Chinese Marxism

Representing a lifetime of research and writing by noted historian Arif Dirlik, the essays collected here explore developments in Chinese socialism and the issues that have occupied historians of the Chinese revolution for the past three decades. Dirlik engages Chinese socialism critically but with sympathy for the aspirations of revolutionaries who found the hope of social, political, and cultural liberation in Communist alternatives to capitalism and the intellectual inspiration to realize their hopes in Marxist theory. The book's historical approach to Marxist theory emphasizes its global relevance while avoiding dogmatic and Eurocentric limitations. These incisive essays range from the origins of socialism in the early twentieth century, through the victory of the Communists in mid-century, to the virtual abandonment by century's end of any pretense to a socialist revolutionary project by the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party. All that remains of the revolution in historical hindsight are memories of its failures and misdeeds, but Dirlik retains a critical perspective not just toward the past but also toward the ideological hegemonies of the present. Taken together, his writings reaffirm the centrality of the revolution to modern Chinese history. They also illuminate the fundamental importance of Marxism to grasping the flaws of capitalist modernity, despite the fact that in the end the socialist response was unable to transcend the social and ideological horizons of capitalism.

Dialectical thought is at the core of Karl Marx's work and all subsequent attempts to build on his legacy: Marxism. And, arguably, Marx's special departure into dialectics represents an anomaly in that tradition and all of Western philosophy. Marxism finds its philosophers in the academy; in trade unions; in former soviet states; in industrial and non-industrial nations and this makes it distinct from all other modern philosophies. It is certainly the most international modern philosophical movement. Chinese Dialectics From Yijing to Marxism is an unparalleled investigation into the conversation between Western Marxism and Chinese, or Eastern Marxism. An autochthonous version of Marxism persists in China coming to fruition through the work of Mao Zedong. Chenshan Tian contends that the conversation between Eastern and Western Marxism results in a striking feature of dialectics that pervades the everyday thinking and speech of ordinary persons in China. No study to date has undertaken the task of tracing the development of Marxism in China through it's ancient philosophical texts. This book is absolutely essential reading in the disciplines of comparative political theory, philosophy, and Asian studies.

This groundbreaking study of Chinese Marxism examines the ideology and praxis of Marxism as it has developed in China from its earliest beginnings to current debates. This is the first systematic, full-length analysis of the development and nature of Marxist ideology in China. Adrian Chan challenges established scholarship in both the West and China, which continues to be overshadowed by Cold War dogma and party orthodoxy, respectively. It has long been argued that Chinese Marxism was merely an offshoot of Soviet thought blended with ill-defined traditional Chinese ideas. Using previously neglected Chinese sources--including newspapers, political journals and communist party documents--Chan refutes this. Showing how the first Chinese revolutionaries were directly influenced by the writings of Marx, Chinese Marxism argues that Bolshevism was a secondary influence on Chinese communist thought. Mao himself drew upon Marxian themes in the creation of party orthodoxy. In doing so he signalled his differences from Lenin and Stalin on important issues of theory and practice.However, not all party leaders accepted this Marxian praxis. This has led to continuous conflict between proponents of Maoist Marxism and Soviet-type scientific Marxism-Leninism. Chinese Marxism presents detailed studies of the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution to illustrate the consequences of this ongoing ideological conflict, and brings the story up to the present day with an analysis of the current Thermidorean Reaction and the controversial embracing of Confucianism.

These essays consider the implications for Chinese socialism of the repudiation of the Cultural Revolution and the legacy of Mao Zedong as well as the meaning of the new definition and direction Mao's successors have given socialism. The themes have been selected for conceptual coherence within a socialist problematic of social change. Representing anthropology, art history, economics, history, literature and politics, various inquiries point in a twofold direction - the meaning of socialism for China and the meaning of Chinese Socialism for socialism as a global phenomenon - "meaning" not in some abstract sense but rather as it is constituted in the process of political ideological activity, which articulates and defines social relationships within China as well as China's relationship to the world.

A Stanford University Press classic.

Without an understanding of the Communist Party no one can understand the China in which the Party has dominated the country. This book follows the development of the Communist Party and of Marxism in China from the early years. For the years 1921-49, it relies mainly on revelations in the Communist press of the early 1980s, when Chinese historians of the Party were relatively free to write. In relation to the People's Republic, beginning in 1949, it summarises what was reported by the author in China News Analysis. This is essentially the story of the Chinese Communist Party in its own words.

An assessment of the influence of the Marxism of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels on revolutionary developments in China. The work covers the period from the first appearance of the Chinese Communist Party under Mao Zedong until its full transformation by Deng Xiaoping - into a nationalist, developmental, single-party, developmental dictatorship.