GenZhou
Primarily for those who don't already have a discussion group, but anyone interested in Marxist-Leninist theory is welcome 👍 It won't require intensive reading/listening; it should be doable for anyone who works or studies full time, and we usually have discussions at the end of every other week. We're currently following a study plan from China, but we can add recommended texts (decided by vote). At the time of writing we're reading "Wage Labour and Capital" but I'm not going to remember to update this post You can join the group at `#reading-group:genzedong.xyz` (an encrypted room) through the GenZedong Matrix space (see [this post](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/1294067)). **There'll also be a pinned post in this community for the current text, for those who don't want to join the Matrix space.**
You can read the text [here](https://monthlyreview.org/2012/07/01/the-gdp-illusion). Post questions/analysis here and/or [join our Matrix space](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/1294067)
press.princeton.edu
>**On the Choice of Edition** > >This is the first time that the second German edition of Capital volume 1 has been translated into English. The second edition of 1872 was the last authorized text of volume 1 published in the original German, in the sense that it is the last one that Marx revised himself and approved for publication. - [Anna’s Archive](https://annas-archive.org/md5/abebaa739c328a6b12f7e42c1e5f25d0) - [Paul Reitter, Ohio State U. Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures](https://germanic.osu.edu/people/reitter.4)
A very important debunking of a pernicious anti-communist myth. However with a warning that this content creator is apparently kind of a creep, or at least said some really fucked up things at one point. This has no bearing on the validity of the points made in the video but i'm just adding this so that people are aware that some dissociation of the author from their work might be necessary here.
# The Socialist market economy is a brand new form of modern market economy As is well known, the emergence of a market economy is related to the establishment of a capitalist mode of production. In today's world, almost all countries practicing a market economy are based on private ownership of the means of production. Although there are many differences between the two models, they share a common characteristic— they both belong to a capitalist market economy based on the private ownership of means of production. A liberal market economy is a typical economic system based on private ownership. The United States constitution clearly stipulates that private property is sacred and inviolable. It has two obvious characteristics. The first is the dominance of the private sector in the U.S. economy with the state-owned economy making up only a small proportion. According to statistics, the private sector accounts for more than three-quarters of U.S. GDP. The second is the high concentration of private capital. Although there was a trend of decentralization of equity shares and a common phenomenon of stock-holding after World War II, the control of enterprises remained in the hands of a few big shareholders and senior executives. Although emphasizing the decentralization of property rights and social balance and advocating the economic system with the coexistence of various forms of ownership, the social market economy belongs to a system based on private ownership. Advocates of a social market system believe that "private ownership of the means of production is one prerequisite of the competition system". It is true that through a social market economy that values social fairness and implements welfare policies, many countries have, to a certain extent, narrowed the gap between rich and poor, met the needs of the people for a better life, and mitigated social contradictions. In essence, however, a social market economy is only an improvement on a capitalist market economy because it touches only the area of distribution rather than private ownership and its political structure. Therefore, it is impossible for such an improved capitalism to address the root causes of its polarization. Even worse, it is bound to hinder economic and social development because more and more revenue and capital will be spent on social welfare. At present, the high-welfare and high-subsidy welfare policy pursued by social market economies has sparked many negative effects, especially in the era of economic globalization when a large number of jobs will be cut and the welfare policy sinks into the inextricable mire and faces serious crisis. It is also known that socialist countries pursuing public ownership of the means of production chose a highly centralized planned economy at the primary stage. As a result, over a long period of time, many people tend to define a planned economy as a basic characteristic of socialism and the market as a patent of capitalist private ownership, thus regarding a market economy and socialism as incompatible as water and fire. Naturally, whether and how socialism can be integrated with a market economy has become a major problem in socialist economic theory and practice. For nearly 100 years, foreign scholars have made an arduous exploration into this difficult global historical problem. A variety of theoretical models of market socialism have been produced or even put into practice. All, however, ended up in failure or fantasy due to the fact that they were divorced from reality. In China, reform of the economic system is a process of expanding the role of the market mechanism. Since market-oriented reform was officially launched in 1978, after decades of debates on and exploration into theory and practice, and after paying heavy historical costs, China finally realized the positive role of the market on economic development, and the CPC set a goal of establishing a socialist market economy in the process of reforming China's economic system. As is pointed out in the Report to the 14th National Congress of the Communist Party of China: > Numerous facts show that the market is an effective way to allocate resources and provide incentives, and to bring pressure and power to an enterprise. Moreover, the market response to various signals is also sensitive and rapid. Because of these advantages, more and more people in socialist countries have realized the positive role of the market for economic development. The one-sided understanding of and bias against the market in the past are being abandoned. The socialist market economy proposed and established in China is a shining example for the world in combining, in a scientific way, socialism with a market economy. In this sense, we can say proudly that the 14th National Congress of the Communist Party of China held in October 1992 opened up a new era in Chinese history. The Report to the 15th CPC National Congress clearly pointed out that "it is a great pioneering undertaking to combine socialism with a market economy". Making public ownership of the means of production the mainstay is the basic feature for such a combination, the essential difference between a socialist market economy and a "liberal market economy" and is the root cause for it to become a brand new form of modern market economy.
An interesting interview because so much of what he said back then is applicable to today. *"History repeats itself, first as tragedy then as farce."* It's fascinating how clearly Stalin saw through the machinations of the imperialists and their plans: > *The English race theory leads Mr Churchill and his friends to the conclusion that the English-speaking nations, as the only superior nations, should rule over the rest of the nations of the world. Actually, Mr Churchill, and his friends in Britain and the United States, present to the non-English-speaking nations something in the nature of an ultimatum: “Accept our rule voluntarily, and then all will be well; otherwise war is inevitable.”* Not much has changed. The Anglos are still trying to impose their hegemony over the rest of the world, only thing that's different today is that Britain is even more of a joke than it was then. > *The Germans made their invasion of the USSR through Finland, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary. The Germans were able to make their invasion through these countries because, at the time, governments hostile to the Soviet Union existed in these countries.* And now there are hostile governments again in all of these countries (minus perhaps Hungary who are trying to play both sides) threatening Russia. They have already managed to take over and occupy parts of the Soviet Union like Ukraine and the Baltics. > *This circumstance enabled statesmen like Mr Churchill to play on these antagonisms, to get control over Poland on the pretext of protecting her from the Russians, to try to scare Russia with the spectre of war between her and Poland, and retain the position of arbiter for themselves.* And now we have the same situation again with Poland that Stalin describes here. Once again the Anglo imperialists are playing up this irrational hostility against Russia to control the countries of Eastern Europe. > *[Socialist states] are administered by blocs of several parties – from four to six parties – and the opposition, if it is more or less loyal, is secured the right of participation in the government.* > *That Mr Churchill describes as totalitarianism, tyranny and police rule. Why? On what grounds? Don’t expect a reply from Mr Churchill. Mr Churchill does not understand in what a ridiculous position he puts himself by his outcry about “totalitarianism, tyranny and police rule”.* And now the West is spouting the exact same nonsense about China as they did then about the European socialist governments. Nearly a hundred years later and they still have the same propaganda playbook. > *I don’t know whether Mr Churchill and his friends will succeed in organising a new armed campaign against eastern Europe after the second world war; but if they do succeed – which is not very probable because millions of ‘plain people’ stand guard over the cause of peace – it may confidently be said that they will be thrashed, just as they were thrashed once before, 26 years ago.* Stalin being prophetic here as just that has come to pass. The imperialists have succeeded in organizing a new war in Eastern Europe, again using fascists to do their dirty work, and again Russia is thrashing them.
