important new paper focuses on the question of how revolutionary power can be maintained by the proletariat over the long term, and brings out some important lessons learned from the initial successes and then eventual failure (after Mao’s death) of the Cultural Revolution in China. It criticizes some of the bourgeois ideas that have recently developed in China that multi-party democracy and the “rule of law” are the way to ensure genuine socialism. Instead, it argues that the economic basis for the development of capitalist-roaders can be largely eliminated by abolishing “bureaucratic privileges” for Party members, and that mass organizations of the sort which developed in the Cultural Revolution can be institutionalized to criticize Party members and units in which capitalist-roaders start to develop.   PDF format (487 KB);   MS Word format (302 KB)
  • “Imperialism, Ultra-imperialism and the Rise of China”, by Fred Engst, August 2017, 19 pages.   English: Searchable PDF format   [1,305 KB];   English: MS Word format (.docx)   [853 KB]  
  • “A Retrospective Reflection on Vanguardism — Questions about Huang Jisu’s Article”, by Fred Engst, January 2018, 10 pages.   English: Searchable PDF format   [133 KB]
    Chinese version: “就先锋队理论百年的回首与黄纪苏老师磋商”   Chinese: MS Word format (.docx)   [46 KB]  
  • “On Class Struggle in China During the Mao Era”, by Fred Engst, October 2019 (slightly revised as of 2024-04-20), 44 pages.   English: Searchable PDF format   [902 KB]  
  • “Interview with Fred Engst on Key Lessons of the Cultural Revolution”, interviewed by Abbie Moses in December 2022, 35 pages. Discusses many very interesting points about the GPCR.   Searchable PDF Format   (159 KB);  

    
    

  Hinton, Joan   (1921-2010)
  [American physicist who later lived in and wrote about revolutionary China, along with her husband Erwin (Sid) Engst.]

  • Writings by Joan Hinton and/or Erwin (Sid) Engst:
    • “The Second Superpower”, by Joan Hinton, 2005, about 2 pages. Online on the website of the Bejing International Peace Vigil at: http://peace.blogsport.eu/issues/the-second-superpower/
    • [Book:]   “寒春 阳早画传” （Life and Times of Two American “Reds” Joan Hinton and Erwin (Sid) Engst in China） 阳和平(编著), 李维民(编著), 2018, 288 pages.   Chinese: PDF format   [Very large file: 73,402 KB]
  • Writings about Joan Hinton and Erwin (Sid) Engst:
    • [Book:]   Silage Choppers and Snake Spirits: The Lives and Struggles of Two Americans in Modern China, (Paris: Foreign Languages Press, 2019), 400 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [2,000 KB]
  
  

  Hinton, William   (1919-2004)
          [American Marxist writer whose work focused on the Chinese Revolution.]

  • 1970s:
    • [Book:]   Hundred Day War: The Cultural Revolution at Tsinghua University, by William Hinton, (NY: MR Press, 1972), 288 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [4,077 KB]
    • [Book:]   Turning Point in China: An Essay on the Cultural Revolution, by William Hinton, (NY: MR Press, 1972), 116 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [3,901 KB]
  • 1980s:
    • [Book:]   Shenfan, by William Hinton, (NY: Random House, 1983), 860 pages. This is the sequel to his famous book Fanshen, and is more somber in tone. (Better scan, by the Internet Archive (2011), than before.)   Searchable PDF format   [Huge file: 83,763 KB]
  • 1990s:
    • [Book:]   The Great Reversal: The Privatization of China, 1978-1989, by William Hinton, (NY: Monthly Review, 1990), Marx2Mao version, 191 pages (151 sheets).   Searchable PDF format   [880 KB]
  
  

  Myrdal, Jan   (1927-2020)

  • 1970s:
    • [Book:] China: The Revolution Continued, by Jan Myrdal and Gun Kessle, (NY: Pantheon, 1970), 234 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [13,922 KB]
    • “A New Look Into Mao’s China”, by Jan Myrdal, Look magazine, February 10, 1970, 8 pages.   PDF format   [5,826 KB]
    • [Book:] Albania Defiant, by Jan Myrdal and Gun Kessle, (NY: Monthly Review, 1976), 250 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [7,467 KB]
    • [Book:] The Silk Road: A Journey From the High Pamirs and Ili Through Sinkiang and Kansu, by Jan Myrdal, with photographs by Gun Kessle, (NY: Pantheon, 1979), 260 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [20,254 KB]
    • [Book:] China Notebook: 1975-1978, by Jan Myrdal, with photographs by Gun Kessle, (Chicago: Liberator Press, 1979), 168 pages. Unfortunately this book shows how completely fooled Myrdal (and many others sympathetic to China) were at the time of the coup d’état by the capitalist-roaders following Mao’s death. If, in Myrdal’s defense, it is said that things were not yet clear, then the appropriate response is that when things are not yet clear you should withhold your judgment! Although some parts of this book have very good material (such as the writings from 1975), the extensive parts in support of the new post-Mao regime and attacking the so-called “Gang of Four” are very mistaken indeed. We are posting this book anyway because of the good parts and also because of the negative lesson which the bad parts illustrate.   Searchable PDF format   [5,243 KB]
  • 1980s:
    • [Book:] India Waits, by Jan Myrdal, with photos by Gun Kessle, (Chicago: Lake View, 1986), 408 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [24,822 KB]
  • 2010s:
    • “In Conversation with Ganapathy, General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Maoist)”, by Jan Myrdal with Gautam Navlakha, February 12, 2010, 13 pages. From Sanhati.com/articles/2138/.   Searchable PDF format   [249 KB]
    • “What Does It Mean to Be a Marxist? Hari Sharma and the Marxist Tradition”, by Jan Myrdal, Critical Asian Sudies magazine, vol. 45, #1 (2013), 14 pages.   PDF format   [687 KB]
  
