Arguments for a study of the Chinese revolution

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Crucial for developing an anti-imperialist strategy is the study of the history of the Chinese Revolution
door Paul Vermeer op zondag 20 december 2009 om 20:54

The main struggle against imperialism is today there were the contradictions between working class and imperialism are the sharpest. Those contradictions are at their sharpest in those regions in the world were imperialism at this moment is trying to (re-)install by any means colonial production-relations.
If that struggle will develop into a struggle to destroy imperialism at least in that region, installing the beginning of communist production-relations, which is socialist plan-economy, depends if some conditions are fulfilled:

- A vanguard organisation that earns its respect by the working masses by concrete proving their strategy by effective actions that is hitting imperialism and at the same time be able to protect the working masses against the aggression of imperialism
- That vanguard organisation has to develop their strategy by leaving aside idealism and metaphysics to analyse the actual world and by applying dialectical and historical materialism
- They have to analyse actual stage of capitalism, with his concrete contradictions and use this analyse to make an analyse of the actual classes
- They have to base the development of their revolutionary strategy on a study and analyse of the two most important attempts in vast regions of the world to overthrow imperialism there and to install socialism: the history of the October revolution that led to the Soviet Union and the history of the revolution in the area of once imperial China that led to the Peoples republic of China
- A study of the works of Marx and Engels to know the laws of development of the history and the capitalist society
- A study of the works of Lenin, Stalin and Mao Zedong because they were the leaders of the revolution and the installation of socialism. Those works has to be studied in their historical context and NOT to find quotes to “prove” ideas that were already in advance

 In the regions in the world of today, where Imperialism put his weight of colonial production-relations, the first ideology of anti-colonial resistance has the characteristic of NATIONALISM. It is an ideology that is aiming an independent “national” development for a “nation” which not accepts the “old” colonial borders drawn by the imperialists. Those colonial borders were a result of inter-imperialist competition (or war) or as result of an attempt to “create” artificial contradictions between different colonized people so that unified struggle against colonisation would be “avoid. In those colonial “nations” often comprador bourgeoisie or even elements of the local feudal class or chiefs of a “collaborating” tribe were put into power. That “creates” a “nationalism” that ACCEPTS the colonial production-relations and DIVIDES the people which are suffering under those colonial production-relations in different “nations”. The ANTI-COLONIAL NATIONALISM UNIFIES all people living in different, by colonialism created “nations”, for the struggle for independent national development of a nation that is as large as possible: the result of a cultural and historical study to see what can be felt as “most logical” for the majority of the people to mobilise them for the anti-colonial anti-imperialist nationalist revolution.
Because those colonial production relations are installed “by all means” (so often with war and military intervention) by imperialism, the “spontaneous” anti-colonial nationalist resistance gets more and more an anti-imperialist character and will become a national revolution that because of its anti-imperialist character can only become a socialist revolution installing a socialist plan-economy based on the expropriation of all imperialist production-units and capital.
For several reasons I think that for the anti-imperialist nationalist resistance in a given region lying under colonial production-relations it is very important to study at least (and I mean in the first place but NOT exclusively of course, see above) the experiences, the history of the CHINESE revolution and with it the works of Mao Zedong (studying them in the context OF that revolution)

1. The vast area of the old imperial china for which Mao Zedong developed the strategy of an Nationalist anti-imperialist that was be able to UNIFY all the different “nationalities” in ONE nationalist revolution. Therefore Mao Zedong searched all that was cultural and historical common for all those different “nationalities” once living in old imperial China, for so to win the minds of all those popular masses and to be able to mobilise them in such a way that the nationalist anti-imperialist revolution is made by themselves.
2. Mao Zedong developed the strategy to UNIFY the forces that already were “spontaneously” involved in nationalist resistance against the colonising imperialists, with the forces that had all interests to continue the ongoing nationalist revolution into a socialist revolution.
3. The Chinese revolution was in a world of already developed imperialism, so similar (NOT identical so it is NOT a question of COPYING a revolutionary strategy) to the world of today. So are the conditions and the problems to solve for the ACTUAL anti-imperialist nationalist resistance similar (NOT identical). For example making an CONCRETE analyse of the ACTUAL world with its contradictions. Based on this a concrete analyse has to be made of the composition of the different classes (and their class-interests) to come to a clear distinction who is friend, who is enemy and what are the forces that can be won in a as big as possible united front against the most limited as possible enemy.
4. The Chinese revolution based herself on the experiences of the October revolution that shaped the USSR. And the analyses made by Mao Zedong are based on a study of the works of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin. (for example the texts of Lenin and Stalin dealing with the “national question” and the progressive elements AND the limits of “Nationalism”)
5. It is NOT pushing aside the history of struggle, and the history of results, victories and defeats and all the valuable lessons they give, so not pushing aside the concrete history of a certain region (being Africa, South America or the Arab region. But I think that a similar anti-imperialist nationalist revolution in a similar region divided by the different colonising imperialist powers and put in the submitted position in the colonial production-relations, but a revolution that SUCCEEDED can be an inspiration on “what to be done”.
6. The development of the revolution and the attempt to bring NEW production-relations, to bring to power the working class etc in China is also revealing the dangers of mistakes that has to be corrected, the development IN THE VANGUARD-ORGANISATION ITSELF of counterrevolutionary lines, and what becomes of them, when those lines are politically and ideologically not detected and countered.