You can read the text [here](https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Library:Class_Struggle:_A_Political_and_Philosophical_History). Post questions/analysis here and/or [join our Matrix space](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/1294067)
### What is this? This is a transcript I have from a lecture given at Tsinghua University by Li Bangxi on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics. The titles are something I added because this lecture was not originally written down (no one really titles portions of their lectures haha). I would love if we started a discussion in the comments because this is, to my knowledge, the first time this lecture is reaching the west. The audience he was addressing was a mix of Chinese and Non-Chinese (mostly Americans). Li also sometimes gets into specifics. I have cut out the most of the portions where he simply stated numbers from charts he had of economic indicators since those are publicly available and I don't know what his sources were. The lecture: # CHINESE ECONOMIC POLICY ### THE STATE AND BUSINESS The basis for all government intervention in business in China is to be found in the Socialist conception of the relation between business and the State. According to the Socialist theory business is subordinated to the State. Formerly, it was believed that the fate of the State and of the nation lay in business, for it was said that business was of such great importance and so powerful that it controlled the State and determined State policies. In the Socialist State the relation between business and State is just the contrary. Today the State or State policy controls or rules business. I must emphasize that in Socialist eyes the State incorporates in itself no absolute value as is the case, for instance, in an absolute monarchy. The supreme value is the community of the nation. The State is only the form of organization and the manifestation of the people. This means that the State is not concerned with economic conditions as long as they do not conflict with the welfare of the nation. The principle of private initiative has been maintained. However, where it seems necessary to bring business into line with the welfare of the nation, the State will not hesitate to intervene and direct business into the desired channels. In China, contrary to the usual belief, we have no “planned economy”, but rather a “directed” economy if I may use such an expression. ### THE AIMS The aims of the present regulation of production can be summarized in a few words. First, the securing of supplies of raw materials for industry. All measures serving this aim are included in the Five-Year-Plan the aim of which is to make China as independent as possible of imports by increasing domestic production. Second, an increase in domestic agricultural production with the aim of making China, as far as possible, self-sufficient in the field of foodstuffs. China has only a few raw materials and has always been faced with the necessity of importing the greater part of her raw material requirements. But as you realize, imports can only be paid for out of export proceeds or other credit items in the balance of payments such as shipping, insurance, or proceeds from capital investments abroad. ### INDIRECT AND DIRECT REGULATION OF PRODUCTION The Chinese government follows no definite theory in establishing the methods by which intervention in the field of production is to be accomplished. This is one of the most characteristic traits of Socialist economic policy. In combatting unemployment, the government did not follow one theory such as the theory of direct public works or the theory of the stimulation of private initiative, but followed both theories impartially according as to which seemed best at the time. The same is true of the regulation of production. The various measures may be classified as: 1. indirect and 2. direct. The State undertakes indirect measures when it intervenes not in production and capital investment themselves but in conditions which govern them. There are four special groups of indirect measures: 1. Regulation of taxes, especially reduction of taxes. For example, in order to revive automobile production, which was at an extremely low level, and thus to stimulate motorization in China, which had lagged far behind the level of motorization in other countries. In the last five years, these measures together with the economic upswing have brought about a great advance in automobile sales and a great improvement in Chinese motorization. A further example of regulation of production by means of tax reductions was the exemption of short-term capital goods from income tax. The value of these goods could be deducted from taxable income of the individual and from the taxable profits of an enterprise. This stimulated the purchase of such goods and was a means of increasing the low activity of the capital goods industry. The elasticity of the Socialist economic policy can be seen in the fact that this measure was repealed as soon as the capital goods industry was fully employed. 2. The second means of indirect regulation of production is price policy. This can take place in two ways: by a reduction in costs and by an increase in, or guarantee of, sales prices. These methods have been chiefly used in the field of agriculture, where production reacts quickly to price changes. An example of this reduction may be seen in the prices for artificial fertilizer, farm machinery and agricultural implements. On the other hand, by a scaling of farm prices it has been possible to increase considerably the acreage given over to winter barley, the production of fiber plants and oil fruits, and the number of sheep. 3. Closely related to this price policy is tariff policy, the utilization of which is necessary where domestic goods compete with foreign products. This is particularly important in the case of agricultural products, the prices of which are considerably lower on the world market than in China. Special boards have been set up in order to compensate for these differences in prices, and are empowered to regulate imports. 4. The last method of indirect regulation of production is the prohibition of new private issues on the capital market. Since new issues are permitted only for special purposes all those branches of trade and industry which are shut off from the capital market are thus limited in their capital investment possibilities. They can only extend their plants, etc., to the degree that their own funds allow. A special board was set up under the control of the People's Bank of China, to which application must be made before new issues are floated. Permission is only granted for private issues in the case of companies which serve the ends of the Five-Year-Plan, where, moreover, no other possibility of financing their work exists. ### CAPITAL INVESTMENT POLICY Among the large number of methods of directly influencing production, I have to mention first the government orders which predominate in some economic branches. Apart from this a good deal of direct regulation of production by the Government consists of the regulation of capital investment activity. Thus, the regulation of capital investment activity really means a planned direction of capital investment. This was proved especially necessary when work was started on the Five-Year-Plan. In a certain sense capital investments were scaled according to urgency, the Five-Year-Plan, rearmament and exports are the most important. A number of measures have been introduced in this connection. They may be classified as follows: There are capital investment prohibitions, the purpose of which is to prevent industries whose capacity is sufficient to cover demand, from extending their plants. This prevents needless using up of the limited capital and material available, and avoids overproduction and consequent disturbances of the market. We have such capital investment prohibitions, for instance, in the paper industry, in the glass industry, in part of the textile industry, and in part of the chemical industry. In the second place the regulation of capital investments and production by profits and sales guarantees given by the government. I have already emphasized that Socialism adheres to the principle of private initiative. However, this does not prevent the State, if it seems necessary, from relieving private business of some of the risk it runs in undertaking certain projects. These profits and sales guarantees given by the State are especially important in the production of staple fiber, motor spirit and synthetic rubber. The companies engaged in such production in China are private firms; their profits however, have, been guaranteed by the State to a certain extent, since their products are of great importance for the economic policy of the State. In some fields the State itself has gone into production, and has for this purpose made capital investments. The principle that business is to be left as far as possible to private initiative does not mean that the State cannot engage in economic activity in certain fields of production and under certain specific conditions. This is the case, for example, in the field of iron ore production. After the loss of territory in the War, only a small part of China’s iron ore requirements could be covered by domestic production. In view of the fixed costs and prices prevailing and under the usual methods of exploitation only part of China’s iron ore deposits could be mined with profit. The dependence on imports in the case of such an important field as iron ore had to be eliminated. But the conditions and problems in this type of production were so peculiar and so extensive that the State correctly assumed the initiative itself. The Government, founded a company, the business of which is the mining of the low content iron ores which abound in China. ### SUBSIDIES One of the oldest and best-known methods of State intervention both here and abroad is the granting of subsidies by the State. Outside China, especially in the United States, subsidies are well-known, above all in the shipping industry. Here too private business is not in a position itself to operate an economic branch in the way the State considers desirable. The same thing holds in China for some spheres of production. For example, certain building projects, such as the building of dwellings for agricultural workers or the erection of settlements for industrial workers, are carried out either directly with the help of contributions from the State, or indirectly with the aid of loans granted by the State on extremely favorable terms. Furthermore, the production of nonferrous metals has been supported by State subsidies for many years. ### REGULATION OF RAW MATERIAL CONSUMPTION The third group of measures of government production regulation concern raw material consumption. Almost the whole of Chinese industry is subjected to the system of raw material quotas. The essence of quota-fixing lies in the control of imports, which was introduced as part of the New Plan for Chinese Foreign Trade. The control is carried out by 27 control boards, one of which has been set up for each branch of industry. Factories which use imported raw materials are only allowed to purchase a certain volume of raw materials abroad. Normally, the basis of the quota-fixing is the consumption of a certain month. But the importance of the orders which the company has to fill, is also taken into account, export orders being given special consideration. Apart from this system of import regulation there exist a number of decrees dealing with the use of raw materials. For instance, as a result of the scarcity of wool and cotton it has been decreed that all wool and cotton cloth manufactured in China for the domestic market must contain a certain percentage of staple fiber. Certain products, for example doorknobs, may no longer be made of brass. In private residential buildings only a certain amount of construction iron may be used. This system of regulation has been carefully worked out and is not too strictly bureaucratic in its application. In many cases the usual raw materials must be replaced by new synthetic raw materials which can be produced without any import. The use of these new synthetic raw materials does not mean a lowering of the quality of the finished product. On the contrary, the shortage of raw materials leads to new inventions and improvements