No, there was never a plan. Deng just took a huge step backwards. Cant blame it all on him , it just happened because how dire things were at the time. There's probably a timeline where all the revolutions and social movements in the 60s around the world triumphed and communism is achieved by the 21st century, but the reality is they fell apart one by one, the bureaucracy in the Soviet Union grew corrupt after Khurschev replaced Stalin, and China was isolated with both the Soviets and the US turned against them. The ambitious project of the cultural revolution lost steam as Mao grew complacent in his final days and eventually died. The guys leftover looked at the situation and basically said "yeah no more of this bs, lets try capitalism."
From that point on, China basically completely capitulated both ideologically and economically to the global capitalist order. There was literally a documentary that aired on national tv talking about how Chinese civilization was inherently inferior and had to learn from "oceanic" civilizations such as Europe and do capitalism. Really disgusting stuff. This eventually culminated in the events at Tiananmen square which were fortunately dealt with by Deng. One of the few good things he did. If those students got their way, China would look like one of the former soviet states today.
I think what's going on today in China can be explained mostly by the rise of the national bourgeois. Quite frankly, I am not sure about their nature and whether they are a progressive or reactionary force, probably a mix of the two. They are leaching off the workers and the peasants, but at the same time they are also exploited by the first world. The best of this class end up in the party and various sectors of civil society, while the worst of them try to climb up the ladder of exploitation by immigrating to the west/sending their children to go to college there.
Also unclear is what role the party has played within all of this and how much control they actually have. Id say with what Xi has been doing, I see a glimmer of hope, but theres a very long way to go. All in all, it's an extremely complex situation that cannot be reduced down to "China good" or "China bad". The west's obsession to try to paint a country of 1.4 billion as a monolith is nothing but orientalism.
No, there was never a plan. Deng just took a huge step backwards. Cant blame it all on him , it just happened because how dire things were at the time. There's probably a timeline where all the revolutions and social movements in the 60s around the world triumphed and communism is achieved by the 21st century, but the reality is they fell apart one by one, the bureaucracy in the Soviet Union grew corrupt after Khurschev replaced Stalin, and China was isolated with both the Soviets and the US turned against them. The ambitious project of the cultural revolution lost steam as Mao grew complacent in his final days and eventually died. The guys leftover looked at the situation and basically said "yeah no more of this bs, lets try capitalism."
From that point on, China basically completely capitulated both ideologically and economically to the global capitalist order. There was literally a documentary that aired on national tv talking about how Chinese civilization was inherently inferior and had to learn from "oceanic" civilizations such as Europe and do capitalism. Really disgusting stuff. This eventually culminated in the events at Tiananmen square which were fortunately dealt with by Deng. One of the few good things he did. If those students got their way, China would look like one of the former soviet states today.
I think what's going on today in China can be explained mostly by the rise of the national bourgeois. Quite frankly, I am not sure about their nature and whether they are a progressive or reactionary force, probably a mix of the two. They are leaching off the workers and the peasants, but at the same time they are also exploited by the first world. The best of this class end up in the party and various sectors of civil society, while the worst of them try to climb up the ladder of exploitation by immigrating to the west/sending their children to go to college there.
Also unclear is what role the party has played within all of this and how much control they actually have. Id say with what Xi has been doing, I see a glimmer of hope, but theres a very long way to go. All in all, it's an extremely complex situation that cannot be reduced down to "China good" or "China bad". The west's obsession to try to paint a country of 1.4 billion as a monolith is nothing but orientalism.
look at this nerd
:sadness:
:lumumba-point: ultra back to the classroom
that would require me to get up from my armchair
Join the 21st century and get one of those armchairs with wheelies on it ya nerd
:bordiga-despair: "Had that existed in my lifetime, the Italian revolution would have succeeded!"
:anti-italian-action: not my revolution
:gramsci-heh: "Your loss, kiddo."