China, Marxism, and Democracy: Selections from October Review

Barrett, Thomas

ISBN 10: 0391039237 / ISBN 13: 9780391039230

Published by Humanities Press, 1996

About this Item

First edition, 1996, hardcover with paper boards, octavo, 257pp., not illustrated. Book VG with rubbing to boards and spine, some rough edgewear spots to top of front and rear board, binding tight, text clean bright and unmarked. No DJ. Bookseller Inventory # B28179

Bibliographic Details

Title: China, Marxism, and Democracy: Selections ...

Publisher: Humanities Press

Publication Date: 1996

Binding: Hardcover

Book Condition: Very Good

Edition: First edition.

About this title

Synopsis:

Based originally on articles that appeared in Hong Kong's revolutionary socialist magazine October Review, this collection of intriguing essays question whether totalitarianism and bureaucratic mismanagement are the inevitable results of any attempt to create a socialist soicety as envisioned by Marx and Engels. The writers show that Deng Xiaoping's reforms guided China toward a restored capitalism while maintaining the Chinese Communist Party's harsh dictatorship.

Review:

Why did the Chinese revolution result in bureaucratic mismanagement and totalitarian dictatorship? Was this what Mao Zedong and his associates in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) intended? Is totalitarianism and bureaucratic mismanagement the inevitable result of any attempt to create a socialist society as envisioned by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels? These are some of the questions addressed by the October Review, a revolutionary socialist magazine published in Hong Kong from which this selection of articles was taken. The writers present and analyze the economic and political evolution of China since the introduction of Deng Xiaoping's reforms, and show that in a more systematic and controlled fashion than was the case in the Soviet Union and in Eastern Europe, Deng Xiaoping has been guiding China toward a restored capitalism while maintaining the CCP's harsh dictatorship; In their view, Deng Xiaoping and his associates have ensured that there will be no free trade union elevating its leader to the presidency, as in Poland; nor artists and intellectuals taking over the government, as in Czechoslovakia; nor certainly the execution of an ousted dictator, as in Romania. The reader may find their logic persuasive. -- Midwest Book Review