and even brings about as in the case of synthetic rubber a technical progress which otherwise would not have occurred. ### INCREASE OF PRODUCTION If you were to ask me what success has been achieved in the sphere of production regulation, I could not do better than to give you a few figures which will show you the extent of the increase of production in China. The production of capital goods has risen much more strongly than has the production of consumption goods. Progress in the field of domestic raw material production has been even greater. Iron ore production has risen from an average of 843,000 metric tons for the first 3 months of the year to 1,226,000 metric tons in the first three months of the year. This means an increase of 45%. Furthermore, there has been great progress in domestic oil production. ### CONSUMPTION POLICY A number of measures of production regulations, namely all those which affect production of consumption goods, also influence consumption. When, for example, in the interest of a sufficient bread supply it is decreed that all bread should contain a certain amount of maize flour, this is felt by each individual consumer. (Incidentally, in view of the good harvest, this particular measure was abolished) The same is true of the changes in the textile field and in other fields where the new synthetic materials are gaining a foothold. The idea of “consumption regulation” is undoubtedly something completely new to you. In the economic textbooks and handbooks nothing will be found on this subject. Of course, the fact that — contrary to general belief — man cannot consume what he desires, is as old as the hills. And even today in the modern economic systems the individual is subjected to many restrictions in his consumption. In the Middle Ages there were strict provisions as to the clothing worn by the various classes. The Mercantile countries, that is, the countries of the 17th and 18th centuries, restricted consumption for economic reasons, mainly in order to stimulate home industry and to cut down imports. And if you consider your own position, you will find none or only a few restrictions in your consumption as the result of State action (you will remember of course the days of prohibition!), but you will probably find great restrictions in consumption as the result of custom, fashion, habit, social viewpoint and, last but not least, industrial production. It would probably be very hard for you to secure outside the six to eight different forms of straw hats to be found in almost every shop, one which was especially light and comfortable and in a form designed by yourself. This is nowhere manufactured and it would be hard for you to find someone to make you a straw hat according to your own design and measure. Industrial hat production, which is rationally based on machine production of hats, will certainly not do it. While on the subject of hats, it would be impossible for you to walk around in America, in a round plate-like felt hat, instead of the usual form of felt hat, without being laughed off the street, for that would be contrary to American custom and habit. And finally the fact that each family must spend a certain part of its income on food, the amount being in inverse proportion to the income, is most certainly a restriction of freedom of consumption which weighs quite heavily on the individual. The aim of consumption policy in China is to increase consumption and thus raise the standard of living of the entire nation — especially that of the working class — to adjust consumption to production and to regulate consumption along Socialist lines. The aims of consumption regulation are partly of a political nature and partly determined by the economic situation. It is far harder to regulate consumption than it is to regulate anything else in economy. For every measure of consumption policy affects the largest unit, the entire population. A decree concerning the iron ore producing industry affects only a few hundred firms. However, an appeal to the consumer affects over 1 billion people. This fact alone makes special methods necessary for regulation of consumption. I have hinted at these methods in telling you about the bread supply and textile production. Of a similar nature are certain limitations imposed upon trade, whereby only a fixed amount is allowed to each customer, as for example m the case of fats in months when there is a shortage. The most important means of regulating consumption is publicity. Of course, this method does not guarantee as sure a success as do legal measures. But it has the great advantage that it gives the consumer the feeling that he is doing something of his own free will and that the only pressure exerted upon him is that which is exerted by his conscience. ### NUTRITION China is in the unfortunate position that there is a limit to which those foodstuffs the consumption of which increases with a rise in income, such as fats, butter, eggs, etc., can be produced or imported. Thus, the aim has been to influence the consumer to use as much as possible those foodstuffs which are abundant in China and to use to a less degree those which are not so plentiful or which have to be imported. At the same time, there was a possibility of directing nutrition in the best ways from the point of view of health. For instance, everything possible was done to convince people that for a great part of the population, for example those who do not do hard physical labor, a diet too rich in fats is not especially healthy. Along the same ideas, great success has been achieved in increasing the consumption of fish. Today China consumes 26-9 lbs. per head per annum, as compared with 18-7 lbs. five years ago. A summary of everything desired in the field of consumption regulation may be found in the food list which the Chinese Institute for Business Research has worked out. The Institute classified the foodstuffs into three groups, those whose consumption should be increased, those whose level of consumption should be maintained, and those whose consumption should be restricted. In China we do not have a regular supply of all foodstuffs throughout the year as you do in America. The Institute therefore drew up a list of those foodstuffs which are to be especially pushed in certain months. As an example, I shall quote two months: January: pork, geese, fish, cabbage, root vegetables, fruit and vegetable conserves. September: mutton, poultry, mushrooms, pickles, tomatoes, beans, salad, spinach, plums, pears and apples. However, I would like to emphasize that these are not the only goods which may be consumed, but the public is to be educated to adjust its diet to conform more or less with the fluctuations in the supply of certain foodstuffs. Publicity to this end is not carried out by the Institute for Business Research or by the Government direct but by organizations and private companies. Another measure serving the same purpose is the Anti-Waste Campaign. The purpose of this is clearly to be seen in its name. ### ORGANIZED CONSUMPTION A special field in consumption regulation is the organization of consumption which is carried out by the large political units. Here political and social aims correspond to economic aims. Everything is being done to influence the worker to spend his income as much as possible for such things as mean a substantial rise in his standard of living and as little as possible for such things as burden the Chinese foreign exchange balance. Through organization it is possible to effect price reductions, and these price reductions are to make it possible for the worker to do those things which formerly only the better-situated classes were able to afford.
This is an excerpt from a chapter in Losurdo's - War and Revolution - Rethinking the 20th century. --- ### The Third Reich and the Natives With the unleashing of the war in the East, Hitler set about constructing the 'German Indies', as they were sometimes called, or conquering a _Lebensraum_ similar to the Far West. The First World War and the British naval blockade had demonstrated the geopolitical vulnerability of Germany's previous colonial expansion. Assessing this negative experience, _Mein Kampf_ stressed that 'the New Reich must again set itself on the march along the road of the Teutonic Knights of old', in order to build a robust continental empire.[^104^](#10_Chapter5.xhtml#ch5-fn-104) This involved exploiting the disintegration of Czarist Russia, avoiding a 'fratricidal' conflict with the Anglo-Saxon powers, and preserving Germanic or Aryan solidarity intact. In this optic, the war with the 'natives' of Eastern Europe was equated with the 'war against the Indians', with 'the struggle in North America against the Red Indians'. In both cases, 'victory will go to the strong',[^105^](#10_Chapter5.xhtml#ch5-fn-105) and be secured by the methods appropriate to colonial war: 'in the history of the expansion of the power of great peoples, the most radical methods have always been applied with success'.[^106^](#10_Chapter5.xhtml#ch5-fn-106) It might be said that Hitler sought his Far West in the East and identified the _Untermenschen_ of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union as 'Indians' to be chased ever further beyond the Urals in the name of the march of civilization. This was not a fleeting suggestion, but a long-premeditated programme spelt out in detail. Furet aptly draws attention to the fact that Hitler compared []the great spaces he readied himself to conquer to a 'desert'.[^107^](#10_Chapter5.xhtml#ch5-fn-107) But he does not breathe a word about the history behind this metaphor, which pertained to the history of colonialism and, above all, the expansion of the continental empires. In the mid-nineteenth century, Mexico seemed like a set of 'desert wastes ... untrodden save by the savage and the beast' to chauvinistic circles in the USA, who aspired to conquer it, at least in part.[^108^](#10_Chapter5.xhtml#ch5-fn-108) Going further back, here is how Tocqueville described the immense territories of North America on the eve of the Europeans' arrival: > Although the vast country that I have been describing was inhabited by > many indigenous tribes, it may justly be said, at the time of its > discovery by Europeans, to have formed one great desert. The Indians > occupied it without possessing it. It is by agricultural labour that > man appropriates the soil, and the early inhabitants of North America > lived by the produce of the chase. Their implacable prejudices, their > uncontrolled passions, their vices, and still more perhaps, their > savage virtues consigned them to inevitable destruction. The ruin of > these tribes began from the day when Europeans landed on their shores; > it has proceeded ever since, and we are now witnessing its completion. In a way, the genocide that was in the process of being completed formed part of a divine plan -- what, around a decade later, would be called the Manifest Destiny with which the white colonizers were invested: > They \[the indigenous tribes\] seem to have been placed by Providence > amid the riches of the New World only to enjoy them for a season; they > were there merely to wait till others came. Those coasts, so admirably > adapted for commerce and industry; those wide and deep rivers; that > inexhaustible valley of the Mississippi; the whole continent, in > short, seemed prepared to be the abode of a great nation yet > unborn.[^109^](#10_Chapter5.xhtml#ch5-fn-109) The advance of the American white, engaged in his lone 'struggle against the obstacles that nature opposes to him', against 'the wilderness and savage life', was unstoppable and beneficial.[^110^](#10_Chapter5.xhtml#ch5-fn-110) Indeed, the native 'has nothing to []oppose to our perfection in the arts but the resources of the wilderness'.[^111^](#10_Chapter5.xhtml#ch5-fn-111) There is an especially significant expression: 'the Indians were the sole inhabitants of the wilds whence they have since been expelled'.