by Gill Hands
The Cultural Revolution began in 1966 and some see it as an attempt to divert attention away from past failures and focus attention on a scapegoat for the problems communism was facing in China. Mao stressed the importance of changing the whole mental outlook of society by transforming education, literature, art and any other parts of the superstructure that did not correspond to the socialist economic base. It was felt that the only true communists were the proletariat and anybody else was likely to be an ‘imperialist’.
The Red Guard, composed mainly of students, was an all-powerful communist militia that imposed communist thought on the populace. Anyone considered to be an ‘imperialist’ was purged; intellectuals and anyone believed to have bourgeois thoughts were imprisoned, exiled to work in labour camps or re-educated; many disappeared. Traditional Chinese culture was ignored and followers of all religions were persecuted. The long-term result of this was that during that time, economic activity in China was virtually halted in favour of revolutionary activity, higher education was ignored and many young people were moved to rural areas to carry out propaganda missions. The effects of the Cultural Revolution are seen as disastrous, even among the Communist Party in China itself.
After Mao’s death, China began gradually moving towards a free market economy under Deng Xiaoping and has seen a huge increase in economic growth since the 1990s. China is still officially a communist state under an authoritarian single party system, but many would say it is communist in name only. There is now a growing middle class, much free trade, and some indications that Confucian philosophy, which was previously banned, is becoming part of the culture again.
The Cold War
‘A spectre is haunting Europe, the spectre of communism’, Marx wrote in the Communist Manifesto. After the Second World War the spectre of communism seemed to be haunting the whole world. This was the period of the Cold War when it seemed everyone was on the alert for ‘reds under the bed’. Fear of communism led to communist ‘witch hunts’ in the USA during the 1950s, led by Senator Joseph McCarthy backed up by the FBI and The House Committee for un-American activities. Many intellectuals, Hollywood actors, writers and musicians were accused of being communists and blacklisted, persecuted or imprisoned.
The Cold War did not result in an actual military war with open hostility; it was a prolonged series of political, ideological and economic conflicts between communist and capitalist countries that lasted for about 45 years. It centred round a huge arms race involving nuclear and conventional weapons, largely between the superpowers of the USA and the USSR. It was feared that this would lead to a full-blown conflict, perhaps involving nuclear weapons, in which millions of people would be killed and the world totally destroyed. This was especially true during the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, which was the most openly confrontational incident in the Cold War. The United States intelligence service discovered nuclear missiles had been placed on Cuba by the Soviet Union and there were some tense negotiations before they were finally removed. This was the closest that the Cold War came to an actual nuclear war, although there were many other periods of close confrontation interspersed with periods of thaw or détente.
In addition to the arms race, there was a huge propaganda war involving espionage and spy scandals and a kind of economic war with blockades and trade embargoes. Also, what have been called ‘proxy wars’ took place, where the superpowers became embroiled in the internal policies of overseas nations during civil wars, such as in Korea and Vietnam.
The origins of the Cold War are still being debated by historians. At the time it began, the justification for it was that Stalin’s policies in the Soviet Union were expansionist and that as Marxist doctrine insisted on a worldwide proletarian revolution, then a conflict between capitalism and communism was inevitable. The way that the world was divided up after the Second World War played a great part in aligning the participants into ‘blocs’. During the war, the allies – the United Kingdom and the United States – had been prepared to support communism in order to prevent the rise of world fascism. When fascism was defeated communism was seen as the main threat to the balance of power. The Soviet Union, as Russia was now called, and China were seen to be becoming more powerful. In 1947 President Truman of the United States made a declaration that the United States was prepared to counter communist expansion throughout the world. The US government was worried by the implications of more communist states arising not just as a result of revolution but also by the way in which the world war had been resolved:
• Europe had been divided by peace treaty and many European countries came under communist control as part of the Soviet bloc. The Soviet Union was now one of the major powers and it influenced governments in states around it using military and economic aid. Berlin became divided by the Berlin Wall. An ‘Iron Curtain’ of secrecy was said to have come down between Eastern and Western Europe.
• There were fears that Communist China would come to dominate South East Asia. It was felt that the loss of one country in Indo-China to communism would lead to communism in neighbouring countries of South East Asia, like ‘falling dominoes’. This was the domino theory, as described by President Eisenhower at a press conference in 1954, and it led to the United States’ involvement in Laos, Cambodia, North Korea and ultimately to the Vietnam War.
• There were revolutions in South America and Africa against colonial oppression. Many of the countries involved received aid from the Communist Bloc in their struggle for independence. Communist governments in the Third World have included Cuba, Chile, Angola and Mozambique; all had differing colonial histories but received aid and arms from communist countries.
