Mao Zedong Thought should continue to remain an important factor in New China's politics and life. However it must be remembered that during the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution Mao was only 7 parts good and 3 parts bad and made serious errors. I wont touch on the GL Forward since thats pure economics. But on the subject of the Cultural Revolution Mao was relatively blameless and his attempt to create a direct democracy not seen since Ancient Athens was noble. However he made two grave errors 1) He allowed the revolution to be prosecuted by students instead of the people 2) He allowed ambitious leaders like Lin Biao and the Gang of Four to use the revolution for personal gain.