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Representing a lifetime of research and writing by noted historian Arif Dirlik, the essays collected here explore developments in Chinese socialism and the issues that have occupied historians of the Chinese revolution for the past three decades. These incisive essays range from the origins of socialism in the early twentieth century, through the victory of the Communists in mid-century, to the virtual abandonment by century's end of any pretense to a socialist revolutionary project by the leadership of the CCP. All that remains of the revolution in historical hindsight are memories of its failures and misdeeds, but Dirlik retains a critical perspective not just toward the past, but also toward the ideological hegemonies of the present. Taken together, his writings reaffirm the centrality of the revolution to modern Chinese history and the ongoing relevance of Marxism in grasping the flaws of capitalist modernity

Chinese communism differs from the Soviet pattern of development in a number of signif respects. The Chinese Communists failed to win nat'l power when the Chinese Revolution reached its peak of natural extremism in 1927, but instead established a regional rdgime. Chinese Communism then evolved under Mao into a pragmatic, disciplined, & Stalinized post-revolutionary dictatorship. When the Communists won nationwide power in 1949, they were far ahead of the Bolsheviks of 1917 in their totalitarian org & practices, while they confronted a much more backward econ situation. Lacking any real proletarian base, they adhered dogmatically to Marxist doctrine as the determinant of pol'al virtue. Since 1949 Chinese Communism has become increasingly irrational & fanatic, particularly after the liberalizing interlude of 1956-57. The pol'al, econ & foreign-policy stiffening of 1957-58 parallels the change of line in Russia under Stalin in 1928-29, & points toward a likely econ crisis & purge. IPSA.

At the time the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) issued its now-famous Circular Notice of 16 May 1966, which roundly criticized Peking's Mayor P'eng Chen and thereby ushered in a dramatic new stage of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, a large-scale and intensive Socialist Education Movement was still being implemented systematically in the Chinese countryside.

The achievements of the Chinese Communist regime over the past 20 years are impressive, whether seen in terms of the Communists' own ideology or of universal human desires for security and material sufficiency. Under the Party's leadership, the Chinese people have unified their nation, constructed a considerable industrial base, transformed their country's internal distribution network, explored thoroughly for the first time China's natural resources, overcome the threat of famine, begun to master the field of nuclear energy, and accomplished many other changes which reflect favourably on China in comparison with other nations that have set for themselves equal or lesser goals in a similar period of time. This is not to deny shifts and setbacks in the general strategies for socialist construction. The capital-intensive industrialization of the first five-year plan moved to the labour-intensive industrialization of the Great Leap and culminated in the balanced strategy which emerged after 1962 of building the agricultural prerequisites for industrialization. The failure of the Great Leap may have cost China as much as a decade in terms of a potential time schedule for development, but it is important to stress the achievements of the economic plan which followed the Leap.

The position adopted by the Greek Communist Party (KKE) since the 1930's--that conditions in Greece were not ripe for a socialist revolution--contributed in large measure to the considerable military & pol'al defeats of the Greek Left. Because of theoretical inadequacies & a submission to the needs of Soviet pol'al leaders, the KKE has espoused a consistently non-revolutionary line. It has repeatedly called for a "bourgeois-democratic revolution" against "feudal remnants" & a "popular front against fascism." After successfully leading the resistance against German occupation in WWII, the KKE bargained away its military strength & surrendered its arms in order to participate in a gov of "nat'l unity" in pursuit of a "people's democracy" & "nat'l democratic change." Its strategies of "class colloboration" & the "peaceful road to socialism" through the growth of bur'tic state capitalism were soundly defeated during the civil war. By the 1950's, most of its remaining supporters were either refugees or prisoners. In the 1960's, the KKE allied with soc democratic elements in the legal United Democratic Left (EDA) party. Since the 1967 coup, an even broader alliance encompassing groups from the KKE on the left to monarchists & militarists on the right has formed to oppose the junta. But given the internat'l DofL in the world capitalist ecnomy, a proletarian socialist revolution in an underdeveloped country like Greece is a reasonable goal. A. Karmen.

In the Chinese theory of the "triple revolution" the three major stages of the entire period of the PRC's existence were named as follows: 1) the "revolution of the seizure of power", which led to the overthrow of the old regime and the establishment of a new one; 2) the "revolution of reform", which paved the way for self-improvement and development of the socialist system; 3) a "transitional or transformational revolution", which completes the primary stage of building a socialist society. The dates of the turning points of a revolutionary nature are considered to be 1949 (the proclamation of the PRC), 1978 (the beginning of the policy of "reforms and opening-up"), 2012 (the holding of the 18th Congress of the CPC).

The revolution of 1949 was of a new democratic nature and consolidated a socialist orientation. However, soon after the revolution, during the lifetime of Mao Zedong, the leftist course won and all phases of socialist construction (the policy of "new democracy", socialist transformations and the transition to communism through the "cultural revolution") were passed in an accelerated mode. The program of market reforms and the "mixed economy" launched at the end of 1978 made it possible to increase economic potential and raise living standards, but resulted in a number of negative consequences of the "loss of the banner", i.e. deviation from the ultimate goal of socialist construction. The coming to power of the fifth generation of Chinese leaders in 2012, led by Xi Jinping, was marked by a significant adjustment of the policy of "reform and opening-up" and the implementation of a number of important social transformations, including the fight against corruption and poverty. China's "own path" can be seen as a transition from "state capitalism" to "market socialism" with features of specific convergence and growing socialism. Given the complexity of China's current internal and external situation and the difficulties of a "trailblazer," the implementation of the new strategy will be far from cloudless.

The politics of texts in motion -- The geopoetics of land reform in Northeast Asia -- Fictionalizing the international working class -- Soviet spaceships in socialist China -- Sons and daughters of the Revolution -- Mapping the brave new world of literature