Marxists have argued that the United States escalated the Cold War by the use of atomic weapons during the Second World War and that the nuclear threat was used as a way of expanding capitalism. Whatever the reasons for its origin, the Cold War was largely an ideological war based on fear and mistrust that came from deep ideological differences between the communist and capitalist blocs. It came to an end in the 1980s, largely due to the decline of the communist economy in the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China.
The decline of communism
The beginning of the twentieth century saw a rise in world communism, but by the end of the century it was in decline. At its peak, in the early 1980s, it was estimated that one-third of the people of the world lived under some kind of communist government. Presently, there are only a few communist countries left: the People’s Republic of China, Cuba, Laos, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) and Vietnam are the few remaining communist regimes under a single-party system. A large number of people still live under communist rule as the population of China is so vast, but the Soviet Union was dissolved in 1991 and many people regard this as the beginning of the end for communism and as proof that the ideas of Marx do not work.
Historians are still debating the causes of the break-up of the Soviet Union and many blame the arms race that came as a result of the Cold War. This was financially crippling for a country that was already economically and technologically backward and politically isolated. Whatever the reasons, the decline began in 1985 when Mikhail Gorbachev came to power and began to bring in the policies of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring). These were vital, as the country was virtually bankrupt and technologically very far behind the West. As it became more and more obvious that the Soviet Union was losing its power, many citizens of the satellite communist countries around its borders began relatively peaceful demonstrations against their governments. Eastern European communist governments fell one after the other during the 1980s and in 1989 the Berlin Wall, once a great symbol of the Cold War, fell. Many of the republics within the Soviet Union began to agitate for independence and eventually there was an attempted coup against Gorbachev in the summer of 1991; following this, Boris Yeltsin became leader and the Soviet Union became a Commonwealth of Independent States. The Supreme Soviet, or the governing body
, was dissolved in December 1991 and this is seen as the official ending of the Soviet Union.
Has Marxism failed?
Is the decline of the Soviet Union the beginning of the end for Marxism? Many people would argue that this is the case, but the response of many Marxists would be to say that the regime in the Soviet Union had very little to do with Marx except for the use of his name. They would describe it as a form of state capitalism, where bureaucrats acted as a form of bourgeoisie. The fall of the Soviet Union led to a great crisis of confidence in other communist countries that saw the Soviet government as a model for them to follow. They also lost trade markets and military support.
Critics would also point to the fact that China is now largely a free market economy and not actually a communist state at all, and that the communist governments in Indo-China and in Cuba are reliant on Chinese economic support and so strictly speaking they cannot be described as communist either. Although North Korea (the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) is officially a socialist republic it has been described as a dictatorship by its critics. There is some debate about the future of communism in Cuba after Fidel Castro’s leadership ended. His age and ill health meant he passed the reins of government over to his younger brother in 2008. As personality cults are important in all communist states that developed out of peasant economies this change in leadership might affect the popularity of the communist government. There is much speculation as to how communism might develop in Cuba in the future.
Although it looks like the end for communism in many places, it has not stopped Marxists who are working towards power in the Third World, notably in India and Nepal. It is impossible to say what might happen in the future but this will be looked at in more detail in the final chapter.
Key ideas
Cold War Hostile measures between countries that just fall short of actual war.
Cultural Revolution A revolution within Chinese communism that aimed to transform the superstructure.
Fabian Society A socialist organization formed in 1884 that has links with the British Labour Party.
Fascism An authoritarian, militaristic and political ideology.
Little red book Popular name for The Thoughts of Chairman Mao. Millions of copies of this book with its distinctive red cover were distributed around the world.
Maoism A type of communism invented by Mao Zedong in communist China.
Terrorism The use of violence to make people accept radical social and political change.
Things to remember
• Marx died in 1883 but Engels continued to work on his manuscripts.
• His ideas were spread around the world through the labour movement and working men’s groups.
• Marx wrote a vast body of work that has been interpreted in widely different ways.
• Russia became the first communist country in the world after a revolution in 1917.
• Communism developed in a way Marx would not have approved of in Russia and China.
• The Cold War was based on the fear of the spread of communism in the West.
• Communism failed in many countries because of economic problems.
