History

Photo: The ballet The Red Detachment of Women, one of the Model Dramas promoted during the Cultural Revolution. White House photo by Byron Schumaker. Source: https://web.archive.org

On 'Socialism with Chinese Characteristics' – or Ideological Mess and Reality

Viewpoint by Michele Nobile*

This is the third of a four-part series. Click here for Part 1 and Part 2.

ROME (IDN) – One of the collective ideological hallucinations of the 20h century was Mao Zedong Thought. A remarkable thought in terms of metaphors and similitudes but even more so in terms of incoherence: as with Stalin, the most different lines can be extracted from the texts and the practice of Mao depending on convenience.

It is true that the Red Army was mostly peasant; but it is also true that from the "Great Leap Forward" in the second half of the 1950s – which resulted in the greatest famine of the twentieth century (about 30 million deaths between 1958 and 1961) – up to the phase of the "Third Front" of industrial development in China's interior, and passing through the Cultural Revolution and most of the 1970s, the peasant masses trapped by the hukou system were uninterruptedly squeezed like a lemon to finance industrial development, especially heavy and military industry.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 08 October 2018

Photo: In Tiananmen Square protests Beijing in 1989 the hopes of a mass democratic movement and the possibility that it would generate a workers' and people's movement of the Solidarność type were massacred. CC BY-SA 3.0

On 'Socialism with Chinese Characteristics' – or Mask of Capitalism

Viewpoint by Michele Nobile*

This is the second of a four-part series. Click here for Part 1

ROME (IDN) – "Socialism with Chinese characteristics" is described by the regime in the following terms:

"A historic transformation from a highly centralised planned economy to a dynamic socialist market economy has been achieved in China. A basic economic system in which public ownership takes the lead and different economic ownerships grow side by side has come into being. The market plays an increasingly important role in allocating resources, and the system of macroeconomic regulation is improving. A social security system covering both urban and rural residents is taking shape, and culture, education, science and technology, health care, sports and other social programs are flourishing."

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 07 October 2018

Photo: Chang'an avenue in Beijing. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

On 'Socialism with Chinese Characteristics' – or Problem of Epochal Social Transformation

Viewpoint by Michele Nobile*

This is the first of a four-part series.

ROME (IDN) – The "peaceful rise" or "peaceful development" of China is one of the most remarkable processes marking the world economy between the twentieth and twenty-first centuries ... and perhaps the most important.

Over four decades of the era of economic reforms, per capita product growth, industrial production and export rates have been impressive. The Chinese government can proudly show that since 1978 its gross domestic product has multiplied, that China's share in world production has increased fourfold, that China is the number one exporter in the world and that it is the country with the largest currency reserves (mostly in dollars).

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 06 October 2018

Photo: Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall, built between 1970 and 1973, was a gift from the People’s Republic of China in memory of Solomon Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike who was Prime Minister from 1956 to 1959. CC BY-SA 2.0

China and Sri Lanka: A History that Stretches Back into the Mists of Time – Trade, Religion and Diplomacy - 2

Viewpoint by Dr Palitha Kohona

The writer of this 2-part series is former Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations, former Foreign Secretary and former Head of the UN Treaty Section. The articles are based on a talk on 'China and Sri Lanka: A History that Stretches Back into the Mists of Time – Trade, Religion and Diplomacy' given in Sydney on August 26, 2018. Read Part 1 here. – The Editor

COLOMBO (IDN) – In this second part of the series on China and Sri Lanka giving a sweeping overview of the pivotal role of Sri Lanka throughout history, the author looks at latter-day international relations.

: Dr. Palitha Kohona; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 05 September 2018

Photo: The landmark Nelum Pokuna (Lotus Pond) Mahinda Rajapaksa Theatre is one of symbols of China-Sri Lanka Friendship. CC BY-SA 3.0

China and Sri Lanka: A History that Stretches Back into the Mists of Time – Trade, Religion and Diplomacy - 1

Viewpoint by Dr Palitha Kohona

COLOMBO (IDN) – Sitting in the middle of the Indian Ocean at the southern tip of India and the meeting point of the monsoon winds, and swirling ocean currents, Sri Lanka occupies an enviable strategic geographical position.

: Dr. Palitha Kohona; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 05 September 2018

Photo: Mass rally in Cuba marked ‘Che’ Guevara’s 50th death anniversary on October 9, 2017. Credit: CubaSi

Guevara and Marx: Critical Remake of an Old Film – 9

By Roberto Massari*

This is the ninth of a nine-part series. Read Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8.

