You kill for the Chekists

 We kill you in self defense

The Party’s Interests Come First.  It is a book about party history, and the life of its subject, Xi Zhongxun, is itself a story about the politically explosive nature of competing versions of the past.  The men and women who gave their lives to th eparty were enormously sensitive to how this all-encompassing political organization would characterize their contributions.  Such a sentiment was powerful not only because revolutionary legacies were reflected through hierarchy and authority within the party but also because their lives as chronicled in party lore had a fundamental significance for their own sense of self-worth.