Say the line, Parenti.

An interview with Deng Xiaoping in 1980

Fallaci: But what was the Cultural Revolution really trying to accomplish?

Deng: It wanted to avoid the restoration of capitalism in China. Yes — that was the intention. The intention of Chairman Mao, I mean to say, not the intention of the people who would later become the Gang of Four. However, despite the good intentions, such a goal was born of an erroneous judgment of Chinese reality. In short, once more Chairman Mao was wrong. He was also wrong when he chose what target to hit; he said that the target should be the followers of capitalism — the compagnons de route [roaders] of the capitalists who existed within the party — and with this accusation he attacked a great number of high-level veterans: men who not only had made excellent contributions to the revolution but had great experience. And among them was Premier Liu Shaoqi, who was arrested and expelled from the party. As a result, all of the revolutionary leadership was dissolved. A year or two before his death, Chairman Mao recognized this error. He said that the Cultural Revolution was wrong in two things: destroying the revolutionary leadership and provoking a wide-ranging civil war.

Fallaci: So it was truly a civil war.

Deng: Yes, it was! The people were divided into two factions who were killing each other. And since the old revolutionaries had been swept aside, only those who declared themselves “rebels” were able to emerge. Like Lin Biao and the Gang of Four. Eh! Many people died in that civil war.

Fallaci: How many?

Deng: An exact figure is impossible. It will never be possible, because they died for various reasons and because China is such a vast country. But look: enough died that we are able to say today that their deaths were reason enough for the Cultural Revolution to have never taken place. Anyway, Chairman Mao’s errors were political errors. This makes them no less serious, nor does it justify them, but political errors are one thing; crimes that are judged in court are another. I refer to the crimes for which we tried the Gang of Four and, posthumously, Lin Biao: the two groups of the Cultural Revolution that we consider counterrevolutionary. Of course… well, of course it was Chairman Mao who permitted Lin Biao and the Gang of Four to take advantage of his political errors and usurp power…

I realized this is probably a more appropriate place to ask.

Thanks! I saw that book, but didn’t realize that Meisner was a Marxist. I’ll pick it up.

I started this book a while ago but didn’t finish. Not really what I’m looking for right now but definitely someone I plan to read.

I picked this up, might go with Mao’s China and After for now but definitely looks like it’s worth reading. Thanks comrade!

No lore reasons, it was patched out for balance.

Do you think this is the type of idiot who doesn’t realize this includes Obama and Biden or the type of idiot who actually thinks they’re tankies?

Someone needs to sit them down and tell them, guys, your delusions of racial and cultural superiority are literally getting you killed.

No it’s getting Ukrainian soldiers killed. Journalists, politicians and military leaders are safe.

Transphobes get the wall, guys