Khrushchev wtf were you doing we needed this
Given the state of the world communist movement in the late 70’s - the mass murders in Indonesia & South America, the collapse of an anti-imperialist OPEC, and a USSR collapsing under its own contradictions - a return to NEP was necessary for the semi-feudal, backwards China to be capable of leading a socialist bloc in the future.
If Deng was purged (rather, if a return to NEP was not implemented), then the world communist movement would be significantly worse off than it is now. The blockades on China, Cuba, and the DPRK following the collapse of the USSR would have been significantly more brutal, probably existential.
We would be back at square one, as if the Russian Revolution had never happened. We would only be left with the lessons of successful revolution, no real, material gains. Successful revolutions, such as Nepal or Venezuela, would not have an industrial superpower to cooperate with. Those successful revolutions would then be forced to carry out an NEP-style program, with significantly less leverage than China had.
If the Sino-Soviet Split had not occurred, a united communist bloc would have had the capabilities to develop large-scale industry across China. Their union would have been capable of responding to mass murders in Indonesia & South America. Their union would have had the leverage to pressure nations such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia from handing OPEC to the imperialists. In this world - a world we do not live in - Deng’s line would have been revisionist.
We would be back at square one, as if the Russian Revolution had never happened.
No. We would be worse. Because their revolution informed the capitalists of the gravity of the threat communism poses to them. They knew it of course already, in a way, but there is a difference between knowing in theory and seeing in reality. They got to see just how close they were to destruction.
Neoliberalism and Globalism are post-ussr reactions. “How can we make sure this NEVER happens again? Or at least make it significantly harder.” – Distributing the modes of production globally has forced communist nations into market participation in order to match development and not be crushed. This alone was a huge set-back and even among communists is a point of contention that many do not understand, we no longer live in the same world the soviets lived in, soviet socialism can not work because of this change in the construction of society.
Things would be far more bleak.