  

  Smedley, Agnes   (1892-1950)

  • 1930s:
    • [Book:] “China Fights Back: An American Woman With the Eighth Route Army”, (NY: Vanguard Press, 1938), 324 pages.   English: PDF format   [19,105 KB]
    • [Book:] “The Great Road: The Life and Times of Chu Teh”, (NY: MR Press, 1956), 484 pages. Although largely based on a draft and notes mostly made in the late 1930s, this book was never formally finished by Smedley. The fact that it is nevertheless such an impressive work shows how good her draft was!   English: Searchable PDF format   [35,701 KB]
  • 1940s:
    • [Book:] “Battle Hymn of China”, by Agnes Smedley, (London: Victor Gollancz, 1944), 368 pages.   English: PDF format   [Large file: 37,319 KB]
      Chinese: Searchable PDF format   [16,533 KB]
    • [Book:] “Portraits of Chinese Women in Revolution”, by Agnes Smedley, (The Feminist Press [reprint], 1976), 244 pages. (Some underlining.)   English: Searchable PDF format   [24,433 KB]
      Chinese translation: “中国革命中的妇女” [“Women in the Chinese Revolution”], 解放军出版社 [“Issued by the People's Liberation Army Press”], “[美]艾格妮丝‧史沫特莱, Agnes Smedley, 万高潮(译)”, 1985, 169 pages.   Chinese: PDF format   [5,360 KB]
  • 1950:
    • “Terror Bombing in China” — Agnes Smedley’s last article, along with a short tribute to her by James Aldridge, Labour Monthly [Britain], vol. 32, #7, July 1950, 4 pages.   PDF format   [381 KB]
  • Works About Agnes Smedley:
    • [Book:] “Agnes Smedley”, by Janice & Stephen MacKinnon, (1988), 476 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [35,642 KB]
    • [Book:] “The Lives of Agnes Smedley”, by Ruth Price, (Oxford: 2005), 513 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [28,813 KB]
  
  

  Snow, Edgar   (1905-1972)

  • 1930s:
    • [Book:] “Living China: Modern Chinese Short Stories”, compiled and edited by Edgar Snow. (NY: John Day, c. 1936), 372 pages. (The original scanners have printed their website address on a great many pages; our apologies.)   PDF format   [21,503 KB]
  • 1940s:
    • [Book:] “The Battle for Asia”, by Edgar Snow. (NY: 1941), 460 pages (missing pages 411-412). The special focus is on the war against Japan in China, and includes a lot information about the Communist forces and their actions and views.   Searchable PDF format   [16,074 KB]
    • [Book:] “Glory and Bondage”, by Edgar Snow, written in 1944 with interesting reportage of events during World War II, focusing on Russia, Stalingrad and the Eastern Front, but also with material on India, China and Burma. (London: 1945), 272 pages.   PDF format   [17,252 KB]
    • [Book:] “The Pattern of Soviet Power”, by Edgar Snow, Long out of print, mostly on the Soviet Union in World War II, but includes material on Eastern Europe, China, and other topics. (NY: Random House, 1945), 254 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [9,818 KB]
  • 1950s:
    • [Book:] “Journey to the Beginning”, by Edgar Snow. (London: 1958), 435 pages. About Snow’s early years in China, and with other journalistic travels up through World War II.   Searchable PDF format   [17,965 KB]
  • 1960s:
    • [Book:] “Red China Today: The Other Side of the River”, by Edgar Snow. (Pelican: 1970 [text from 1962]), 730 pages. Pages are very yellowed; our apologies.   Searchable PDF format   [Enormous file: 141,722 KB]
  • 1970s-1980s:
    • “A Conversation with Mao Tse-tung”, by Edgar Snow, Life magazine, April 30, 1971, 3 pages.   PDF format   [1,953 KB]
    • “What China Wants from Nixon’s Visit: China will talk from a position of strength”, by Edgar Snow, Life magazine, July 30, 1971, 9 pages (including introduction, photos and magazine cover page photo of Chou En-lai).   PDF format   [5,576 KB]
    • [Book:] “Edgar Snow’s China: A Personal Account of the Chinese Revolution Compiled from the Writings of Edgar Snow”, by Lois Wheeler Snow. (NY: 1981), 304 pages. This important volume, unfortunately long out of print, includes a great number of rare photographs and is as much a photo history of the Chinese Revolution as it is a written history in the words of Edgar Snow.   Searchable PDF format   [Very large file: 63,929 KB]
  