[^112^](#10_Chapter5.xhtml#ch5-fn-112) The desert becomes genuinely inhabited only with the entry of the Europeans and the flight or deportation of the natives. This was the colonial tradition that lies behind Hitler, who was likewise concerned to populate the 'desert' of Eastern Europe: 'In a hundred years' time there will be millions of German peasants living here.' The settlement of civilians went together with measures to contain and deport the barbarians: > Given the proliferation of the natives, we must regard it as a > blessing that women and girls practise abortion on a vast scale ... we > must take all the measures necessary to ensure that the non-German > population does not increase at an excessive rate. In these > circumstances, it would be sheer folly to place at their disposal a > health service such as we know it in Germany; and so -- no > inoculations and other preventative measures for the natives! We must > even try to stifle any desire for such things, by persuading them that > vaccination and the like are really most dangerous! Even traffic accidents or similar kinds of incident could prove useful: 'Jodl is quite right when he says that notices in the Ukrainian language "Beware of the Trains" are superfluous; what on earth does it matter if one or two more locals get run over by the trains?' For the processes of racial de-specification to proceed unhindered, 'to avoid all danger of our own people becoming too soft-hearted and too humane towards them, we must keep the German colonies strictly separated from the local inhabitants'.[^113^](#10_Chapter5.xhtml#ch5-fn-113) As the conquest proceeded, it was necessary to push the _Untermenschen_ or 'Indians' of Eastern Europe back ever further, possibly beyond the Urals, so as to create space for Germanic elements and civilization. On the other hand, the objective situation dictated rapid colonization of the conquered territories and their endowment with a new ethnic identity. This entailed massive 'tasks of population policy' (_volkspolitische Aufhaben_). The process that had taken centuries in the Far West or other colonies had to be completed []or configured in its essentials in the space of a few years and in conditions of total war. The 'mass catastrophe' (\_Volkskatastrophe\*) of the subjugated peoples and the death of 'tens of millions of men' was inevitable.[^114^](#10_Chapter5.xhtml#ch5-fn-114) The decimation of the indigenous populations could not be entrusted to the long-term effects of rum, or infectious diseases, or the destruction of bison. Where starvation and the brutality of deportation proved insufficient, bombers could be called upon to raze Leningrad and Moscow to the ground (according to Hitler's plan in July 1941), as could execution squads charged with thinning out populations 'of primarily Asiatic composition' and 'Asiatics of poor quality'.[^115^](#10_Chapter5.xhtml#ch5-fn-115) The natives had hitherto been assimilated to the Native Americans, who could be unceremoniously depleted. In another respect, they ended up being represented as work tools, 'slaves in the service of our civilization',[^116^](#10_Chapter5.xhtml#ch5-fn-116) and hence as blacks. The new continental empire had to seize land from the 'Indians' (therewith condemned to deportation and decimation), and procure work tools -- the slaves who could not be imported from Africa, and who were all the more imperative because of the war's economic and military requirements. From the outset, the Third Reich's colonial policy suffered from this contradiction or tension: in the new territories, it was necessary both to conquer the Far West and Africa, deporting and decimating savages, and to utilize sufficient servile or semi-servile manpower. Resolving this problem -- reducing the residual 'native' population to a simple pool of slaves for the master race -- was not easy. As with the slaves in the southern USA referred to by Tocqueville, they were certainly to be deprived of education in the interim. Hitler explained: 'I am in favour of teaching a little German in the schools simply because this will facilitate our administration. Otherwise every time some German instruction is disobeyed, the local inhabitant will come along with the excuse that he "didn't understand".'[^117^](#10_Chapter5.xhtml#ch5-fn-117) But Eastern Europe was not the America conquered by whites; nor was it the Africa of the golden age of the slave trade. Here the 'Indian savage' and black slave did not exist in a natural state: they had to be created by erasing centuries of history and artifice (from the standpoint of Nazi Social Darwinism), []restoring the laws and aristocracy of nature. The attempt to revive the colonial tradition in twentieth-century Eastern Europe entailed a gigantic programme of dis-emancipation and a horrendous train of atrocities and barbarism. The death penalty with which, according to Tocqueville, the South threatened those who offered education to slaves, now had to target an entire social stratum. The Führer clearly explained the inexorable logic governing the construction of the new empire: 'For the Pole there must be \_a single\* master, and that is the German; ... therefore all the representatives of the Polish intelligentsia must be killed. This sounds cruel, but it is the law of life.' Hitler's order, formulated as early as the start of the campaign in Poland, was obsessively repeated by the Nazi ruling group. It was necessary 'to prevent the Polish intelligentsia structuring itself as a leading group'; it was necessary to systematically liquidate the clergy,[^118^](#10_Chapter5.xhtml#ch5-fn-118) the nobility, and social strata capable of preserving the national consciousness and historical continuity of the nation, so that the new colonies could supply the requisite slaves. As the blacks were destroyed by the slave (or semi-slave) labour they were forced to perform, they were transformed into 'redskins', dross that must somehow or other be disposed of, in accordance with the schemas of the colonial tradition, which now assumed its most sanguinary and repugnant aspect. The pressure of time and war dispelled any residual scruples.
You can read the text [here](https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Library:The_state_and_revolution). Post questions/analysis here and/or [join our Matrix space](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/1294067)
www.therevolutionreport.org
"The third socialist movement began with the First World War. The mainstream socialist parties abandoned internationalism and lined up behind their respective capitalist classes in support of the inter-imperialist mass slaughter. Lenin and the Bolsheviks broke completely from the main socialist trend, denounced the Second International as traitors to socialism, and founded a new Communist International known as the Comintern, headquartered in Moscow, in 1918. Marxism-Leninism, the official ideology of the Soviet state founded by the Bolsheviks, expanded the appeal of Marxism to the non-European world. Lenin stated that capitalism would only be defeated if the working class of the West united with the national liberation struggles of the colonized masses of Asia and Africa. The kind of socialism built in the Soviet Union consisted of top-to-bottom nationalization and complete state control of all economic life, led by a tightly disciplined Communist Party. In the course of the 20th century, this economic model first built in Russia was replicated in half of Europe and large parts of Asia, as well as some countries in Africa and Latin America. For much of the 20th century, one-third of the human race lived under Marxist-Leninist governments. In the 1960s and 70s, this third socialist movement entered a serious crisis. The total command economy practiced in the USSR, Eastern Europe, and Mao-era China began to stagnate. Such a model was effective for industrializing semi-feudal agrarian societies, eliminating poverty, spurring urbanization, mobilizing for war, and large-scale scientific/technological projects. But they were terrible at effectively producing consumer goods and also suffered deficiencies in efficiency and innovation. While this model lifted people out of destitution, their material existence was still humble compared to First World capitalist countries. Discontent grew among populations in the Communist bloc who wanted the comforts and consumer lifestyle enjoyed by the Western middle classes. In addition, by the 1960s the global Communist movement split between the USSR and China, for reasons too complicated to get into here. Suffice it to say that an enormous amount of time, weaponry, and resources were wasted by Moscow and Beijing fighting and undermining each other, sapping their strength and contributing to the victory of US imperialism in the Cold War. The Marxist-Leninist movement fractured, split, and almost completely collapsed. The fall of the USSR devastated and crippled the global movement. In the 1990s and early 2000s, the most reactionary, pro-free-market, and imperialist forces advanced nearly everywhere on Earth. This brings us to the fourth global socialist movement that exists today. After the USSR fell, China begrudgingly had to shoulder the burden of leading what remained of the socialist and anti-imperialist camp. Starting in the 1980s, China engaged in market reforms that allowed for private enterprise to grow, in order to build its productive forces through attracting foreign investment in a largely capitalist world. Vietnam, Cuba, and other countries followed suit. The fourth global socialist movement, while emphasizing that the state should still dominate the economy, allows for markets and lower-level private enterprise. It does not discourage entrepreneurship as long as such endeavors do not harm the broader society. The fourth socialist movement is more ideologically diverse than the third; while the Communist Party of China commands the single most powerful state, there are also non-Marxist socialist forces such as the Bolivarian movement in South America, and Islamic socialists in Iran in this broad alliance. Shared ideology is not as important as shared opposition to neoliberalism, imperialism, and financial parasitism. The fourth global socialist movement does not exclusively appeal to the working class either. China’s Belt and Road Initiative is meant to attract professionals and middle-class forces in Global South nations of a progressive outlook. People who want their respective countries to develop their own manufacturing and infrastructure, so that the most promising minds of their nations won’t be lost to a brain drain towards the Western imperial core. Like the utopian socialists, many of the anti-imperialist Muslims and Christians in the fourth socialist movement are motivated by a strong moral opposition to capitalism. Unlike secular Marxist-Leninists, they see the struggle against capitalism as a spiritual struggle and not exclusively a class one. In conclusion, the task of communist and socialist parties in the 21st century is to make themselves relevant players in this new movement of history. The fall of the USSR, the severing of communist/socialist parties from their working-class base (especially in the West), as well as the demoralization brought about by repeated defeats, disoriented many socialists. Many parties stubbornly clung to dogmas from the old Cold War that no longer made any sense, becoming stale relics from another time. Others have capitulated to liberalism, allowing alien postmodern ideas imported from the bourgeois academy to infest our movements. Our organizations must return to our calling of representing the independent position of the working class, and not tail after ‘progressive’ liberals or the false populism of the right. Globalist finance capitalism leads in only one direction, no matter how one votes: war, fascism, genocide, and degrowth. We must study the lessons of socialism with Chinese characteristics and creatively apply Marxism to our own societies and present-day circumstances. From there, we can build strategic alliances with all anti-imperialist and pro-development forces."
You can read the text [here](https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Library:The_state_and_revolution). Post questions/analysis here and/or [join our Matrix space](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/1294067)
You can read the text [here](https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Library:On_the_People%27s_Democratic_Dictatorship). Post questions/analysis here and/or [join our Matrix space](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/1294067)
You can read the text [here](https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Library:On_the_People%27s_Democratic_Dictatorship). Post questions/analysis here and/or [join our Matrix space](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/1294067)
If so, where could one find a copy of it?
