Alone I stand in the autumn cold
On the tip of Orange Island,
The Xiang flowing northward;
I see a thousand hills crimsoned through
By their serried woods deep-dyed,
And a hundred barges vying
Over crystal blue waters.
Eagles cleave the air,
Fish glide under the shallow water;
Under freezing skies a million creatures contend in freedom.
Brooding over this immensity,
I ask, on this bondless land
Who rules over man's destiny?
-----Mao Zedong (1925)
The 1949 Chinese Revolution was a transformative, epochal event, not only for the Chinese but for the rest of humanity, as well. If the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution in Russia (that resulted in the creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or Soviet Union) inaugurated an international competition for the hearts and minds of people all over the globe, the Chinese revolution raised the stakes of that struggle. The popular media, academics, political leaders and others in the "West" produced an understanding of this struggle as between "capitalism" and "communism," although these terms were rarely defined in more than loose and unusually flexible terms, and in spite of the fact that the Chinese revolution was shaped by domestic struggles with a long history within China, much more so than by global struggles between two super-systems.
Nevertheless, the intensity of the perceived global struggle between super-systems was shaped, in part, by the fact that communist ideology, as represented by certain statements of Vladimir Lenin, the central intellectual and political figure of the Bolshevik Revolution, was understood as grounded upon an idea of worldwide revolution --- all nations would, according to the logic (teleology) of this (orthodox) version of Marxism, ultimately succumb to communism. (The Soviet leadership expressly supported the idea of "worldwide revolution" and took steps to help achieve this objective, including organization and leadership of the Communist International or Comintern, although C.L.R. James, among others, argued that Stalin's political machinations sabotaged international solidarity within the communist movement.) The threat to "spread the revolution" created, at the least, the illusion of a mortal conflict (mortal from the standpoint of the elites who stood to lose if the resolution went against them). In other words, this idea of worldwide revolution and the efforts by Soviet lea...
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...s) must be a thing of the past only. In other words, there are a large variety of social conditions that may foster ancientism, just as there are a large variety of social conditions that may foster capitalism or feudalism or slavery and the temporal dimension is in no way a restriction on the potential existence of some variant form of these social formations (or the underlying class processes). I'm not saying "stuff happens" as if it is in some way random, but that there are multiple paths to any type of social formation based on the known five fundamental class processes (ancientism, communism, capitalism, feudalism, and slavery). This is an attempt to get us to stop thinking of the world in non-thinking ways: such as separating human social evolution into an ancient world and a modern world and therefore missing certain fundamental similarities, as well as unexpected differences. We need to do the analysis. I guess that is the theme of these lectures/essays. In other words, in addition to trying to understand China, I want us to do so with an aggressive use of the conceptual framework and, as much as possible, to avoid prejudging prior to the theoretical work having been done.
After millions of years under imperial rule in China, nationalist rebellions made the government unstable eventually making way for communist ideas. For over twenty years the nationalist struggled to keep democratic power in the country. The Xinhai revolution was a civil war between the nationalists and the communists. The Communists were led by Mao Zedong and they emerged victoriously. In September 1949, two good things happened. It was the celebration of the communist victory and the unveiling of the communist regime that would subsequently rule over China. Mao and his communist supporters had been fighting against a corrupt and abandoned Nationalist government in China. Mao denounced that those who opposed the communist government are imperialistic and domestic reactionaries. Mao also declared that communi...
Throughout, 1900- 1950 there were a number of changes and continuities in China. From the fall of the dynasties to the rise of the Communist Party, these changes shaped China’s government and society. Although, many political changes were made multiple continuities were held constant such as, consistent rebellions and the lack of democracy.
The Communist revolution in China was loosely based on the revolution in Russia. Russia was able to implement the beginnings of Marxist Communism in the way that it was intended They had a large working class of factory workers, known as the proletariat, that were able to band together and rise up to overthrow the groups of rich property owners, known as the bourgeoisie. The communist party wanted to adopted this same Marxist sense of revolution, but they realized that there were some fatal flaws in the differences between the two countries. The first was that there was not the same sense of class difference between people, yes there were peasants and landowners but there was not a sense of a class struggle. The other difference was that China was not industrialized like Russia so there was no proletariat group, as defined by Marxism, to draw the revolution from. What the Chinese Communists needed to do is re-define the proletariat for their situation, who they looked at were the peasants.
