The Mandate of Heaven: Marx and Mao in Modern China (International Socialism)

For radicals in Europe and North America, the anti-imperialist—and Chinese—revolutions continued the great task of 1789, 1848, and 1870, the “bourgeois revolution” in Marx’s terms, and the creation of nations that would release the energies and unity of purpose to create new worlds of prosperity and freedom. The nationalist focus led to an emphasis on autarkic development—the nation, it was said, already possessed within its own boundaries all the requirements and resources to match the accomplishments of global civilization. The overthrow of empire in the 1950s and 1960s—of which the coming to power of the Chinese Communist party in 1949 was a important part—seemed to augur a new era in world history, one in which the majority of the world’s population secured liberation. There was perhaps a sense in which this was true, but the reality for the majority was far removed from this giddy hope. And in the case of the ordinary Chinese, the newly “liberated” regime proved far more brutal and exacting than those that it had replaced (which also attained high standards of brutality and injustice). In China the great famine of 1958–62 was only the most spectacularly cruel and gratuitous product of that new order. For the former inhabitants of the old empires, national liberation turned out to be not liberation of all, but the creation of a new national ruling class, as often as not exploiting its position at home to make fortunes then smuggled abroad. Today China is a global superpower, still dominated by a party that calls itself Communist. In this classic history of the Chinese Revolution, originally published in 1978, Nigel Harris traces the class origins and political perspectives of the revolution itself, and documents the years of Mao's rule. "For radicals in Europe and North America, the anti-imperialist-and Chinese-revolutions continued the great task of 1789, 1848, and 1870, the 'bourgeois revolution' in Marx's terms, and the creation of nations that would release the energies and unity of purpose to create new worlds of prosperity and freedom. "The overthrow of empire in the 1950s and 1960s-of which the coming to power of the Chinese Communist Party in 1949 was an important part-seemed to augur a new era in world history, one in which the majority of the world's population would secure liberation. There was perhaps a sense in which this was true, but the reality for the majority was far removed from this giddy hope. And in the case of the ordinary Chinese, the newly 'liberated' regime proved far more brutal and exacting than those that it had replaced (which also attained high standards of brutality and injustice). In China the great famine of 1958-62 was only the most spectacularly crual and gratuitous product of that new order. "For the former inhabitants of the old empires, national liberation turned out to be not liberation of all, but the creation of a new national ruling class, as often as not exploiting its position at home to make fortunes then smuggled abroad." PREFACE TO THE 2015 EDITION 8 PREFACE 14 NOTES FOR THE READER 16 PART I - THE LONG MARCH TO VICTORY 20 1. THE WORKERS’ REVOLUTION 22 2. FROM DEFEAT TO VICTORY 38 PART II - THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC 58 3. THE FIRST PHASE 60 4. THE GREAT LEAP FORWARD AND AFTER 74 5. THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION 88 6. AFTER THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION 104 PART III - THE WORKERS AND PEASANTS IN THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC 116 7. WORKERS IN THE 1950s 118 8. TEMPORARY AND CONTRACT LABOUR: THE “WORKER-PEASANT SYSTEM” 138 9. THE WORKING CLASS AFTER THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION 148 10. PEASANTS IN THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC 166 PART IV - EQUALITY, DEMOCRACY AND NATIONAL INDEPENDENCE 184 11. EQUALITY 186 12. DEMOCRACY 206 13. NATIONAL INDEPENDENCE 222 PART V - PROLETARIAN INTERNATIONALISM 244 14. THE THEORY 246 15. FOREIGN POLICY 258 16. MAO ZEDONG THOUGHT ABROAD 284 PART VI - THE CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY AND MARXISM 304 17. MODERN CAPITALISM AND THE BOURGEOIS REVOLUTION 306 18. THE SOVIET UNION AND THE RISE OF A NEW CLASS 318 19. MAO ZEDONG THOUGHT 332 RETROSPECT 346 INDEX 350 The overthrow of empire in the 1950s and 1960s - of which the coming to power of the Chinese Communist party in 1949 was a important part - seemed to augur a new era in world history, one in which the majority of the world’s population secured liberation. There was perhaps a sense in which this was true, but the reality for the majority was far removed from this giddy hope. And in the case of the ordinary Chinese, the newly “liberated” regime proved far more brutal and exacting than those that it had replaced (which also attained high standards of brutality and injustice). In China the great famine of 1958-62 was only the most spectacularly cruel and gratuitous product of that new order Annotation For radicals in Europe and North America, the anti-imperialist - and Chinese - revolutions continued the great task of 1789, 1848, and 1870, the bourgeois revolution' in Marx's terms, and the creation of nations that would release the energies and unity of purpose to create new worlds of prosperity and freedom. The nationalist focus led to an emphasis on autarkic development - the nation, it was said, already possessed within its own boundaries all the requirements and resources to match the accomplishments of global civilization. This updated edition discusses China's transformation from a poor country devastated by war into a major world power For the former inhabitants of the old empires, national liberation turned out to be not liberation of all, but the creation of a new national ruling class, as often as not exploiting its position at home to make fortunes then smuggled abroad."--pub. desc