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Marxism and Asia
Marxism and Asia
In their contest with the Soviet the Chinese have elaborated their
own strategic world view. Ironically, they have taken up a Comin
tern formulation referring to the underdeveloped countries as “the
villages of the world”, and converted it from a term of disparagement
to one of pride. To the Chinese, the Western countries constitute
a “burnt-out revolutionary hearth”, and the revolutionary future
lies with the third world. Implicitly, they believe that contradictions
!>(> A U S T R A L IA N L EFT R E V IE W — A U G .-SEPT., 1970
between classes are less fundam ental than contradictions between
the developed and underdeveloped regions. In this, they arrive at
conclusions sim ilar to those of some W estern scholars, who see a
developing “convergence" between industrial countries irrespective
of political coloration.
The issue betw een determ inism and voluntarism is usually argued
in philosophical or ideological terms. But it seems obvious from the
history of the past fifty years that the attem pt to draw a “correct" ’
line between the two in revolutionary strategy is fundam entally
misconceived. The vulnerability of political systems to revolutionary
action varies according to a num ber of factors, one of which is
the depth of social penetration (political, ideological, control) which
the system in question achieves. If this penetration is shallow, then
a system which appears relatively stable on the surface may be over
thrown by a small cadre force of revolutionaries (as was the case
in Cuba). W here, on the contrary, the political pow er drives deep
into society, it may w ithstand quite deepgoing econom ic and social
crises w ithout succum bing to much larger revolutionary movements,
as the history of W estern E urope confirm s. A n accent on voluntarism
or determ inism in the revolutionary m ovem ent may in large m easure
reflect these circum stances, so that the line betw een “ adventurism '
and “econom ism ” will be draw n at different points under different
environm ental conditions.