u/The-MT-Sant - originally from r/GenZhou
Taking a modern Chinese History class right now and a lot of it can be your typical weird, Western, propagandistic gobbley gook that amounts to “communism bad China bad”. However, we’re currently on the section regarding the Cultural Revolution and it seems like something that even the modern Communist Party acknowledges as a mistake, with the rehabilitation of many figures under Deng Xiapoing in the 80s. It also (at least form how it is being taught) seems like something that was simply objectively bad and used as a crackdown on individual rights. We are also required to read “Son of A Revolution” by Liang Heng and Judith Shapiro. Is this a reliable book? Also Do communists typically just look at this era as a mistake made by Mao? Were there any salvageable aspects of this time period? Or should it be looked at as nothing more than a stain on the Party’s record and something that needs to be learned from? Furthermore, do you think that the Cultural Revolution was motivated by genuine fear of external pressure attempting to destabilize China or more so the party and Mao’s paranoia that a youynger generation wouldn’t hold the same fervor for revolution that the generation that actively participated in it did? Lots of questions I know (haha) but any information about Chinese historians, communists, or the CCP views this era would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

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    4 years ago

    u/The-MT-Sant - originally from r/GenZhou
    Thank you for the recommendation! I’d consider myself a communist and I’d like to think I have a pretty solid grasp on socialism in Southern Africa in particular (thanks to an awesome professor I had) but I really have very little grasp on contemporary Chinese history so I decided to take this class. The professor is great and offers a lot of readings by historians with different paradigms but it has been difficult differentiating between the very obvious reactionary historians and the genuine blunders of Mao and the party during the early period of the PRC. A lot of the time class discussion rolls around to the typical “brainwashing and destruction of individuality and the horrors of communism” so I appreciate all of the different perspectives this sub has been giving

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      4 years ago

      u/Eroy78 - originally from r/GenZhou
      Maoists believe cultural revolution is a necessary step in a successful socialist revolution, so there are communists who consider it a positive. I recently read ‘Continuity and Rupture’ by J Paul. It is worth checking out to better understand Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.

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        4 years ago

        u/ROMEROoscar - originally from r/GenZhou
        Gonzalism, you mean

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          4 years ago

          u/Eroy78 - originally from r/GenZhou
          I’m still learning about MLM, but it is my understanding that old school Maoists would fall more in the category of ML-MZT, whereas current Maoists fall into the MLM that was spearheaded by Gonzalo and others. This MLM seems to have been formally synthesized between 1986 and 1993. Something like that. And I see a lot of ideas I like coming from MLM, I feel that their analysis of AES countries is too dogmatic, however.

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            4 years ago

            u/ROMEROoscar - originally from r/GenZhou
            Mao Zedong Thought is the Communist Party of China’s interpretation of Mao’s works.

            Marxism Leninism with Mao Zedong Though and Deng Xiaoping Theory would be China’s current ideology. It is never called Maoism.

            “Maoism”, or Marxism-Leninism-“Maoism”, is a form of left-communist adventurism based off the works of Gonzalo and Sison. The only thing “Maoism” has ever achieved is slaughtering villagers, working with the CIA, and engaging in 60 year long civil wars.

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              4 years ago

              u/Eroy78 - originally from r/GenZhou
              I was under the impression that China’s current ideology is Socialism with Chinese Characteristics. Is SWCC essentially a blend of MZT and DXT? I don’t know all the ins and outs of it, I just recently read a book about the philosophical terrain of MLM. You may not like it, but it is having an influence in the third world and I don’t think it is something to chastise. Then again, you are probably much more familiar with it than I am. The book did make an interesting case claiming ML revolutionary tactics to be incomplete in today’s world, and that MLM address the contradictions within ML.

              To be sure I am not outright advocating MLM, I am just a communist who likes to read books.

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                4 years ago

                u/ROMEROoscar - originally from r/GenZhou
                The opening paragraph of the Wiki article is surprisingly accurate:

                The theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics (Chinese: 中国特色社会主义; pinyin: Zhōngguó tèsè shèhuìzhǔyì)[1] is a set of political theories and policies of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that are seen by their proponents as representing Marxism–Leninism adapted to Chinese circumstances and specific time periods, consisting of Deng Xiaoping Theory, Three Represents (Jiang Zemin), Scientific Outlook on Development (Hu Jintao), and Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.

                So-called Maoists take the position that there are Marxist tactics that can be applied universally. Not only can they, Maoists argue, they must. They argue Protracted People’s War and Cultural Revolution are necessary to establish socialism. The only true desire of the ‘Maoist’ movement is violence and war.

                Modern socialism in Bolivia and Venezuela is taking a different path than the Maoists forsaw, and therefore to Maoists these are not socialist countries. It’s an ideology of checklists.

                I think you’re overstating the global influence of so-called Maoism.

                Don’t get caught up in obscure ideologies born from academia and book worship.

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                  4 years ago

                  u/Hot_Opportunity_2328 - originally from r/GenZhou
                  Is this really the case with mainstream Maoists though? Do you have sources? I ask because Mao’s On Practice explicitly condemns idealism and dogmatism, and self-professed Maoist comrades around me aren’t hardline about People’s war and Cultural Revolution.

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                    4 years ago

                    u/ROMEROoscar - originally from r/GenZhou
                    Here is a modern Maoist book publishers kinda classics of Maoism:

                    https://foreignlanguages.press/works-of-maoism/

                    They are the works of Mao, the Shining Path of Peru and Jose Sison of the Philippines.

                    As an aside they also carry works by Lenin, Stalin, Marx, etc for about $6 USD a book. They are a great publisher regardless of if I agree with their ideology.

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              4 years ago

              u/Staerebu - originally from r/GenZhou
              Well current is XJT

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          4 years ago

          u/Eroy78 - originally from r/GenZhou
          Thanks. Could you elaborate on what you said about Zizek? I still have no idea what to think of him.

          Edit: your first link isn’t working for me 🙁

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                4 years ago

                u/Eroy78 - originally from r/GenZhou
                This is a lot to go over. Thanks dude, I appreciate it.