Assertion: Free Development of Capitalism after the Democratic Revolution

In his essay "On New Democracy" Mao describes the role of the national bourgeoisie in the Chinese revolution.

"But China's national bourgeoisie has a revolutionary quality at certain periods and to a certain degree, because China is a colonial and semi-colonial country which is a victim of aggression. Here, the task of the proletariat is to form a united front with the national bourgeoisie against imperialism and the bureaucrat and warlord governments without overlooking its revolutionary quality.
At the same time, however, being a bourgeois class in a colonial and semi-colonial country and so being extremely flabby economically and politically, the Chinese national bourgeoisie also has another quality, namely, a proneness to conciliation with enemies of the revolution."(51)

Mao Tsetung had no illusions regarding the dual role of the national bourgeoisie and its inconsistent, vacillating character in the revolution. The revolutionary United Front included the working class, the peasantry, the urban petty bourgeoisie and the national bourgeoisie, with the working class as the leading force and the masses of peasants as the main force by number. The way Mao Tsetung classifies the forces of the democratic revolution is in agreement with Lenin's statements:

[The proletariat] "can become a victorious fighter for democracy only if the peasant masses join its revolutionary struggle. If the proletariat is not strong enough for this the bourgeoisie will be at the head of the democratic revolution and will impart an inconsistent and self-seeking nature to it. Nothing but revolutionary-democratic dictatorship of the proletariat and the peasantry can prevent this."(52)

After the democratic revolution in China had succeeded and the People's Republic had been founded, the National United Front was consolidated; it was not possible to pass over from the people's democratic revolution to socialist revolution immediately. What had to be done was to overcome the country's enormous backwardness, caused by the oppression and exploitation on the part of the foreign imperialists and the national reactionary regime; for this the national bourgeoisie was necessary. During the War of Resistance against the Japanese invasion and occupation, Mao Tsetung wrote in "On New Democracy":

"The Chinese revolution cannot avoid taking the two steps, first of New Democracy and then of socialism. Moreover, the first step will need quite a long time and cannot be accomplished overnight."(53)

Hoxha calls this anti-Marxist and quotes Mao without naming his source. He has good reason for this, because the quotation is falsified:

"During this period all the elements of capitalism, in town and countryside, must be permitted."

End of quotation. Referring to the positive role of the national bourgeoisie in the people's democratic revolution, Mao explains:

"For this reason and because China's economy is still backward, there will be need, for a fairly long period after the victory of the revolution, to make use of the positive qualities of urban and rural private capitalism as far as possible, in the interest of developing the national economy. In this period, all capitalist elements in the cities and countryside which are not harmful but beneficial to the national economy should be allowed to exist and expand. This is not only unavoidable but also economically necessary."(54; the emphasized parts were omitted by Hoxha)

Against better judgment Hoxha asserts that the CP of China and Mao Tsetung "left a free field for the development of the bourgeoisie and capitalist social relations". (55)

A few lines beneath the isolated fragments quoted by him, you can read clearly and plainly:

"But the existence and expansion of capitalism in China will not be unrestricted and uncrushed as in the capitalist countries",

and half a page further down:

"Restrictions versus opposition to restriction will be the main form of class struggle in the new-democratic state. It is entirely wrong to think that at present we need not restrict capitalism and can discard the slogan of 'regulation of capital'; that is a Right opportunist view."(56)

Is that enough for you, Comrade Hoxha?