Published: Challenge, Vol. 13, No. 22, October 23, 1976.
Transcription, Editing and Markup: Paul Saba
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There is quite a bit of turmoil in China these days. In the last year, three of the top leaders (Chou En-lai, Chu Teh and Mao Tse-tung} have died and the fourth (Teng Hsiao-ping) was kicked out of power. Many would-be rulers are fighting to see who is going to get control of the Chinese “Communist Party. Hua Kuo-feng seems to be top dog now. Hua is a “moderate” who evidently has won out over the so-called “radicals” from Shanghai–Chiang Ching, (Mao’s widow), Yao Wen-yuan, Chang Chun-chiao, and Wang Hung-wen. These 4 “radicals” rose to national prominence during the Cultural Revolution when they sold out the Shanghai Commune, which the workers had set up along the principles of the Paris Commune of 1871 (government officials get the same pay as the average worker, etc). For details on how Chang, Yao and friends sold out the Commune when the revisionists, led by Mao, told them to, see N. Hunter, Shanghai Journal.
The “moderates” (really rightwingers) have won the battle against the “radicals” by organizing mass demonstrations in Shanghai (supposedly the center of the “radicals”) calling for the hanging of Chiang Ching. The “radicals” are being accused by the moderates of everything from tampering with Mao Tse-tung’s will (it is rumored that they faked a quote act according to the principles laid down”) to treason.
The so-called “radical” group has played the historical role of social democrats in the Chinese revolution. After betraying the real left during the Cultural Revolution, Chiang Ching. Chen Po-ta, and Lin Piao (he was quietly being rehabilitated by the “radicals” who controlled the press and Peking Radio; they were thrown out when they wanted to gain the support of the army commanders who still liked Lin Piao) have been swept away by the more open capitalist roaders in China.
It is certain that the restoration of capitalism, started after the real left was defeated in the Cultural Revolution, will now be accelerated. Already Wan Li. who a few months ago was kicked out of his post as Minister of Railways for complicity with Teng Hsiao-ping, has just been restored to his old job. Also, Li Hsien-nien, another rightwinger who was severely attacked by the Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution, is becoming leading figure under the now leadership of Hua Kuo-feng. It seems also that the new leadership might strengthen the alliance with the U.S. against the Soviet imperialists.
The struggle of the workers in China will continue. The left during the Cultural Revolution had a base of 30 to 40 million people. The press, even when it was controlled by the “radicals”, was attacking the formation of fighting groups and struggles by workers occurring in China. The real left in China must re-build the Communist Party of China and do away with the revisionist bosses that have turned the Chinese people away from the road of revolution and onto the swamp of capitalism.
The Communist movement worldwide must learn from the mistakes made in China and build a new international communist movement to fight for socialism. Those Maoist groups that still follow China’s line will become more and more like the revisionist Soviet-line “Communist” Parties, no matter how “militant” they might sound. The threat of a war between the U.S. and the Soviet imperialists cannot be fought against by building alliances with the U.S. or other European imperialists (as China and some Maoist groups do). Only by building an anti-revisionist Communist movement, without alliances with any bosses, and by fighting for socialism, can war and fascism be stopped. Maoism, as an alternative to the Soviet-type revisionism is dead as a revolutionary force.