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A Place in the Sun: Marxism and Fascism in China's Long Revolution
China has endured a century of turmoil, beginning with the anti-dynastic revolution associated with Sun Yat-Sen, through the military and tutelary rule of Chiang Kai-shek, the revolutionary regime of Mao Zedong, and the radical reforms of Deng Xiaoping. China has had little respite. Historians and social scientists have attempted to understand some of this history as being the consequence of the impact of European ideologies-including Marxism, Marxism-Leninism, and Fascism. Rarely instructive or persuasive, the discussions regarding this issue have, more often than not, led to puzzlement, rather than enlightenment.In A Place in the Sun, A. James Gregor offers an interpretation of the role of European Marxist and Fascist ideas on China's revolutionaries that is both original, and based on a lifetime of scholarship devoted to revolutionary ideologies. Gregor renders a detailed analysis of their respective influence on major protagonists. In the exposition, Gregor reveals an unsuspected and complex set of relationships between the Chinese revolution and essentially European ideologies. His discussion concludes with a number of estimations that suggest implications for the future of modern China, and its relationship with the advanced industrial democracies. How post-Dengist China-the world's most populous nation-is to be understood remains uncertain to most comparativists and historians. Gregor provides one well supported alternative, and he is carefully attentive to the implications of this alternative.
244 pages, Hardcover
First published March 23, 2000
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About the author
A. James Gregor
45 books41 followersAnthony James Gregor (April 2, 1929 – August 30, 2019) was a Professor of Political Science Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, well known for his research on fascism, Marxism, and national security.
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July 25, 2009
I've read enough of this book now. (It is worth recalling David Hume's quip, who said: "I don't read books...; I read IN them".) It is not Gregor's best book (I am a great admirer of Gregor). It is in turn strident, cranky, and repetitive. That said, I believe his thesis is fundamentally correct, and it is a revolutionary thesis.
Gregor believes that that the history of 20th century Marxism-Leninism is essentially a form of fascism and in this sense diverges in essential ways from Marx himself. Thus, Stalin (Marxism for one nation), Mao, Castro -- and one might add Chavez and Morales and their followers -- mixed socialism, nationalism, militarism, and corruption in what was an essentially fascist mix. The purpose of this mix was to drive these pre-industrial societies into modernity, which required discipline, unity, and authority.... what Gregor and others have called "Developmental dictatorships".
Along with all this, one can not other traits that are corporatist. Corporatism, which was developed theoretically by the circle around Mussolini, is essentially anti-Marxist, in that society is organized by sector, rather than by class. Thus, fascist unions include both labor and management working in unity for the good of the industry in question as a whole (in reality, of course, labor is crushed by management in fascist unions... and only the owners of that capital -- whether it be large industrialists, as in Germany; the State, as in Stalinist Russia; or the military cliques as in modern Pakistan -- are the ones who gain by it). There is a fascinating example of this in the struggle between the left-wing unions in Bolivia's tin mines and the state-back ('corporatist') union of Morales -- which latter was able to win out... by force, of course.
Marxism, by contrast, that is, the Marxism of Marx, should then be understood as a humanist enterprise.... that is, the humanist Marx of Mondolfo and the European Left -- idealistic, internationalist, pragmatist (there is a lot to say on the Pragmatist roots of Marx' materialism), aiming at the advancement of the individual's capacities -- as the highest goal.... man as a unfinished project....
At any rate -- the book is weak in parts, but it is important, and is worth examination.
Gregor believes that that the history of 20th century Marxism-Leninism is essentially a form of fascism and in this sense diverges in essential ways from Marx himself. Thus, Stalin (Marxism for one nation), Mao, Castro -- and one might add Chavez and Morales and their followers -- mixed socialism, nationalism, militarism, and corruption in what was an essentially fascist mix. The purpose of this mix was to drive these pre-industrial societies into modernity, which required discipline, unity, and authority.... what Gregor and others have called "Developmental dictatorships".
Along with all this, one can not other traits that are corporatist. Corporatism, which was developed theoretically by the circle around Mussolini, is essentially anti-Marxist, in that society is organized by sector, rather than by class. Thus, fascist unions include both labor and management working in unity for the good of the industry in question as a whole (in reality, of course, labor is crushed by management in fascist unions... and only the owners of that capital -- whether it be large industrialists, as in Germany; the State, as in Stalinist Russia; or the military cliques as in modern Pakistan -- are the ones who gain by it). There is a fascinating example of this in the struggle between the left-wing unions in Bolivia's tin mines and the state-back ('corporatist') union of Morales -- which latter was able to win out... by force, of course.
Marxism, by contrast, that is, the Marxism of Marx, should then be understood as a humanist enterprise.... that is, the humanist Marx of Mondolfo and the European Left -- idealistic, internationalist, pragmatist (there is a lot to say on the Pragmatist roots of Marx' materialism), aiming at the advancement of the individual's capacities -- as the highest goal.... man as a unfinished project....
At any rate -- the book is weak in parts, but it is important, and is worth examination.
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