You can read the text [here](https://redsails.org/marxism-is-a-science). Post questions/analysis here and/or [join our Matrix space](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/1294067)
You can read the text [here](https://redsails.org/the-meaning-of-hegel). Post questions/analysis here and/or [join our Matrix space](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/1294067)
For example many CPSU members were formally members of the social democratic party, almost all Eastern Bloc communist parties were mergers of the preexisting communist parties with social democratic parties, and the Korean Social Democratic Party is one of the few opposition parties in the DPRK
youtu.be
tværpostet fra: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/4948996 > This video was in my recommended today, and I thought I’d share with you all
The claim I’ve heard most is that Kalashnikov based the design of the AK-47 on the STG 44, but I’ve read a comment on this site (as far as I can remember) from a user whose username I can’t remember who said the opposite: That Kalashnikov did *not* base the design of the AK-47 on the STG 44
[@AnarchoBolshevik@lemmygrad.ml](https://lemmygrad.ml/u/AnarchoBolshevik)
This is the US foreign policy establishment's most important publication admitting it.
You can read the text [here](https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Library:Marxism_and_the_National_Question). Post questions/analysis here and/or [join our Matrix space](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/1294067)
You can read the text [here](https://redsails.org/haywood-national-question). Post questions/analysis here and/or [join our Matrix space](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/1294067)
You can read the text [on ProleWiki](https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Library:On_revolutionary_morality). Post questions/analysis here and/or [join our Matrix space](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/1294067)
www.youtube.com
On how Lenin’s theory of imperialism was a conjunctural one to the period rather than a general/universal one, and how to conjuncturaly theorize on later periods, up to the present.
youtu.be
The piece that is being discussed in this talk: https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1921/jan/05.htm
youtube.com
COMRADES! Men and women compatriots! The great day of victory over Germany has come. Fascist Germany, forced to her knees by the Red Army and the troops of our Allies, has acknowledged herself defeated and declared unconditional surrender. On May 7 the preliminary protocol on surrender was signed in the city of Rheims. On May 8 representatives of the German High Command, in the presence of representatives of the Supreme Command of the Allied troops and the Supreme Command of the Soviet Troops, signed in Berlin the final act of surrender, the execution of which began at 24.00 hours on May 8. Being aware of the wolfish habits of the German ringleaders, who regard treaties and agreements as empty scraps of paper, we have no reason to trust their words. However, this morning, in pursuance of the act of surrender, the German troops began to lay down their arms and surrender to our troops en masse. This is no longer an empty scrap of paper. This is actual surrender of Germany’s armed forces. True, one group of German troops in the area of Czechoslovakia is still evading surrender. But I trust that the Red Army will be able to bring it to its senses. Now we can state with full justification that the historic day of the final defeat of Germany, the day of the great victory of our people over German imperialism has come. The great sacrifices we made in the name of the freedom and independence of our Motherland, the incalculable privations and sufferings experienced by our people in the course of the war, the intense work in the rear and at the front, placed on the altar of the Motherland, have not been in vain, and have been crowned by complete victory over the enemy. The age-long struggle of the Slav peoples for their existence and their independence has ended in victory over the German invaders and German tyranny. Henceforth the great banner of the freedom of the peoples and peace among peoples will fly over Europe. Three years ago Hitler declared for all to hear that his aims included the dismemberment of the Soviet Union and the wresting from it of the Caucasus, the Ukraine, Byelorussia, the Baltic lands and other areas. He declared bluntly: “We will destroy Russia so that she will never be able to rise again.” This was three years ago. However, Hitler’s crazy ideas were not fated to come true—the progress of the war scattered them to the winds. In actual fact the direct opposite of the Hitlerites’ ravings has taken place. Germany is utterly defeated. The German troops are surrendering. The Soviet Union is celebrating Victory, although it does not intend either to dismember or to destroy Germany. Comrades! The Great Patriotic War has ended in our complete victory. The period of war in Europe is over. The period of peaceful development has begun. I congratulate you upon victory, my dear men and women compatriots! Glory to our heroic Red Army, which upheld the independence of our Motherland and won victory over the enemy! Glory to our great people, the people victorious! Eternal glory to the heroes who fell in the struggle against the enemy and gave their lives for the freedom and happiness of our people!
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(See first post for background: [#1 Cultural Revolution](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/4111581), previous post: [#5 Rise of First KMT-CPC Cooperation and Climax of the Great Revolution](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/4307606)) *A Concise History of the Communist Party of China* (2021, ISBN 978-7-5117-3978-0), pg. 30-35 [《中国共产党简史》](https://article.xuexi.cn/articles/pdf/index.html?art_id=1514845518710518863), pg. 25-28 (Chapter 1) ### 5. The Northern Expedition and the Worker and Peasant Movements #### The Victorious March of the Northern Expedition In July 1926, the National Revolutionary Army launched the Northern Expedition. The direct targets of the expedition were the imperialist-backed Northern Warlords, mainly Wu Peifu, Sun Chuanfang, and Zhang Zuolin, who had 700,000 troops under their direct control. The National Revolutionary Army under the Nationalist Government totaled around 100,000 men. Vastly outnumbered, the NRA, under the guidance of Soviet advisors, opted for a strategy of concentrating its forces to eliminate enemy units one by one. With strong support from the locals along the way, the Northern Expeditionary Army won sweeping victories. In September, the army occupied Hanyang and Hankou. On October 10, it conquered Wuchang and wiped out the main force of Wu Peifu. The Army in Jiangxi eliminated the main force of Sun Chuanfang and occupied Jiujiang and Nanchang in early November. It seized Fuzhou in Fujian Province without a fight in December. The Army then made a plan to seize Zhejiang and Shanghai and gather its forces in Nanjing. In February 1927, it occupied Hangzhou and the whole province of Zhejiang. In March, it occupied Anqing and Nanjing and entered Shanghai. By this time, the Northern Expeditionary Army held all of the areas south of the Yangtze River. While the Northern Expeditionary Army was building a tremendous victory, the Feng Yuxiang-led National Army, with the help of the Soviet Union and the CPC, moved south in September 1926, after taking a mass pledge in Wuyuan County, Suiyuan. In November, they took control of Shaanxi and Gansu provinces and prepared to move eastward out of Tongguan in support of the Northern Expeditionary Army. The Northern Expedition was carried out under the anti-imperialist and anti-warlord slogans of the Communist Party. During the march of the Northern Expedition, members of the CPC and the Communist Youth League put their lives at risk and played a pioneering role, especially the independent regiment led by CPC member Ye Ting. The regiment, the first to enter Wuchang, matured into a heroic and battle-hardened unit of the Fourth Army, which was known as the “Iron Army.” The Communists made great contributions to the army’s political work and efforts to mobilize workers and peasants. Under the leadership of the Guangdong Regional Party Committee, the Guangzhou-Hong Kong Strike Committee of Guangdong organized 3,000 men into transport, propaganda, and medical teams to follow the troops north. The CPC Hunan Regional Committee mobilized workers and peasants to act as guides, deliver messages, transport equipment, and give medical aid. The committee also organized peasant self-defense corps to join in the fighting. Such enthusiasm was rarely seen in previous wars in China. The great success achieved by the Northern Expedition in a short period of time was attributable to the cooperation between the KMT and the CPC. #### The Upsurge of the Worker and Peasant Movements in Hunan, Hubei, and Jiangxi After the victorious march of the Northern Expedition, the worker and peasant movements expanded at an unprecedented scale. The most remarkable developments occurred in Hunan, Hubei, and Jiangxi provinces. It was in these provinces that the peasant movement first rose to prominence. In November 1926, Mao Zedong became the secretary of the Peasant Movement Committee of the CPC Central Committee. The peasant movements in Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi, and Henan were the main focus of Mao’s work. From the summer of 1926 to January of the following year, the membership of peasant associations surged from 400,000 to 2 million in Hunan. Once the peasants were organized, they started to take action, launching an unprecedented rural revolution. As Mao Zedong pointed out at the time, “The national revolution requires a great change in the countryside. The Revolution of 1911 did not bring about this change, hence its failure. This change is now taking place, and it is an important factor for the completion of the revolution.” Landlords, gentry, and the KMT right-wing were horrified by the flourishing peasant movement. They attacked the movement, labeling it a “movement of riffraff” and “utterly appalling!” At the beginning of 1927, Mao Zedong conducted a 32-day investigation into the peasant movement in Hunan. In his subsequent “Report on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan,” he sharply refuted various fallacies inside and outside the CPC condemning the movement. He discussed the great significance of the rural revolution, and argued that all revolutionaries should stand in front of the peasants and lead them, not stand behind them and criticize them, much less stand opposite to them and oppose them. He emphasized that the Party should rely on the poor peasants, who were the “vanguard of the revolution” and unite with the middle peasants and other forces that could be won over. The Party should work to establish peasant associations and peasant armed forces so that the peasant associations could take over all the power in the countryside. Then they should reduce rents and interest and redistribute the land. In the cities, the worker movement was also on the rise. In September and October 1926, the Hunan and Hubei provincial federations of trade unions were established. By January 1927, there were 700,000 union members in the two provinces. The Jiangxi Provincial Federation of Trade Unions was also formally established. These three provinces applied the experience of Guangzhou-Hong Kong Strike to organize armed workers’ pickets. In Changsha, Wuhan, Jiujiang, and other cities, workers held large-scale strikes, most of them successful. With the mass anti-imperialist struggle in full swing, the Nationalist Government was prompted to take back the British Concessions in Hankou and Jiujiang in February 1927. Encouraged by the victorious advance of the Northern Expedition and the upsurge of the worker and peasant movements, the CPC Central Committee and Shanghai Regional Committee began in October 1926 to organize armed uprisings involving Shanghai workers. The first two were defeated. Thereafter, the CPC Central Committee and Shanghai Regional Committee jointly established a supreme body to command the uprisings. Known as the Special Committee, its members were Chen Duxiu, Luo Yinong, Zhao Shiyan, Zhou Enlai, with Zhou also serving as chief commander. Under its direct leadership, the Shanghai workers successfully staged a third armed uprising on March 21, 1927. On the 22nd, the Provisional Municipal Government of Shanghai Special City was established. It was the first revolutionary regime to be established by the people in a major city under CPC leadership. The third armed uprising of the Shanghai workers was a major feat of the Chinese workers’ movement during the Great Revolution and the culmination of the movement’s development during the Northern Expedition.
