The above post was made when I was really fed up. Normally I’m not that openly annoyed on here but like. Come on. Some people need to get it together in terms of when they run their mouths about revolutionary socialist projects.
So to encourage some studying to not fall into ultra leftism please read The Long Transition Towards Socialism And The End Of Capitalism (digital copies are free for download!).
It goes through the history of revolutions and does an excellent job of being balanced in regards to topics like: the Soviet NEP, the Sino-Soviet split, the various Maoist factions in the 70s, Reform and Opening up, etc.
As the author says in his introduction:
Much discussion related to the development of socialism has focused on the struggle between different political lines within communist parties operating first in the Soviet Union and later in China instead of the actual material conditions which these lines represent. My judgment of these struggles does not rest on some sacred socialist values but on being rational. When things go wrong, it is not necessarily because of mistakes or treason of subjective forces, nor because of communists betraying the “true” values of socialism. The history I want to review is not a history of morals. For a materialist approach, the questions of betrayal or rectitude have only minor relevance.
The struggle for socialism is a collective project, created by the effort and support of millions over the past two hundred years. A specific economic and political constellation in the world system can make it impossible to move in the direction of socialism at any given point in history. A detour might be necessary. This does not mean that there are always excuses when things go wrong. Mistakes and treason do happen. However, we should be careful to not retreat to idealism and hand down a quick verdict, but rather conduct a dialectical historical materialist analysis of the facts so we might learn from history.
For a further deep dive into the BRI, China’s economic relationship with Africa, and modern anti-China propaganda please read Why The World Needs China.