October 19, 2011

China's Cultural Revolution

Similar to the repudiation of Joseph Stalin and even Lenin, Mao Zedong has been vilified in modern China. While the early ideals of Chairman Mao are held in esteem, the methods he employed later in his life (and during the cultural revolution) have since been cast in a negative light. The fact that the founder of modern China could be publicly repudiated by the very society he helped found speaks to the depth of his crimes considering the Chinese ideal of saving face. During the cultural revolution, Mao felt there was a creeping of capitalism that must be stopped to regain the ideals of the revolution. Unlike the revolution of the Bolsheviks, Mao constantly struggled with the old guard ruling classes striving to hang on to their power. However, again as with most dictators, the mantle of authority they assume is soon replaced by a lust for power and status-quo. Ultimately, all revolutionaries that end up in power suddenly abandon this role in order to maintain their hold over the people they claim to support. In the end, the Cultural Revolution was an abject failure and set China back 50 years in development and political clout. While it is true that China has seen 200 years of Imperialism and centuries of invasion, it seems to rule from a position of weakness. It is ultimately weak because it acts to simply keep what it has versus to better itself. Power maintained for the sake of power is always fleeting. The fear of democracy and simply change drives China to modernize and become a defacto capitalist society. Chairman Mao tried to get rid of party figures that were left in name, but right in action. This is exactly where China is today. While it will exceed the economic output of the US in the next 20 years, as long as it operates like a scared little boy afraid of the dark, it will never be able to see the light of its own prosperity.