This essay will concentrate on the comparison and analysis of two communist figures: Mao Zedong, leader of the Communist Party in China, and Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union. The main focus of this paper will be to explore each figure’s world view in depth and then compare and contrast by showing their differences and similarities.
Pei, M. From Reform to Revolution: The Demise of Communism in China and the Soviet Union. Harvard University Press, 1994.
...eeded in putting communism on the political map of the world. Governments across Europe and Latin America emulated Stalin and instituted their own brands of communism within their respective countries. Yet, what was to be the permanent revolution, has infected and affected the world for almost an entire century. Every year since 1917 has seen people in revolt. Economics, austerity, and political corruption have been the common causes of popular uprisings across the world, and whether the revolutions have been peaceful or violent, the result has nearly always been a change in the political structure and the redrawing of boundary lines. The continued presence of Russian-backed revolutions combined with the cries of the European people for independence and security reflect the ongoing influence of the Russian Revolution on the whole of Europe and, possibly, the world.
"Let's replace Long Live Leninism with Long Live Stalinism!” This declaration by a communist leader and staunch Stalin supporter Lazar Kaganovich perhaps best summarizes the popularity and personality cult of Joseph Stalin which overtook and in some cases, replaced the precepts of Marxism-Leninism. Although many see Stalinism as the natural heir and iteration of Leninism, others see it as a gross deviation from the principles of Marxism-Leninism, deeming Stalinism as all those steps and policies that lead to the formation of a society based on the vision, principles and ideals of Joseph Stalin, while maintaining a threadbare association or even using as a cover the adherence to Marxist-Leninist’s philosophy.
...riolic anti-communism.’ So, while the American patriots, whose ostensible nation did not yet exist, or was properly the nation of Great Britain, and the Resistance in the Second World War, a sizeable part of which was Communist and ready to drown the land in blood for their ideals, is being reified for upsetting the order of the day (with sometimes happy and fortuitous outcomes), the status-quo ante (which oftentimes happens to be the lesser of two evils, in absolute terms) must be rejected on articles of blind faith, and lofty ideology, on the untenable premise that change is always good if only a better future awaits a ways. The problem is, as can be observed today, that one can always imagine a better future-thus insurrection is covered by the flimsy fig leaf of one’s whims (I am facetiously excluding the real substance and nature required of insurrection.)
Walker, Richard L. Ancient China and Its Influence In Modern Times. New York: Franklin Watts Inc., 1969.
From 100 CE to 600 CE the Chinese had many cultural and political life changes and continuities. A political change was in the end of the Classical Chinese period when the Han Dynasty fell. A cultural change during 100 CE to 600 CE was the paper invention that led to passing down cultural rituals. Not only were there changes but there was also continuities in the Chinese political and cultural life. An example of a cultural continuity is the increasing power of Buddhism. A political continuity is the ruler of the Chinese wanting the people to be protected with for instance The Great Wall of China.
At the time of Marx, communism stiff fell under the category of socialism. During the last twenty-five years of the nineteenth century, there was a split in the Socialist Party, and communism began to be recognized as a movement of its own. The original Communists were small extremist grou...
According to most historians, “history is told by the victors”, which would explain why most people equate communism with Vladimir Lenin. He was the backbone of Russia’s communist revolution, and the first leader of history’s largest communist government. It is not known, or discussed by most, that Lenin made many reforms to the original ideals possessed by many communists during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. He revised Karl Marx and Friedrich Engles’ theories to fit the so-called ‘backwardness’ of the Russian Empire. Lenin’s reforms were necessary to carry out a socialist revolution in Russia, and the contributions he made drastically changed the course of history. It can be assumed that, the Soviet Union would not have been as powerful if it was not for Lenin’s initial advocacy of violence and tight organization.
Rosenberg, William G., and Young, Marilyn B. Transforming Russia and China: Revolutionary Struggle in the Twentieth Century. New York: Oxford University Press, 1982.
This essay has critically analysed and examined the effect of Communism on the Chinese Society during the period of 1946-1964. The overall conclusion that can be drawn is that the Chinese Communist Party managed to defeat the Kuomintang (Nationalist) Party and achieve victory in the Civil War, in spite of alienation by the Soviet Union and opposition from the U.S. This was primarily because of the superior military strategy employed by the Communists and the economic and political reforms introduced by this party which brought more equality to the peasants in the form of land ownership and better public services. This increased China’s production and manufacturing which not only boosted the country’s economy but also provided a more sustainable supply of food, goods and services for the Chinese people.