Re: Re Doug's question on China reversal

[malecki@xxxxxxxxxx (Robert Malecki)]

Gina,
This is one of the few intelligent things that you have presented to the
list. i like it. But I think that the fight leading up to the cultural
revolution and the aftermath was an inter-bureaucratic fight in the
leadership of the CP. Yes, Mao had the authority to start the cultural
revolution, but his general line was not revolutionary, just perhaps to the
left of the capitalist roaders. Mao also made a lot of deals with the
surrounding imperialists in his time and in fact as earlier discussed on
this list sold out some real revolutionary situations like in Indonesia for
"peaceful coexistence".

malecki in exile



>In a message dated 96-04-12 01:37:32 EDT, you write:
>
>>At 8:34 PM 4/11/96, Rubyg580@xxxxxxx wrote:
>>
>>>The leadership in China now says "to get rich is glorious" because that is
>>>what those leaders have been saying since the 70s.  Mao called them
>>>"capitalist roaders" and led theChinese people to defeat them thru the
>>>upheaval of the cultural revolution and the struggle in the mid 70s against
>>>the "right deviationist wind."
>>>>>>
>>This isn't really an explanation. Did the Chinese revolution depend
>>entirely on Mao, and once he was gone, the capitalist roaders took power?
>>Is that a serious social analysis in the Marxian tradition? What happened
>>in Chinese society that led to this reversal? Is it just a matter of a
>>handful of gerontocrats turning their back on Mao Zedong thought?
>>
>>Doug
>
>In 1976, a few weeks after Mao died, the faction led by Deng Xiaoping
>siezed power in China, by arresting Chiang Ching, Chang Chungchao,
>Wang Hungwen and Yao Wenyuan.  These were the people they called
>the "Gang of Four", and villified mercilessly in the press from then on.
>
>These four were leaders of the Cultural Revolution, and in the struggle
>against the right deviationist wind, i.e., against Deng and his clique of
>capitalist roaders.  The capitalist roaders aparently had enough control
>of the army that they were able to pull off this coup, defeating the
>resistance that was mounted in various parts of China, particularly in
>Shanghai, where the Cultural Revolution had been particularly intense.
>(In January, 1967, the masses overthrew the old city government and
>elected a Revolutionary Committee to run the city;  I believe this was
>the first municipal Revolutionary Committee in the country)
>
>There aparently was some disorganization and confusion among the
>revolutionary masses, too.  They were not prepared to respond quickly
>and strongly enough to an attempted coup after Mao's death.
>
>These problems indicate the truth of what Mao himself said about the
>question of which class would win out being an unsettled quesiton
>all the way through the period of socialism (which he defined as the
>transition to communism--not "prosperity for all" or whatever phrase
>was used a few days ago on this list.)These are his words:
>
>     "Socialist society covers a considerably long historical period.
>     In the historical period of socialism, there are still classes, class
>     contradictions and class struggle, there is the struggle between
>     the socialist road and the capitalist road, and there is the danger
>     of capitalist restoration.  We must recognize the protracted and
>     complex nature of this struggle.  We must heighten our vigilance.
>     We must conduct socialist education.  We must correctly
>     understand and handle class contradictions and class struggle,
>     distinguish the contradictions between ourselves and the ensmy
>     from those among  the people and handle them correctly.
>     Otherwise a socialist country like ours will turn into its opposite
>     and degenerate, and a capitalist restoration will take place.
>     From now on we must remind ourselves of this every year,
>     every month and every day so that we can retain a relatively
>     sober understanding and have a Marxist-Leninist line.
>           ---quoted in Peking Review, No. 43, October 26, 1973, P.5;
>              in an article titled "Importance Must Be Attached to the
>              Party's Basic Line"
>
>
>It also illustrated the very real problem of the confusion generated by the
>fact that a new bourgeoisie arises "daily, hourly, and on a mass scale",
>and is concentrated within the Communist Party itself during the period
>of socialism due to what Lenin called the "birthmarks" of socialism: the
>aspects of capitalist relations of production, particularly in the realm of
>distribution and consumption.Mao spoke about this in 1975:
>
>     "Why did Lenin speak of exercising dictatorship over the bourgeoisie?
>      It is essential to get this question claer. lack of clarity on this
>     quesiton will lead to revisionism. This should be made known to the
>     whole nation....Our country at present practices a commodity
>     system, the wage system is unequal too, as in the eight-grade
>     wage scale, and so forth.  Under the dictatorship of the proletariat
>     such things can only be restricted.  Therefore if people like Lin
>     Piao come to power, it will be quite easy for them to rig up the
>     capitalist system. "That is why we should do more reading of
>     Marxist-Leninist works."
>
>     "Lenin said that 'small production engenders capitalism and the
>     bourgeoisie continuously, daily, hourly, spontaneously, and on
>     a mass scale.'  They are also engendered among a part of the
>     working class and of the Party membership.  Both within the
>     ranks of the proletariat and among the personnel of state and
>     other organs there are people who take to the bourgeois style
>     of life."
>
>The thing is, no country is isolated unto itself.  It exists in a world
>so far still dominated by imperialism.  The capitalist roaders had
>powerful allies in the imperialist world, particularly in the U.S.  To
>think that the Chinese revolution depended entirely on Mao, and
>once he was gone, the capitalist roaders took power, is certainly
>not consistent with using dialectical and historical materialism to
>understand the events of history.
>
>I can't recount blow by blow what happened in the coup and all the
>contributing factors.  I recommend the book "China Winter" by
>Edoarda Masi, E.P. Dutton, NY, 1982.  She was a witness to the
>events of 1976-77 in Shanghai.
>
>Gina/ Detroit
>
>
>
>
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>
>




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