The last argument is very important because everywhere in the world where anti-imperialist resistance is growing, there are sometimes self-declared vanguard-organisations that SEEM to base themselves on the “lessons of the October revolution and the Chinese revolution” and “declare” that they are “Marxist”. But a good autonomic study of for example the Chinese revolution reveals that also then already Mao Zedong was unmasking continuously those opportunist conceptions that could develop, when not corrected to pro-capitalist conceptions. Mao Zedong spent a lot of time in analysing those opportunism conceptions, because even some of the highest cadres in the CCP evoluted to bourgeois elements because they did not correct their opportunist conceptions......
and THAT is what happened in the CCP from 1978 until now.....
And THAT is what happened in a lot of communist organisations and parties that still are referring (but in a very superficial and formal way) to Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin and Mao Zedong.
A last argument for a good autonomic study of the history of the October-revolution and the Chinese revolution combined with the texts of the leaders of those revolution (Lenin, Stalin and Mao Zedong) placed in their historical context.

7.A lot of actual organisations that are involved in anti-imperialist resistance today were founded on principal anti-communist, anti-Marxist conceptions. Those anti-communist and anti-Marxist conceptions SEEMED to be justified by the actual development of severe opportunism IN actual self-declaring “communist” organisations or organisations who are “declaring” that they have ”Marxist-Leninist” conceptions.

To come to a real revolutionary anti-imperialist strategy, those anti-imperialist resistance-organisations have to free themselves of principal anti-communism and anti-Marxism but at the same time get a clear view on what is in fact “Marxism” and what is in fact a FALSIFICATION of Marxism.

Minimal bibliography:
“On Practice” ( http://www.marx2mao.com/Mao/OP37.html ) and “On contradiction” ( http://www.marx2mao.com/Mao/OC37.html ), to learn what “dialectical and historical materialism” or “Marxism” in fact is.... and what are important FALSIFICATIONS of “Marxism”. These texts are made by Mao Zedong based on the study of works of Lenin as “Materialism and Empirio-criticism” ( http://www.marx2mao.com/Lenin/MEC08-old.html ) and “Anti-Dühring” of Friedrich Engels ( http://www.marx2mao.com/M&E/AD78NB.html ), and aimed for the formation of new communist cadres out of workers and peasants who entered the base in Yenan.
“Capital” (at least part 1) of Marx, about the analyse of the laws of development of capitalism
Imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism as an example of a concrete analyse of capitalism in the for the Russian revolutionaries “actual” stage of capitalism, but totally in line with the general conclusions from Marx about the laws of development of capitalism.
About the history from 1900 until the October revolution and in fact the history of the founding of the first Communist Party: “The History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks)” ( http://www.marx2mao.com/Other/HCPSU39NB.html ) combined with the texts of Lenin, and Stalin that are named in that book. The history of the revolution in tsarist Russia is at first to studied to learn what vanguard-organisation has to be founded, what is the position and the composition in general of the masses and the relation between vanguard and masses and what are the most important FAKE-organisations and FAKE opportunist lines. So you can study those texts in their historical context.
But to my opinion most important about the Chinese revolution : the morning deluge of Han Suyin to combine with a study of the most important texts in the selected works of Mao Zedong that are named in that book, so placed in their historical context. Because you can check the value of the analyses of Mao when you study further the history of the Chinese revolution where then those analyses are put in practice.
The Morning Deluge - Mao Tsetung and the Chinese Revolution (written by Han Suyin)
: http://www.bookfinder.com/dir/i/The_Morning_Deluge-Mao_Tsetung_and_the_Chinese_Revolution/0586039775/
Or
http://www.amazon.com/Morning-Deluge-v-1/dp/0586039775
…or to find in good library.

Selected works of Mao:
Vol. 1: http://www.marx2mao.com/Mao/Index.html#v1
Vol. 2: http://www.marx2mao.com/Mao/Index.html#v2
Vol. 3: http://www.marx2mao.com/Mao/Index.html#v3
Vol. 4: http://www.marx2mao.com/Mao/Index.html#v4
Vol. 5: http://www.marx2mao.com/Mao/Index.html#v5

Remark: I am NOT pleading for any kind of “Maoism” which is a form of OPPORTUNISM that finds its defence in “QUOTES” of Mao Zedong, once collected by Lin Piao and Liu Chaochi in ….. the “Little Red Book of Quotes of Mao Zedong”.
Equal forms of “pseudo-Marxism” or “pseudo-Marxism-Leninism” exists which find their defence in chosen quotes out of works of Marx and/or Lenin.