All over the western world you hear about how horrible it was for Mao to destroy traditional Chinese culture and ways of thinking that existed for thousands of years. However I have to ask, did this traditional culture help them in establishing socialism? It definitely did not help them or work in a neutral way either. The people of China saw that their ways of life were anti-proletarian and dealt with them accordingly. The cultural revolution was something that should be emulated across the entire western world where old ways of thinking and cultural attitudes that do not serve the working class need to be forcefully destroyed. This was done not only through the destruction of statues, books, and other media put out by class enemies. There were also more peaceful ways of culture change such as changing street names or the names of establishments and buildings. During this time, rightism was absolutely demolished and many class enemies fled to America during this time.

When I hear people say things about China being wrong for the cultural revolution, it shows me that they do not know or do not care how oppressive social norms and class society in Asia can be. In India which the liberals see as such a spiritual and holy place, they literally practice a caste system. In Tibet they had Slavery until Mao came and freed them. Even in South Korea and Japan today the bourgeoisie have a social power and control that echoes feudalism. If you think I am insane, go and research how the Chaebol kids in Korea behave in their society and how every person in Korea is expected to bend over backwards to accommodate the tantrums of rich and entitled children because their families literally own the nation’s economy. When you compare the conditions of China to the other countries in Asia, you begin to realize they would also be a lot better off if they destroyed bourgeois culture, ideologies, and struck absolute terror into the hearts of their oppressors.

  • SexbearLmao@lemmygrad.ml
    2·
    1 year ago

    An interview with Deng Xiaoping in 1980

    Fallaci: But what was the Cultural Revolution really trying to accomplish?

    Deng: It wanted to avoid the restoration of capitalism in China. Yes — that was the intention. The intention of Chairman Mao, I mean to say, not the intention of the people who would later become the Gang of Four. However, despite the good intentions, such a goal was born of an erroneous judgment of Chinese reality. In short, once more Chairman Mao was wrong. He was also wrong when he chose what target to hit; he said that the target should be the followers of capitalism — the compagnons de route [roaders] of the capitalists who existed within the party — and with this accusation he attacked a great number of high-level veterans: men who not only had made excellent contributions to the revolution but had great experience. And among them was Premier Liu Shaoqi, who was arrested and expelled from the party. As a result, all of the revolutionary leadership was dissolved. A year or two before his death, Chairman Mao recognized this error. He said that the Cultural Revolution was wrong in two things: destroying the revolutionary leadership and provoking a wide-ranging civil war.

    Fallaci: So it was truly a civil war.

    Deng: Yes, it was! The people were divided into two factions who were killing each other. And since the old revolutionaries had been swept aside, only those who declared themselves “rebels” were able to emerge. Like Lin Biao and the Gang of Four. Eh! Many people died in that civil war.

    Fallaci: How many?

    Deng: An exact figure is impossible. It will never be possible, because they died for various reasons and because China is such a vast country. But look: enough died that we are able to say today that their deaths were reason enough for the Cultural Revolution to have never taken place. Anyway, Chairman Mao’s errors were political errors. This makes them no less serious, nor does it justify them, but political errors are one thing; crimes that are judged in court are another. I refer to the crimes for which we tried the Gang of Four and, posthumously, Lin Biao: the two groups of the Cultural Revolution that we consider counterrevolutionary. Of course… well, of course it was Chairman Mao who permitted Lin Biao and the Gang of Four to take advantage of his political errors and usurp power…