Fact check
1 When did Marx die?
a 1882
b 1883
c 1893
d 1903
2 Who helped Engels to sort out Marx’s unpublished work?
a Eleanor Marx
b Jenny Marx
c F. A. Sorge
d George Eccarius
3 What did evolutionary communists believe?
a Communism will come about through the natural progression of society
b Communism will only come about through revolution
c Communism will come about only after a natural disaster changes society
d Communism will never come about because the capitalist system is too strong
4 When did Engels die?
a 1885
b 1895
c 1900
d 1902
5 Which was the first communist state in the world?
a Romania
b China
c Russia
d Cuba
6 Who was influential in taking the works of Marx to Russia?
a Georgi Plekhanov
b Friedrich Engels
c Edward Aveling
d Eleanor Marx
7 When did the Bolsheviks seize power in Russia?
a August 1917
b October 1917
c October 1918
d January 1900
8 Who was the leader of Russia after Lenin’s death?
a Trotsky
b Stalin
c Khrushchev
d Putin
9 When was the People’s Republic of China declared?
a 1920
b 1939
c 1949
d 1950
10 Who was responsible for communist ‘witch hunts’ in the USA during the Cold War?
a Joseph McCarthy
b John F. Kennedy
c Harry S. Truman
d Richard Nixon
Dig deeper
Delia Davin, Mao: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press 2013
Richard Curt Kraus, The Cultural Revolution: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press 2012
Robert J. McMahon, The Cold War: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press 2003
Robert Service, Comrades: Communism: A World History, Pan 2008
Philip Short, Mao: A Life, John Murray 2004
Cold War International History Project – original documents at
http://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/
9
Marxism after Marx – the development of Marxist thought
In this chapter you will learn:
• how Marxist theory was developed in the twentieth century
• about postmodernism and post-Marxist thought
• about the debate on Marx’s relevance in the twenty-first century.
There is no doubt that the ideas of Marx changed the world. Revolutions happened in his name and communist societies came into being. His ideas also led to a great deal of debate about the nature of society and of humankind, for he changed the way that we look at each other and at the world. In academic circles there has been continuing debate and discussion of his ideas for over a century. This has led to the splitting off of different schools of thought where Marx’s ideas are analysed and developed. After the fall of the Soviet Union, there was less interest in his work academically; it became ‘unfashionable’, especially as the academic world moved towards postmodern theory. Since the last global recession there has been a renaissance of Marxist thought and with the rise of anti-capitalist and anti-globalization campaigns, including the eco-socialist movement, there are signs that there may be future developments in the aspects of Marx’s work that look at the ‘destructive’ spread of capitalism and its relation to ecology.
This chapter aims to give some background understanding and structure to the many complex and conflicting theories that have been developed from the works of Marx. Some of these have been in favour academically and then gone out of favour again and some have always been controversial. However, it is important to have at least a basic understanding of them as many books on Marx assume knowledge of them.
There have also been numerous criticisms of his theories, especially as time has gone on and many of his predictions do not seem to have come about and these will be discussed later in the chapter. In addition, there is also an examination of how relevant Marx is now that we live in a postmodern age.
Types of Marxism
Marx wrote a great deal and a great deal has been written about him, so that if someone claims to be a Marxist, the next question asked is often ‘What kind?’ As there have been numerous debates over who is the most accurate interpreter of what Marx wrote and many academic schools of Marxism exist, then this is not an easy question to answer.
Spotlight
Seen on a T-shirt: ‘I am a Marxist – like Groucho!’
There is also some confusion with the word Marxian. Marxian is often used by those academics who agree with a lot of Marx’s methodology but not in the conclusions he reached, or in his predictions about the future of society. It is often used in relation to the study of political and economic systems. For example, Marxian economics embraces Marx’s use of the terms mode of production, surplus value, etc. However, those who use it do not necessarily believe the conclusions that Marx came to about alienation, exploitation and the need for revolution.
The main types of Marxism and schools of thought developed in response to his work are as follows:
CLASSICAL MARXISM
Classical Marxism is the theory of Marxism that Marx and Engels developed. It is based on what Marx said or wrote. Most of what has been written in this book so far would come under the heading of classical Marxism, including Marx’s description of the capitalist society and historical materialism and the issues of class struggle, alienation, exploitation, revolution and communism. However, as Marx wrote a great body of work, there is still plenty of scope for people to disagree about what Marx meant by something or whether or not he might have changed his mind about it later. Added to this is the fact that many Marxists have taken pieces of Marx out of context in order to prove political points.
Another problem in classical Marxism is that Marx changed his mind about some of the issues; sometimes he developed what he had already written and sometimes he refuted it, especially as his thought processes matured. Some Marxists and academics divide Marx’s work into two broad categories of ‘young Marx’ and ‘mature Marx’.