[‘His knowledge of Marxist philosophy is zero’: a Maoist attack on the sinologist Joseph Needham.] Printed pamphlet by A. H. Evans titled: ‘Against Dr. Needham / An Exposure of his Anti-Marxism’.

A. H. Evans was born in the village of Aber Clydach, near Talybont on Usk, Breconshire. He gives biographical information in his ‘English Historians and Welsh History’ (1975). See also Needham's entry in the Oxford DNB. The present item is excessively scarce: no other copy found on OCLC WorldCat, JISC, ViaLibri or the National Library of Wales. Evans published at least ten titles from the early 1960s to the late 1970s, many with his imprint ‘David-Goliath Publications’, which from 1964 also produced the periodical ‘Vanguard / The organ of the Committee to Defeat Revisionism, for communist unity’. His last published work appears to have been ‘The philosophical poetry of A. H. Evans’ (David-Goliath, Briton Ferry, 1987). No more than two of each of his titles are present in public institutions. This item is a duplicated typed pamphlet of 8pp, on both sides of four A4 leaves, stapled into card covers, the front heavily-inked in black, with border, bearing the title in large letters and an illustration of Mao and other dignitaries at a rally. In fair overall condition: slight staining to covers and light rusting to staples, and with central vertical fold. According to Evans, Needham (‘well-known for his knowledge of medieval Chinese history and culture’) has been guilty of an ‘Attack on Marxism’: ‘At a London inaugural meeting of SACU, [the Society for Anglo-Chinese Understanding] held at Church House, Westminster, London on May 15, 1965, Dr. Needham delivered the main address. Among his remarks, as quoted in the first monthly Bulletin of SACU, we find this: “Dr. Needham rejected the observation frequently made, even by some learned men, that China is ‘Westernising’ herself. The term ‘modernisation’ was more apt. The age-long traditions of Confucianism and Taoism were still, and always would remain, the background of Cinese mentality - just as Christianity does of the mentality of the West. The idea that China has taken the philosophy of Marxism as her chief inspiration from the West is a mistaken concept.”’ Evans begins the final paragraph of his conclusion: ‘As far as the British people are concerned, Dr. Needham tells us that not Marxism but Confucianism is what we should study. Probably the most vulgar of all anti-Marxist utterances, Needham’s attack should not be lightly dismissed, for it is a direct link with modern pacifist philosophy, which Marxism completely rejects.’ He also declares that the views of ‘Professor Trevor-Roper’ [historian, later Lord Dacre] are ‘incompatible for membership in the Society, let alone on the Council of Management.’ It should be noted that Needham was a Marxist, often criticised for his naive view of Mao and communism in China.