by Ramin Mazaheri
Of the West’s the three main “Reasons Why Red China is Evil and the West is Morally & Ideologically Superior” propaganda campaign, the Cultural Revolution outranks the Great Leap Forward and the legacy of Mao for being far and away the most difficult for non-Chinese to truly get a handle on.
Most leftists won’t even touch it, much less defend it an inch…and thus they have completely ceded the entire era to socialism’s Western ideological enemies. Thus, it should be easily admitted and quite clear that we necessarily have been left with a completely one-sided portrayal of the Cultural Revolution.
And that’s when we have one at all: I would imagine that 9 out of every 10 Westerners can’t truly say anything even a bit substantial – even allowing for the West’s negative view – about the Cultural Revolution.