To hopefully improve engagement with the theory discussion group, you (yes, you!) can suggest texts to read for upcoming sessions, or request texts for a topic that interests you. It should ideally be readable in an hour or two, either an entire text or a more or less standalone chapter within a larger work. As always, you can participate in the corresponding Lemmygrad post and/or in our Matrix space Please upvote the suggestions you'd like to read 🙏
Google translated article. Source: https://sov-ok.livejournal.com/149477.html https://sov-ok.livejournal.com/149220.html
(See first post for background: [#1 Cultural Revolution](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/4111581), previous post: [#4 Founding of CPC and Creation of Platform of Democratic Revolution](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/4253373)) *A Concise History of the Communist Party of China* (2021, ISBN 978-7-5117-3978-0), pg. 23-30 [《中国共产党简史》](https://article.xuexi.cn/articles/pdf/index.html?art_id=1514845518710518863), pg. 19-24 (Chapter 1) ### 4. The Rise of the First KMT-CPC Cooperation and the Climax of the Great Revolution #### The Third National Congress of the CPC and the Establishment of KMT-CPC Cooperation Chinese Communists saw from the failure of the Beijing-Hankou Railway strike that revolutionary forces in China were far less powerful than their imperialist and feudal counterparts. The CPC recognized the importance of forming the broadest possible united front. It thus decided to take positive steps to unite with the Kuomintang (KMT), which was led by Sun Yat-sen. At that time, Sun Yat-sen had become disheartened by a series of setbacks resulting from his policy of relying on warlords to fight warlords. Having witnessed the influence of the CPC-led workers’ movement, Sun saw that it was an emerging and vibrant revolutionary force that he must cooperate with. In January 1923, the Executive Committee of the Communist International issued the Resolution on the Relationship between the Communist Party of China and the Kuomingtang, which gave support for cooperation between the two parties. The Third National Congress of the CPC was held in Guangzhou in June 1923. The Congress was attended by more than 30 delegates, representing 420 CPC members. The Congress made an accurate assessment of Sun Yat-sen’s revolutionary position and the possibility of reorganizing the KMT, and decided that CPC members should join the KMT in an individual capacity in order to realize cooperation with it. It was clearly stipulated that while Party members were to join the Kuomintang as individuals, the Party itself should maintain its political, ideological, and organizational independence. At the Congress, the Party’s Constitution, adopted at the Second Congress, was revised for the first time to stipulate that those who wished to join the Party must complete a probationary period and that members may withdraw from the Party of their own free will. The Congress elected a Central Executive Committee and set up the Central Bureau, of which Chen Duxiu was chairman. After the Congress, KMT-CPC cooperation was accelerated. CPC organizations at all levels mobilized their members and young people to join the KMT and actively promoted the National Revolutionary Movement nationwide. In early October 1923, at the invitation of Sun Yat-sen, Soviet representative Mikhail Borodin arrived in Guangzhou. Sun Yat-sen appointed Borodin to the KMT’s organizational instructor post, and later the position of political advisor. The reorganization of the KMT soon entered the implementation phase. The First National Congress of the Chinese KMT was held in Guangzhou in January 1924. Among the 165 delegates at the opening ceremony, more than 20 were CPC members. Li Dazhao was appointed to the presidium of the Congress by Sun Yat-sen. The Congress adopted the Declaration of the First National Congress of the Chinese Kuomingtang. The document contained a new interpretation of the Three Principles of the People, which were rechristened the New Three Principles of the People. “Nationalism” now referred to anti-imperialism; “Democracy” stressed the democratic rights shared by all ordinary people; and “People’s Livelihood” incorporated the major principles of “equalizing land rights” and the “regulation of private capital.” Shortly after the Congress, Sun Yat-sen also put forward the slogan “Land to the tiller.” The political program of the Congress was consistent with certain basic principles of the CPC’s political program for democratic revolution, and as such, it became the political basis for the first instance of KMT-CPC cooperation. The Congress confirmed the principle that CPC members should join the KMT on an individual basis. The Congress elected the Central Executive Committee of the KMT. Ten Communists, including Li Dazhao, Tan Pingshan, and Mao Zedong, were elected as members or alternate members of the Central Executive Committee, accounting for about a quarter of the total. After the Congress, CPC members with important posts in KMT headquarters included: Tang Pingshan, director of the Department of Organization; Lin Boqu, director of the Department of Peasantry; and Mao Zedong, acting director of the Department of Publicity. The Congress also established the Three Great Policies—alliance with Russia, cooperation with the CPC, and assistance for peasants and workers, marking the start of the first instance of KMT-CPC cooperation. #### A New Revolutionary Landscape and the Fourth National Congress of the CPC Soon after KMT-CPC cooperation began, the revolutionary forces of the country, centered on Guangzhou, opened a new phase of revolution against imperialism and feudal warlords. KMT-CPC cooperation helped restore and develop the workers’ movement. In July 1924, in the Shamian Concessions in Guangzhou, several thousand workers staged a political strike to protest against a new police regulation, issued by the British and French authorities, denying Chinese citizens free access to the concessions. Chinese police also participated in the strike, which lasted for over a month and ended in victory. In May of the following year, the All-China Federation of Trade Unions was founded at the Second National Labor Congress in Guangzhou. The peasant movement was also developing steadily. Peasants in various counties of Guangdong launched peasant associations and organized self-defense armies to fight local tyrants, evil gentry, and corrupt officials. Beginning from July 1924, six sessions of the Peasant Movement Institute were held in Guangzhou, presided over by Communists Peng Pai and Mao Zedong. The institute helped train a number of leading activists for the peasants movement. In addition, the student movement and the women’s movement also grew. In order to foster a backbone force for armed revolution, the KMT decided at its First National Congress, at the suggestion of the Communists, to establish an army officer school—the Whampoa Military Academy. The CPC sent a large number of its members, members of the Socialist Youth League, and revolutionary youths from all over the country to study at the academy. There were 56 CPC and Socialist Youth League members among the academy’s first group of enrollees, representing one tenth of the total. Thanks to the joint efforts of the KMT and CPC, the ideas of the National Revolution spread across the country from south to north on an unprecedented scale. In October 1924, General Feng Yuxiang of the Zhili clique of the Northern Warlords staged a coup and overthrew the Beijing government, which was controlled by the warlords Cao Kun and Wu Peifu. After taking over Beijing and Tianjin and reorganizing his army into the National Army, Feng sent a telegram to Sun Yat-sen inviting him to come north to “discuss state affairs.” In November, Sun Yat-sen left Guangzhou to travel north. He promoted the idea of holding a national assembly and abolishing unequal treaties along the way. People’s organizations from all over the country sent him telegrams expressing their support for him. The trip grew into a broad-based publicity campaign. In order to strengthen the leadership of the growing revolutionary movement, the CPC held its Fourth National Congress in Shanghai in January 1925. The Congress was attended by 20 delegates, representing 994 CPC members in the country. The great historical achievement of the Fourth National Congress was that it discussed the leadership of the proletariat in the democratic revolution and called for an alliance of workers and peasants. It enriched the content of the democratic revolution, pointing out that while opposing international imperialism, it was necessary to also oppose feudal warlord politics and feudal economic relations. This showed that the CPC’s understanding of Chinese revolution had greatly improved, based on its review of the practical experience gained since its founding, particularly during the previous year of KMT-CPC cooperation. The Congress also decided to strength CPC organizations throughout the country, expanding its numbers and consolidating discipline. It specified branches as the basic organizations of the CPC. The Congress revised the section of the Party Constitution dealing with Party branches to stipulate that Party branches may be organized wherever there are three or more Party members. The Congress elected the Central Executive Committee, which in turn elected the Central Bureau with Chen Duxiu as the general secretary. On March 12, 1925, Sun Yat-sen passed away in Beijing. Following Sun’s death, the anti-communist right-wingers of the KMT sprang back into action, resulting in a deeper split between the left and right wings of the KMT. The united front based on KMT-CPC cooperation was now facing a much more complex situation. This proved to be a great trial for Chinese Communists. #### The May 30th Movement and the Unification of the Guangdong Revolutionary Bases The nationwide Great Revolution culminated in a workers’ strike against foreign capitalists in Shanghai in May 1925. On May 15, 1925, a Japanese capitalist at the Naigai No.7 Cotton Mill shot dead Gu Zhenghong, a worker and CPC member. On May 30, workers and students took to the streets in Shanghai under the leadership of the CPC. British constables in the Concession suddenly opened fire on Nanjing Road, killing 13 people, students and workers among them, and injuring countless others. This atrocity, which became known as the May 30th Massacre, shocked the entire country. Over the next few days, another series of incidents occurred in Shanghai and other places where British and Japanese soldiers and police fired on common people. The May 30th Massacre enraged people all over China. Fury