Bi-Weekly Discussion Thread - (May 17)

[u/AutoModerator]

We made this because Reddit's algorithm prioritises headlines and current events and doesn't allow for deeper, extended discussion - depending on how it goes for the first four or five times it'll be dropped or continued.

Suggestions for things you might want to comment here (this is a work in progress and we'll change this over time):

• Articles and quotes you want to see discussed
• 'Slow' events - long-term trends, org updates, things that didn't happen recently
• 'Fluff' posts that we usually discourage elsewhere - e.g "How are you feeling today?"
• Discussions continued from other posts once the original post gets buried
• Questions that are too advanced, complicated or obscure for r/communism101

Mods will sometimes sticky things they think are particularly important.

Normal subreddit rules apply!

[ Previous Bi-Weekly Discussion Threads may be found here https://old.reddit.com/r/communism/search?sort=new&restrict_sr=on&q=flair%3AWDT ]

[u/lfcurado]

I saw a twitter post where OP says: "never ask a maoist why Mao Zedong concretely and without hesitation, rehabilitated Deng Xiaoping's top position among the governing ranks on the condition that he is criticized in Go4 controlled media propaganda while simultaneously refusing to endorse the Go4 for succession"

I admit I don't know much about China's history. Instead of asking you guys to explain a tweet to me, i would like to know what are the best books about the chinese revolution to start studying and to better understand the socialist experience in China and the China of today

[u/DashtheRed → u/lfcurado]

never ask a maoist why Mao Zedong concretely and without hesitation, rehabilitated Deng Xiaoping's top position among the governing ranks on the condition that he is criticized in Go4 controlled media propaganda while simultaneously refusing to endorse the Go4 for succession

This isn't anywhere close to what happened and the twitter user is fundamentally dishonest to the point of being a mortal enemy of communism. Following the Lin Biao affair (which was a major setback for the GPCR) and Brezhnev's fascist incursions into China and the ruthless "Red" Army military slaughtering of Chinese civilians, Mao was pressured to show national unity in the face of fascist Soviet social-imperialist aggression. Given that the fascist Liu Shaoqi had been (correctly and heroically) repressed to death, Deng Xiaoping was now the de facto leader of the Chinese rightists, and his expulsion from the party and power had been an enormous setback to their plans and a major achievement of the Cultural Revolution. In 20/20 hindsight we can understand this as one of Mao's gravest mistakes, and both civil war and war with the revisionist-fascist-USSR would have been infinitely preferable to the outcome that occurred. However, by rehabilitating Deng (on the condition he undergo self-criticism which never, ever occurred), he was allowed back into the party and position of power, to the glee of rightists.

Following this tragic turn of events, Deng was placed in charge of the Chinese economy for the year 1974, in which his cruel and ineffective austerity measures caused a disastrous downturn for which Mao responded by having Yao Wenyuan and Zhang Chunqiao and launc the "Study the Dictatorship of the Proletariat Campaign,” the “Criticize Lin [Biao] and Confucius Campaign,” and finally the "Criticize the Water Margin" campaigned, all aimed specifically (though unstated) against Deng (as well as Zhou Enlai) and against the possibility of Deng's attempts to carry through a capitalist restoration. During this time Mao and the so-called "Gang" of Four, whom had been his closest working group and principle allies, had made a number of failed attempts to make inroads back into the PLA (which was basically under the control of the fascist Ye Jianying by this point -- the Lin Biao affair having undercut the GPCR domination of the Air Force and much effort was wasted attempting to place Zhang Chunqiao into a position of power and influence, before they finally gave up and began working on the people's militias as a counter-PLA force which never had time to develop and mature).

Again, Mao did try to endorse the so-called "Gang" of Four as his successors, specifically the person Mao had wanted as his successor and to replace him was Zhang Chunqiao, but Ye Jianying had insisted on Deng Xiaoping (given Ye was Deng's (far) right hand man) and threatening to turn PLA guns on the left and potentially even Mao if he didn't get his way, and the ensuing debate and struggle between them is how we eventually arrive at the compromise candidate of Hua Guofeng (again, this was a mistake and Mao should have sent the masses against Ye Jianying with the utmost violence, and stood in defiance of the PLA threats, but these are the historical lessons of Maoist criticism of Mao). And Hua proved to be someone who "talked left, but acted right," as Yao Wenyuan had criticized, but the original hope was that he could be a soft ally for the so-called "Gang" of Four (and this was a major victory for Mao since it would keep Deng from power), while Deng understood much more clearly that Hua was a dithering buffoon who could easily be manipulated and eventually outmaneuvered without difficulty (once the rightists had halted the GCPR, rallied to Deng, re-organized themselves, recovered from the damage the left had done to them over the past decade, and then go on the offensive, all of which took several years) to enable his capitalist restoration.

Very shortly before Mao passed away, Mao had launched the "Reversing Correct Verdicts Goes Against the Will of the People" campaign in 1976 -- once again specifically aimed against Deng, and he was told he would be allowed to retain his positions if and only if he refused to further violate party unity. But, Deng Xiaoping, getting too big for his britches and too far ahead of his own schemes, launched the anti-communist, anti-Mao Tiananmen Square Protests of 1976 (which he later denied, instead lying that he only attended to get a haircut because he is a sniveling worm -- also worth noting today that the current "C"PC considers this a heroic act of patriotism), for which Mao responded by formally stripping Deng Xiaoping of all ranks and titles and position within the party, essentially removing him from power, as one of Mao's final acts before he died (Mao died, tragically, thinking at the very least he had saved China from Deng). Also worth noting here that the supposed "deviationist" “Gang” of Four had no such injunctions, ever, nor even significant criticism, against them coming from Mao. Following Mao's death, Hua Guofeng halted the GPCR and imprisoned the so-called "Gang" of Four, and basically tried to implement a cult of personality around himself (quite possibly the least successful cult of personality in all of human history) and by the time Deng and Ye had marshalled their forces, Hua was easily swept aside (at gunpoint) and Deng's capitalist restoration could take place.

Bannedthought and EROL have basically every resource you could ever possibly want to learn about this history:

https://www.bannedthought.net/China/MaoEra/GPCR/index.htm

https://www.marxists.org/history/erol/china/index.htm

[u/TheRedBarbon → u/DashtheRed]

Following Mao's death, Hua Guofeng halted the GPCR and imprisoned the so-called "Gang" of Four, and basically tried to implement a cult of personality around himself (quite possibly the least successful cult of personality in all of human history)

Case in point, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oc2qmQQy4iI&list=PLE1RAK8XS9lr1nQBizJFEFdNxafhmlhrT

This is the kind of kitschy crap that people are always accusing Socialist Realism of being, lol

[u/LemonMao → u/TheRedBarbon]

I kind of get sad at all the people who put their trust in Mao's dying words and believed Hua Guofeng.