BOLSENA, Italy (IDN) – FADE-OUT … Scene 9[ Vallegrande, October 9, 2017]

The scene is composite, polychrome and multi-sound. On the large clearing for what in the past was to become the Vallegrande airport in Bolivia, some thousands of people convened by the government of President Evo Morales are gathered to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Che’s fall in combat.

There are many multi-coloured flags, but mostly red with the silhouette of Korda’s famous photo, Andean and Caribbean music, and the banners of political, trade union and cultural associations of various Latin American origins. In the days that proceeded, scholars of Guevarism from various parts of the world had spoken: the author came from Italy but, incredibly, was the only one from Europe.

: Phil Harris; THE WORLD; Latin America & the Caribbean; 27 August 2018

Image: Countries Che Guevara visited (red) and those in which he participated in armed revolution (green). Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Guevara and Marx: Critical Remake of an Old Film – 8

By Roberto Massari*

This is the eighth of a nine-part series. Read Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7.

BOLSENA, Italy (IDN) – MARXIST STORY: Scene 8 [Prague, 1966]

At this point we must devote attention to this polemic, trying first of all to imagine the scene: after the lengthy confinement in the Cuban ambassador’s house in Dar es Salaam, there is a drastic change of continent – from Africa to the heart of old Europe; a large villa on the outskirts of Prague; the semi-clandestine coexistence (Cuban-Czechoslovak “Operation Manuel”) with some of the closest companions (“Pombo” [b. 1940] and “Tuma” [1940-1967]); chess games; study and writing.

: Phil Harris; THE WORLD; History; 26 August 2018

Photo: Guevara meeting with French existentialist philosophers Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir at his office in Havana, March 1960. Sartre later wrote that Che was "the most complete human being of our time". In addition to Spanish, Guevara was fluent in French. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Guevara and Marx: Critical Remake of an Old Film – 7

By Roberto Massari*

This is the seventh of a nine-part series. Read Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.

BOLSENA, Italy (IDN) – HERESY STORY: Scene 7 [from Moscow to Havana, 1963-65]

The starting scene for describing this intellectual revival of Guevara’s Marxism is set in Moscow and he described it himself in one of the stenographic recordings of the bi-monthly conversations he held at the Ministry of Industry from 1962 to 1964. Here we are especially interested in some of the recordings of Che’s last year in Cuba as a minister. They are informal but precious materials; even more precious because they have not been re-elaborated or reviewed thus, reflecting Che’s immediate – and by no means diplomatic – thoughts.

: Phil Harris; THE WORLD; Latin America & the Caribbean; 25 August 2018

Photo: Che Guevara Statue, Santa Clara, Cuba (CC0 Public Domain).

Guevara and Marx: Critical Remake of an Old Film – 6

By Roberto Massari*

This is the sixth of a nine-part series. Read Parts 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.

BOLSENA, Italy (IDN) – With regard to the “Marxism” of Marx there is not much more, because the rest of the article launches itself into a very imaginative analysis of the progress of the Cuban revolution which I leave out here without remorse.

In the past, however, I have devoted some attention to the hasty manner in which Che had dismissed some statements in that text from the two founding fathers related to Mexico and Bolivar. Here I limit myself to mentioning the piece by Guevara, but for my comment I refer to the detailed analysis I made in Che Guevara. Pensamiento y política de la utopía (pp. 54-9).

: Phil Harris; THE WORLD; Latin America & the Caribbean; 22 August 2018

Photo: Speaking at the UN General Assembly on December 11, 1964 on behalf of Cuba, Argentinean-born Ernesto "Che" Guevara responds to questions regarding his accent, affirming he is Cuban and willing to die for the liberation of any Latin American country. Credit: UN

Guevara and Marx: Critical Remake of an Old Film – 5

By Roberto Massari*

This is the fifth of a nine-part series. Read Parts 1, 2, 3 and 4.

BOLSENA, Italy (IDN) – Second half: ORTHODOXY STORY: Scene 6 [from Havana to Moscow, 1959-63]

As is well known, the revolutionary government assigned commander Guevara with tasks of great importance, but all within the economic sphere as president of the Banco Nacional de Cuba, in a first phase, and then as Minister of Industry (at the time unified in a single ministry) until the day of his resignation became operational between the end of 1964 and the spring of 1965.