Re: request re Cultural Revolution

[hariette@xxxxxxxxxxxxx (hariette spierings)]

>Comrades I am teaching a short course on Chinese Cinema.  the
>Cultural
>revolution figures heavily in this.  If any of our Maoist
>contributors has a
>piece on the Cultural Revolution or  on Mao or China could they
>post it to
>me and I will circulate it among my students?  About 800 words
>max would be
>ideal.
>
>Regards
>
>Gary
>
>
>
>


Hi Gary.  I am no expert in that field and I do not think you be looking
only for a dry theoretical Marxist explanation of the whys and wherefores of
this the greatest, deepest and most earthshaking political event of the XXth
Century.
However, in reference to the Chinese cinema of the era of the Great
proletarian Cultural Revolution I had a bit of direct experience since I
used to organise showings in a London theatre for films such as "The Red
Detachment of Women", "The East is Red", "The White Haired Girl" and others
whose titles I cannot recall at present, but I am sure others could.

Particularly "Red Detachment of Women" and the "East is Red" were the most
fabulous epic movies, full of revolutionary vitality and enourmous power.
They really made a world impact even at that time dazzling the audiences
even in England.  Politically too, they told the story of the whole of the
Chinese Revolution in the form of a great and exciting people's pageant.
Many were the working class people in England then who used to come out of
the performances with a new sense of pride and undertanding of the
fundamentals of the class struggle at the international level.

Many times people of a Western tradition in Marxism are the most Eurocentric
and remote from this one of the defining moments of the Century.

I wonder if many people in the list would remember the Chinese cinema of the
GPCR era?

I certainly do and have a tape of Red Detachment somewhere around.

Good luck with your project, Gary.

Adolfo



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