  

  Strong, Anna Louise   (1885-1970)

  • 1920s:
    • [Book:] “The First Time in History: Two Years of Russia’s New Life (Aug. 1921 to Dec. 1923)”, by Anna Louise Strong, (NY: Boni & Liveright, 1924), 260 pages.   PDF format   [15,101 KB]
    • [Book:] “China’s Millions: Revolution in Central China, 1927”, by Anna Louise Strong, (Peking: New World Press, 1965), 206 pages. This is a re-issue of the 1927 volume which was the first of a projected six volume set of her Selected Works on China’s Revolution. [We do not know if the other projected volumes were published later.]   PDF format   [12,061 KB]
    • [Book:] “Red Star in Samarkand”, by Anna Louise Strong, (NY: Coward-McCann, 1929), 350 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [6,838 KB]
  • 1930s:
    • “Modern Farming — Soviet Style”, by Anna Louise Strong, (NY: International Pamphlets #1, 2nd ed., 1930), 32 pages. (“Cleaned” copy with functioning bookmarks.)   Searchable PDF format   [1,241 KB]
    • “Dictatorship and Democracy in the Soviet Union”, by Anna Louise Strong, (NY: International Pamphlets, #40, 1934), 24 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [1,644 KB]
    • “The Soviet Union and World Peace”, by Anna Louise Strong, (NY: International Pamphlets, #48, 1935), 32 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [456 KB]
    • [Book:] “I Change Worlds: The Remaking of an American”, by Anna Louise Strong, (No publication data provided, 1935), 284 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [1,738 KB]
  • 1940s:
    • “The New Lithuania”, by Anna Louise Strong, (NY: Workers Library Publishers, January 1941), 66 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [4,271 KB]
    • “Inside Liberated Poland”, by Anna Louise Strong, (National Council of American-Soviet Friendship, n.d. [but probably early 1945]), 47 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [443 KB]
    • [Book:] “The New Poland”, by Anna Louise Strong and Stefan Litauer, (Bombay: People’s Publishing House, September 1945), 118 pages.   PDF format   [8,557 KB]
    • [Book:] “I Saw the New Poland”, by Anna Louise Strong, (Boston: Atlantic Monthly Press, January 1946), 294 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [4,010 KB]
    • [Book:] “Tomorrow’s China”, by Anna Louise Strong, (NY: Committee for a Democratic Far Eastern Policy, 1948), 133 pages.   PDF format   [10,824 KB]
    • [Book:] “The Chinese Conquer China”, by Anna Louise Strong, (NY: Doubleday, 1949), 290 pages.   PDF format   [20,768 KB]
    • “In North Korea: First Eye-Witness Report”, by Anna Louise Strong, (NY: Soviet Russia Today, 1949), 49 pages. (Better scan.)   Searchable PDF format   [2,031 KB]
  • 1950s:
    • [Book:] “The Stalin Era”, by Anna Louise Strong, (NY: Mainstream Publishers, 1956), 132 pages. [Much better Scan than before.]   Searchable PDF format   [5,252 KB]
    • [Book:] “When Serfs Stood Up In Tibet”, by Anna Louise Strong, (San Francisco: Red Sun Publishers, 1976), 370 pages. [Originally published by New World Press, Peking, in 1959.]   Searchable PDF format   [17,513 KB]   Also available in HTML format in separate chapters on the Marxist Internet Archive at: https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/strong-anna-louise/1959/tibet/index.htm
  • 1960s:
    • [Book:] “Cash and Violence in Laos and Viet Nam”, by Anna Louise Strong, (NY: Mainstream Publishers, March 1962), 128 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [5,835 KB]
    • “China’s Fight for Grain”, by Anna Louise Strong, (Peking: New World Press, 1963), 59 pages.   PDF format   [2,810 KB]
    • “Letters From China: Numbers 1-10”, by Anna Louise Strong, (Peking: New World Press, 1963). Available in HTML format in separate letters on the Marxist Internet Archive at: https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/strong-anna-louise/1963/letters_china/index.htm
    • [Book:] “The Rise of the Chinese People’s Communes—And Six Years After”, by Anna Louise Strong, (Peking: New World Press, 1964), 258 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [12,200 KB]   [Better scan than before]
    • [Book:] “Letters From China: Numbers 11-20”, by Anna Louise Strong, (Peking: New World Press, 1964), 186 pages. (Missing interior title page; otherwise complete.)   PDF format   [9,152 KB]
  • Later Publications & Re-publications:
    • “Anna Louise Strong: Three Interviews with Chairman Mao Zedong”, from 1959, 1964 and 1965, with an introduction by Tracy B. Strong & Helene Keyssar, from The China Quarterly, #103, (Sept. 1985), 21 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [469 KB]

— NOTICE —       Due to the repressive legislation and judicial decisions in the United States, we at BANNEDTHOUGHT.NET want to make it completely clear that the ideas and opinions expressed in the works by the journalists and writers available above are their own. We present these works here because we support the right of free speech and the right of the people everywhere to have access to these works, whether the government authorities in their country approve or not.

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