Zhu De Research Articles

China's Uninterrupted Revolution

Thirty years after liberation, the Chinese people are searching for new ways to defeat their old adversaries: the twin legacies of poverty and feudalism. Most of the original leadership generation—including Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-tung), Zhou Enlai (Chou En-lai), Zhu De (Chu Teh), and, yes, Liu Shaoqi (Liu Shao-chi) and Lin Biao (Lin Piao)—are no longer at the helm. A new phase of socialist modernization is at hand requiring a strategic combination of social and technological change in order to liberate the productive forces and ensure their self-reliant development. China will need to be forthright in pursuing such goals as the reduction of major differences in income and opportunity, the economic advance of the countryside, and a better livelihood for all the people. And it will need to be cautious, too, in adapting the tools of foreign technology. Can social change contribute to accelerated economic and technological progress? Is the revolution dead? Answers to these questions lie embedded in China's past; an uninterrupted revolution lasting 30, or even 130 years.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.