Revolution and Counterrevolution in China: The Paradoxes of Chinese Struggle

by Lin Chun

A major new contribution to the study of China’s revolutions and counterrevolutions over the past century

Over recent decades China has experienced massive change and development. China is the world’s fastest growing economy, and has become a global superpower once again. But this development has thrown up a number of seemingly intractable contradictions, both political and economic. In this panoramic study of Chinese history in the twentieth century and its place in the development of global capitalism, Lin Chun argues that the paradoxes of contemporary Chinese society are not simply the product of the development of capitalism or modernity in the country. They are instead the product of the contradictions of its long revolutionary history, as well as the social and political consequences of its post-socialist transition.

Published to coincide with the one-hundredth anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party, Revolution and Counterrevolution in China charts China’s epic revolutionary trajectory in search of a socialist alternative to the global system, and asks whether market reform must repudiate and overturn the revolution and its legacy.

Genres: China, History, Nonfiction, Politics, Theory, Asia

352 pages, Paperback

First published September 28, 2021

Reviews

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

pretty dense, but covers a lot of ground. highly recommended

[Jooseppi Räikkönen · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you were looking for a breezy read about the purported subject matter of the book, you've come to the wrong place. The book is very academic and heavy on debate interventions rather than narrative construction. It also doesn't really know what authorial voice to go for, mixing constantly between a manifestoesque register and dry academic exposition.

Nonetheless there is a 5 star worthy reference book on revolution and counter-revolution in China hidden under this and it is really clear that Chun really really knows her shit. So if you're writing sth. on China this is probably a good place to go, but maybe not for your introduction into the subject matter.

[Gabriel Embrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

this text is one of the most rigorous and well-reserched works on the subject of how reform in the post-Deng years has transformed/degraded the socialist project. I'll leave lengthy reviews to the professors and grad students, but it's a worthy intervention into Chinese history, and I highly recommend it. I don't know if Chun considers herself part of the New Left, but this makes it feel as if that group has some blood left in it yet.

[John NM · Rating 2 out of 5]

couldn't finish, which is rare for me. Interesting theses, but poorly argued. Often hard to detect if there's a consistent analytical approach, so argumentation often feels like it devolves into using whatever is at hand.

[Left_coast_reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Revolution and Counter Revolution, Lin Chun examines the trajectory of China over the last 100+ years. The Communist Revolution of 1949 completely reshaped social relations and catapulted China into position as one of the chief protagonists of the 20th century. Recent reforms have moved the country toward capitalism and global integration.

Socialism in China is often associated with famine during the Great Leap Forward. Lin places this in historical context. Unlike the USSR, agricultural collectivization in China was more voluntarist and avoided the brutal proletarianization that Russian peasants endured. She argues that the GLF was meant to decentralize and democratize agriculture, but production targets were unrealistic and untethered from previously successful forms of government management. Even though death tolls are often exaggerated, there's no denying the immense human toll it took.

Lin defends China's revolutionary history: It doubled life expectancy, improved literacy and women's rights, created the preconditions for industrialization, and gave China control of its own destiny.

Starting in the 70s the CCP pushed things in a different direction by privatizing State Owned Enterprises, laying off tens of millions of workers. They changed the rules of public ownership of land to allow for sub leasing to agribusinesses. Since the shift to a capitalist economy, labor rights are frequently ignored and abuses are rampant. China now has terrible inequality, rivaling the US. Patriarchy and Han ethnocentrism have become increasingly noxious.

She argues that China has avoided many of the pitfalls of other countries and has in some ways benefited from increased liberalization, but the corruption, inequality, consumerism, and precarious migrant labor cannot be ignored. The primary reason there has not been a stronger revolt against these changes is that the CCP retains significant legitimacy due to its revolutionary history. But as China becomes a more serious capitalist rival of the US, there will be more attempts to stop it. Lin argues that only a return to socialism will allow China to continue improving human welfare while preserving its autonomy.

This is my first time reading about Chinese history and I would've benefited from a more basic summary. I can't comment on the author's descriptions of the GLF and Cultural Revolution, but it seems fair at first blush.

[Hannah Ekin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charts the shift from amaoist to post-Mao reformist approaches in different spheres of Chinese politics, economy and society. Thorough analysis of shifting policy on land tenure structures, foreign policy, market regulation, internal migration etc.

Takes a while to get into as quite dense and assumes more knowledge of Chinese political debates than I have but is extremely thorough and fascinating.

[Jacob Chak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great primer on the neo-liberalization of China and what might befall the nation in the coming years. I'm not a scholar on China but I was still able to digest the denser content with a little extra reading. Definitely suggest reading footnote samples!