Saturday, 20 July 2024

Stalin and The Chinese Revolution, 8. Stalin Repeats His Experiment with the “Left” Guomindang - Part 1 of 2

8. Stalin Repeats His Experiment with the “Left” Guomindang


Illustrating a lot of this subordination to the bourgeoisie is a part of Chitarov's speech that was left out of its transcription.

“After the Shanghai coup, it has become clear to everyone that a new epoch is beginning in the Chinese revolution; that the bourgeoisie is retreating from the revolution. This was recognized and immediately so stated. But one thing was left out of sight in connection with this – that while the bourgeoisie was retreating from the revolution, the Wuhan government did not even think of leaving the bourgeoisie. Unfortunately, among the majority of our comrades, this was not understood; they had illusions with regard to the Wuhan government. They considered the Wuhan government almost an image, a prototype of the democratic dictatorship of the proletariat and peasantry.” (p 274)

In Iraq, when the US and UK forces withdrew, pro-imperialists, like the AWL, bleated about the consequence, and in Afghanistan, they even called on imperialism not to leave. The consequence for workers, in both cases, were dire, but, as in China, the de facto alliance with, and dependence on that imperialism, as the vehicle for implementing its bourgeois moral agenda, had created the worst possible conditions for when that inevitable betrayal occurred. The same could be seen, in Libya, after 2011.

In Ukraine, at some point, a deal is likely, between the Ukrainian oligarchs, their state, and the Russian oligarchs and their state. The failure of Ukraine to make any significant headway despite the phenomenal amount of weapons and money poured into the country that has stretched the capacity of western arms producers to even keep up with the demand, makes that inevitable at some point. If, as looks inevitable, Biden loses the election to Trump, that inevitability will be brought forward, if it has not already transpired. Again, the alliance of social-patriots, in those states, with their own bourgeoisie, and of the social-imperialists, elsewhere, with those states and the NATO, and Chinese imperialist blocs, standing behind them, will have disarmed the workers, who will, again, lose out, having spilled their blood for the greater glory of capital.

““After the Wuhan coup, it became clear that the bourgeoisie is retreating ...”

This would be ridiculous if it were not so tragic. After Chiang Kai-shek slew the revolution in the face of the Workers disarmed by Stalin, the penetrating strategists finally “understood” that the bourgeoisie is “retreating”. But having recognized that his friend Chiang Kai-shek was retreating, Stalin ordered the Chinese Communists to subordinate themselves to that same Wuhan government which, according to Khitarov’s information at the Fifteenth Congress, “did not even think of leaving the bourgeoisie”.” (p 274)

And, when Zelensky, or his replacement, strikes a deal with Putin (or with Xi), a similar course can be expected. To rescue a shattered economy, resulting from a reactionary and avoidable war, the workers will be told that they must make even more sacrifices, so that the Ukrainian oligarchs that have profiteered throughout can make even bigger profits. To rebuild, the country's resources will have to be sold off cheap to US and EU imperialism, as already planned, in outline, at the London Conference, or to Chinese imperialism. And, the same will apply to Russia, except its much greater resources means the war has had only a minor effect on it, with, in fact, it benefiting from the higher energy prices, resulting from NATO's boycotts and sanctions.


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