Decades after the fall of the Soviet Union, the legacy of the Sino-Soviet split stands out sharply in the history of socialism and the Cold War as a major turning point, impacting conflicts all over the world and within the movement, the collapses of 89-91, and China's relationship with the West and embrace of foreign investment.
How do Marxists in China (inside and outside of the CPC) think of it? As justified, as a mistake, as well-intentioned but with bad consequences? What works of theory analyzes its causes, effects? And in light of China's reform and opening up, how is "revisionism", in general and as an ideological rebuke of liberalization in the post-Stalin era in particular, understood?
Any and all answers appreciated, let me know if another comm is better suited for this post.
You completely glossed over the lack of a true boom-bust cycle in the PRC. No capitalist economy can escape this. The UK didn't escape it despite colonizing India and half of Africa. The US didn't escape it despite rigging the world's economy through the Bretton Woods system system. But China did. Why is that?
No, it is not, but I see the lack of a true boom-bust cycle as strong evidence that it is not capitalist.
No, it was not socialist because despite its prosperity being due to the theft of Indigenous lands, Black slave labor, and its collection of colonies, neocolonies, and proxy states, the US still wasn't able to escape the boom-bust cycle. The time between the Great Depression and the 1973 recession was around 4 decades. Even with everything going in its favor, the US economy couldn't even last for half a century without experiencing a recession. That recession marked the fall of Keynesianism and the rise of neoliberalism. The US economy would then last for less than 4 decades before hitting the Great Recession. And now, less than 2 decades later, the US is poised to hit yet another recession due to Covid. Boom-bust-boom-bust. Such is the fate of a capitalist economy.
The formal proclamation of the PRC until now is almost 80 years, and in that time period, the PRC has experience not one major recession. The PRC was completely unaffected by the 1973 recession, it was barely affected by the 1997 Asian financial crisis that hit every single capitalist countries in East Asia, it was also completely unaffected by the Great Recession of 2008, and it registered "slower than predicted growth" in the current Covid recession.
I guess the plucky Chinese capitalists are just super-duper smart compared with every single other capitalist in world history.