Hi! Long time lurker, first time poster. Been discussing stuff with MLs of all stripes recently, and have come across a common statement used by a lot of Maoists which frustrates me.

They seem to always fall back on statements like "The CPC allows billionaires in their ranks, so they are revisionist."

Maoists have often used this as a kind of "gotcha" argument against more traditional MLs, or "Dengists" as they love to label us.

It's frustrating, because...I don't disagree really, allowing members of the bourgeoisie to hold political power is pretty much the definition of revisionism. The problem is, this feels more like a way to silence dissent or discussion rather than facilitate it. Feels like an overly simplistic hard line that simplifies history into binary divisions. Often followed by an implied "China is revisionist, therefore Maoism is the only working form of socialism."

I'm reaching out to people to see if anyone has any ways to combat this, in a way that encourages discussion rather than it just devolving into insults or truisms hurled back and forth without thought.

  • ComradeSalad@lemmygrad.ml
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    edit-2
    1 year ago

    Name one time in the past 50 years that a western country has nationalized the assets of, and imprisoned or executed a corrupt billionaire found to be violating or manipulating the law to their benefit.

    China on the other hand has no qualms with that. Even if allowing the corruption to continue might even be…. Profitable, in some circumstances.

    https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/05/china-sentences-top-banker-to-death-for-corruption-and-bigamy

    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2011-07-23/china-executes-14-billionaires-in-8-years-culture-news-reports#xj4y7vzkg

      • ComradeSalad@lemmygrad.ml
        ·
        1 year ago

        It was charged because he was cheating and his other wife was completely unaware of the other marriage and his second family. Something that should absolutely be punished. Polygamy must still be consensual.