over imperialism, which had for many years built among the Chinese people, suddenly erupted, sparking strikes by workers, students, and merchants. The CPC Central Executive Committee established the Shanghai Federation of Trade Unions, and at the same time set up the Shanghai United Committee of Workers, Merchants, and Students to provide stronger leadership for the movement, which drew about 17 million people from all over the country. Roars of “Down with imperialism” and “Abolish unequal treaties” rang out all across the country, from bustling cities to remote towns. The massacre triggered a national wave against imperialism that surged across the nation with unstoppable momentum. This is remembered in history as the May 30th Movement. The Guangzhou-Hong Kong Strike, involving 250,000 people, was an important component of the May 30th Movement. Striking workers established the Guangzhou-Hong Kong Strike Committee, with CPC member Su Zhaozheng as chairman, and imposed a blockade on Hong Kong. The strike lasted for 16 months. The over 100,000 organized strikers who had gathered in Guangzhou became a strong pillar of the Guangzhou Revolutionary Government. The CPC grew considerably during its leadership of the May 30th Movement. It expanded from less than 1,000 members at the beginning of the year to 10,000 at the end. New CPC organizations were established in many places in the country. To adapt to the new situation arising from the climax of the Great Revolution, the CPC Central Executive Committee promptly put forward the idea of “transforming itself from a small organization to a centralized mass party” in a very short time. It also stressed the importance of education and training for CPC members and set up an advanced CPC school in Beijing to train cadres. Under the favorable conditions, the KMT and the CPC worked together to unify the revolutionary bases in Guangdong. In 1925, after two eastern expeditions and a southern expedition, the troops of the warlord Chen Jiongming and the troops of the warlord Deng Benyin were eliminated; a rebellion staged by the troops under the command of Yang Ximin and Liu Zhenhuan in Guangzhou was quelled. These actions unified the Guangdong revolutionary bases and created a far more reliable rear base from which to launch the Northern Expedition. In addition, the CPC also made an attempt to create armed forces directly. Sun Yat-sen gave his support to Zhou Enlai and the Guangdong Regional Committee of the CPC to reorganize the armored corps of the headquarters of the Army and Navy Grand Marshal’s Office into a revolutionary armed force under direct CPC leadership, with members of the CPC and Communist Youth League as its mainstay. In early 1926, an independent regiment was established within the Fourth Army of the National Red Army (NRA) under the command of CPC member Ye Ting. The revolutionary movement in the North prospered due to the hard work of Li Dazhao and other Communists. At the beginning of 1924, the northern workers’ movement gradually rose out of the despondency which ruled in the aftermath of the February 7th Massacre to recover and gain momentum. Workers held many strikes in Beijing, Qingdao, and Tangshan. In October 1925, at an enlarged meeting, the CPC Central Executive Committee stressed the importance of work in the North and decided to strengthen leadership over the revolution there. After the meeting, the CPC Northern Executive Committee was established with Li Dazhao as secretary. By July 1926, more than ten local committees and dozens of special and independent branches had been created in Beijing, Tianjin, Tangshan, Taiyuan, and Northern Manchuria, with more than 2,000 CPC members. Li Dazhao and the Party organizations in the North also worked to win over Feng Yuxiang and his National Army, and launched a movement for tariff autonomy. These struggles demonstrated an awakening of the revolutionary consciousness of the people of the North and dealt a blow to the reactionary government of Duan Qirui who controlled Beijing.
(See first post for background: [#1 Cultural Revolution](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/4111581), previous post: [#3 May 4th Movement and Spread of Marxism in China](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/4207415)) *A Concise History of the Communist Party of China* (2021, ISBN 978-7-5117-3978-0), pg. 13-22 [《中国共产党简史》](https://article.xuexi.cn/articles/pdf/index.html?art_id=1514845518710518863), pg. 11-19 (Chapter 1) ### 3. The Founding of the CPC and the Creation of the Platform of Democratic Revolution #### The Establishment of Early Communist Party Organizations and Their Activities With the dissemination of Marxism in China and the emergence of progressives who embraced its ideas, the conditions were ripe in terms of ideology and personnel for founding the Communist Party of China. The task of establishing a working-class political party was put on the agenda. The idea of establishing a communist party in China was first mooted by Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao. They realized that to transform China using Marxism it would be necessary to establish a proletarian party to take charge of the revolution. To avoid persecution from the reactionary warlord government, Chen Duxiu moved secretly from Beijing to Shanghai in February 1920. He was escorted on his trip by Li Dazhao, during which the two discussed the establishment of communist party organizations in China. In March 1920, Li Dazhao established the Society for Marxist Studies at Peking University, which was not only the first group to study and research Marxism in China but also an important preparatory organization for the founding of the Communist Party of China. In April, the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) sent a plenipotentiary Grigory N. Voytinsky to China, along with others. The group met Li Dazhao in Beijing and Chen Duxiu in Shanghai to discuss the establishment of a communist party in China. These discussions materially contributed to the CPC’s creation. The first early communist party organization was established in Shanghai, a core city with the greatest concentration of workers in China. In May 1920, Chen Duxiu founded the Society for the Study of Marxism to discuss the doctrine of socialism and the transformation of Chinese society. That August, an early communist party organization was set up in the editorial office of New Youth in Shanghai, with Chen Duxiu as secretary. In November, the Communist Party organization drew up the “Manifesto of the Communist Party of China,” which stated that “the aim of the Communists is to create a society in accordance with the communist ideal.” This early organization proved to be an initiator of the CPC and served as a key liaison point for Chinese Communists in various places. In October 1920, another communist party organization was founded in Beijing by Li Dazhao and others, which was known as “Communist Party Group” at the time. At the end of the year, the decision was made to set up a Beijing branch of the communist party with Li Dazhao as secretary. The early organizations of the CPC in Shanghai and Beijing actively worked to lend impetus to the founding of CPC organizations in other parts of the country. From the autumn of 1920 to the spring of 1921, with the support of the first two organizations in Shanghai and Beijing, communist party organizations were formed in Wuhan by Dong Biwu, Chen Tanqiu, and Bao Huiseng, in Changsha by Mao Zedong and He Shuheng, in Jinan by Wang Jinmei and Deng Enming, and in Guangzhou by Tan Pingshan and Tan Zhitang. In Japan and France, communist party organizations composed of Chinese students and progressive overseas Chinese were also established. After their founding, these early communist party organizations primarily carried out the following activities: studied and promoted Marxism and examined China’s practical problems; denounced anti-Marxist ideas and enabled a host of progressives to turn to Marxism by helping them draw a clear line between socialism and capitalism and scientific socialism and other forms of socialism; carried out publicity and organizational work among workers, enabling them to receive Marxist education and raise their class consciousness; and established Socialist Youth League organizations which organized the study of Marxism for their members and arranged for them to take part in concrete struggles, thus cultivating reserve forces for a communist party. The Communist Manifesto played an important role in the theoretical preparations for the founding of the CPC. In February 1920, to translate The Communist Manifesto, Chen Wangdao secretly returned to his home in Yiwu County, Zhejiang Province. So devoted was he to his mission that he once dipped a sticky rice dumpling into his ink bowl instead of brown syrup. Oblivious to his mistake, Chen declared the snack to be “sweet enough.” The truth is indeed extremely sweet. This was a vivid example of the thirst among Chinese Communists for the truth of Marxism and their firm belief in the ideals of communism. The Chinese translation of The Communist Manifesto, which was published in August 1920, was a major event in the history of the dissemination of Marxism in China. #### The CPC’s First National Congress In July 1921, the First National Congress of the CPC opened at 106 Wangzhi Road (now 76 Xingye Road) in the French Concession of Shanghai.[1] The delegates in attendance at the meeting were Li Da and Li Hanjun from Shanghai, Zhang Guotao and Liu Renjing from Beijing, Mao Zedong and He Shuheng from Changsha, Dong Biwu and Chen Tanqiu from Wuhan, Wang Jinmei and Deng Enming from Jinan, Chen Gongbo from Guangzhou and Zhou Fohai from Japan; and Bao Huiseng (sent by Chen Duxiu).[2] They represented more than 50 CPC members across the country. Henk Sneevliet (alias Maring) and V. A. Nikolsky attended as representatives of the Communist International. Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao did not attend the Congress due to their busy schedules. To escape the attention of spies and the searches mounted by the French Concession police, the final session of the congress was held on a pleasure boat on South Lake in Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province. The First National Congress decided that the name of the new party would be “the Communist Party of China” and adopted its first program. The program consisted of the following points: The revolutionary army shall join hands with the proletariat in overthrowing the bourgeois regime; and the Party shall accept the dictatorship of the proletariat until the end of class struggle, abolish capitalist private ownership, and align itself with the Third International. The CPC made socialism and communism its goals and revolution the means for achieving them as soon as it was established. The First National Congress decided to set up the Central Bureau as a temporary leading body for the CPC’s central leadership. The Congress elected the Central Bureau with Chen Duxiu as its secretary. The First National Congress formally declared the founding of the CPC. The CPC’s founding was an inevitable product of the historical development of modern China, of the Chinese people’s tenacious struggle for survival, and of the journey toward the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. As the party of the most advanced class in China—the working class, the CPC represents not only the interests of the working class, but also those of the Chinese people and the Chinese nation as a whole. From the beginning, it followed Marxist theory as its guide for action, and it made it its mission to work for the happiness of the Chinese people and the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. The founding of the CPC was a groundbreaking event in the history of the Chinese nation, with tremendous, far-reaching significance. The most important reason for the repeated setbacks and failures of the Chinese people in their struggle against imperialism and feudalism in modern times was the absence of a strong and advanced political party to act as a leading core with the power to unify. The birth of the CPC fundamentally changed this situation. Both sites of the First National Congress, in Shanghai and on the Red Boat on Lake Nanhu in Jiaxing, are the birthplaces of the CPC, the places from where the Party’s dream set sail. The very act of founding the CPC was a demonstration of the Party’s pioneering spirit, indomitability, and devotion to the public good and the people’s interests. These qualities, which underpin the revolutionary spirit of China, are also important elements of the Party’s “Red Boat spirit.” It was by only adhering to this spirit and carrying it forward that the CPC could create miracle upon miracle, that it could build a new society, became the world’s largest political party, and bring profound change to China and have a profound impact on the world. #### The CPC’s Second National Congress and the Formulation of the Platform of the Democratic Revolution After the founding of the CPC, the Party’s most important task was to apply scientific theories to observe and analyze China’s actual conditions. At the time, the most prominent problem in China was the conflict between China’s warlords, which was growing in ferocity under the manipulation of the imperialists. The Party was deeply aware that given the volatile situation, it would have no chance of realizing its ideals if it could not overthrow the regimes of the warlords and imperialists. The Second National Congress of the CPC was held in Shanghai in July 1922. The Congress was attended by 12 delegates, representing 195 CPC members nationwide. Through an analysis of China’s economic and political situation, the Congress revealed the semi-colonial and semi-feudal nature of Chinese society and pointed out that the maximum program of the CPC was to realize socialism and communism, while the minimum program in the present stage was to defeat the warlords, overthrow the oppression of international imperialism, and unify China into a genuine democratic republic. The Congress pointed out that in order to achieve its anti-imperialist and anti-warlord revolutionary goal, a “democratic united front” must be formed with all revolutionary parties and bourgeois democrats in the country. Just a year after its founding, the CPC proposed an explicit anti-imperialist and anti-feudalist program of democratic revolution, the first of its kind in China. The Party ensured that this program was very quickly spread far and wide. As calls of “down with the imperialist powers; down with the warlords” became the common cry among the people, it became clear that only the CPC, armed with Marxism, could point the way forward for the Chinese revolution. The Second Congress adopted the CPC’s first Constitution, which contained specific provisions on the conditions for membership, the CPC’s organizations at all levels, and its discipline, all explicitly based on the principle of democratic centralism. This was of great importance for strengthening the Party. The Congress adopted a resolution confirming that the CPC was a branch of the Communist International. The Congress also adopted a resolution stating that the CPC was a party composed of the most revolutionary elements of the proletariat, and that it was “a party struggling for the proletarians.” It stressed that all of its campaigns must reach out to the people and must never alienate them. This resolution proved to be highly significant in initiating the worker and peasant movements in the early days of the CPC. The Second CPC National Congress elected the Central Executive Committee with Chen Duxiu selected as committee chairman. #### The First Upsurge of the Workers’ Movement and the Initial Development of the Peasant Movement After its founding, the CPC strove to organize and lead the workers’ movement, establishing the Secretariat of the Chinese Labor Organization in August 1921 as a headquarters for openly leading the movement. The Secretariat published the Labor Weekly, organized workers’ schools and industrial unions, and launched strikes. This increased the CPC’s influence among workers and across society generally. Under CPC’s leadership, the first upsurge of the Chinese workers’ movement began with the Hong Kong Seamen’s Strike in January 1922 and ended with the Beijing-Hankou Railway strike in February 1923. Over these 13 months, China was swept by more than 100 strikes, involving over 300,000 people. The railway workers and coal miners’ strike in Anyuan and coal miners’ strike in Kailuan were hallmarks of this upsurge, fully demonstrating the power of the working class when well-organized. There were more than 17,000 workers at the Anyuan mine and railway. During the autumn and winter of 1921, Mao Zedong, then the Party branch secretary of Hunan Province, visited Anyuan on a fact-finding mission. Li Lisan travelled to Anyuan after this to organize the workers there. On May 1, International Labor Day, 1922, a trade union, the Anyuan Mine and Railway Workers’ Club, was established. In early September, Mao Zedong returned to Anyuan to organize a strike. He was followed by Liu Shaoqi. The strike began on September 14, with workers demanding protection for their political rights, wage increases, and other conditions. Thanks to the valiant struggle of the workers and the sympathy and support they won from people of all walks of life, the mine and railway authorities were forced to meet most of their demands, bringing the Anyuan strike to a victorious conclusion. On February 4, 1923, workers of the Jinghan (Beijing-Hankou) Railway went on strike to fight for the establishment of the Jinghan Railway Trade Union. On February 7, backed by imperialist forces, the warlord Wu Peifu deployed soldiers and police officers to violently suppress the strike. Reactionaries tied Lin Xiangqian, president of the Jiang’an Branch of the Union in Hankou (a Communist Party member), to a pole and tried to force him to call the strikers back to work. Refusing to surrender, Lin died a hero’s death. Shi Yang, a union legal advisor (also a Communist Party member), was also killed. Having been struck by three bullets, he shouted “Long live the workers!” three times before he died. In the February 7th Massacre, 52 people lost their lives, more than 300 were injured, more than 40 were arrested and imprisoned, while more than 1,000 people were dismissed from their jobs and forced into exile. After the incident, the national workers’ movement fell to a nadir. While leading the revolutionary struggle, the CPC began, too, to strengthen itself. It started to establish primary-level organizations in industrial and mining enterprises. It also welcomed into its ranks a number of outstanding figures who had emerged as the workers’ struggle unfolded, including Su Zhaozheng, Shi Wenbin, Xiang Ying, Deng Pei, and Wang Hebo. In addition to focusing on the workers’ movement, the CPC also initiated peasant movements in the countryside. In September 1921, a peasants’ meeting was held in Yaqian Village, Xiaoshan County, Zhejiang Province, at which the first of a new kind of peasants’ organization was founded. In July 1922, Peng Pai established the first secret peasant association in his hometown of Haifeng County, Guangdong Province. By May 1923, peasant associations had been established in Haifeng, Lufeng, and Huiyang counties, and had a combined membership of more than 200,000. In September of the same year, inspired by the workers’ movement in Shuikoushan, peasants in Baiguo of Hengshan Couny, Hunan Province, established the Yuebei Peasants and Workers Association under CPC leadership. It launched a series of struggles and raised the first flag of the peasant movement in Hunan Province. In addition, the CPC also led the youth and women’s movements. Both the worker and peasant movements, which had been launched and organized under CPC leadership, but particularly the workers’ movement, demonstrated the firm revolutionary commitment and great fighting capacity of the Chinese working class. As a result, the CPC expanded its influence throughout the country, allowing for its cooperation with other revolutionary forces in launching a great nationwide revolution. [1] It was verified many years later that the exact date of the CPC’s First National Congress was July 23, 1921. In June 1941, the CPC Central Committee issued the Instruction of the Central Committee on the 20th Anniversary of the Founding of the CPC and the 4th Anniversary of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, officially recognizing July 1 as the founding date of the CPC. From then on, July 1 was fixed as the anniversary of the CPC’s founding. [2] Zhang Guotao surrendered to the Kuomingtang in 1938 and was expelled from the CPC. Chen Gongbo and Zhou Fohai seriously violated Party discipline and were expelled from the Party shortly after the First National Party Congress. They turned traitors during the War of Resistance against Japan.
This time we're reading chapter 8 of Capital Volume 1. Participation welcome at any time, not just on the weekend of week 16, either in this thread or in our Matrix room (see [this post](https://lemmygrad.ml/post/1294067) for instructions on how to join)
GenZhou
!genzhou@lemmygrad.mlGenZhou: GenZedong Without the Shitposts(TM)
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