Hullabaloo

Saturday, April 23, 2011

 
Our Gang

by digby


Following up on the post below, I see that the Villagers are calling the new Biden Commission the "gang of Seven" and casting them as the rival "gang" to the Senate "Gang of Six". So now we have two deficit obsessed groups vying for supremacy, which in the current environment probably translates into who can cut the most.

It occurs to me that people may have forgotten where the "Gang of" concept originates and considering the current hysteria, it would probably be a good idea to remind ourselves of it:

The Gang of Four effectively controlled the power organs of the Communist Party of China through the latter stages of the Cultural Revolution, although it remains unclear which major decisions were made through Mao Zedong and carried out by the Gang, and which were the result of the Gang of Four's own planning. The Gang of Four, together with disgraced Communist general Lin Biao, were labeled the two major "counter-revolutionary forces" of the Cultural Revolution and officially blamed by the Chinese government for the worst excesses of the societal chaos that ensued during the ten years of turmoil. Their downfall in a coup d'état on October 6, 1976, a mere month after Mao's death, brought about major celebrations on the streets of Beijing and marked the end of a turbulent political era in China.

You all remember the Cultural Revolution:

The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, commonly known simply as the Cultural Revolution, was a social movement that took place in the People's Republic of China from 1966 through to 1976. Set into motion by Mao Zedong, then Chairman of the Communist Party of China, it was designed to further cement socialism in the country by removing capitalist elements from Chinese society. In doing so, it involved major changes to the political, economic and social landscape of China, often employing violent means. Social norms largely evaporated and the previously established political institutions disintegrated at all levels of government.

The Revolution was launched by Mao in May 1966, following the failure of his policies in the Great Leap Forward. Mao alleged that bourgeois elements were permeating the government and society at large and that these elements aimed to restore capitalism. In his theory of "continuing revolution", Mao insisted that these "revisionists" should be removed through revolutionary violent class struggle. China's youth then responded to Mao's appeal by forming Red Guard groups around the country. The movement subsequently spread into the military, urban workers, and the Communist Party leadership itself. It resulted in widespread factional struggles in all walks of life. In the top leadership, it led to a mass purge of senior officials who were accused of deviating from the socialist path, most notably Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping. During the same period Mao's personality cult grew to immense proportions.

Now the literalists and the wingnuts will say that there cannot be any comparison because what's happening now is the "freeing" of capitalism from the yoke of the welfare state (or it's completely ridiculous to ever compare America the beautiful to horrible people from other lands unless they are exactly the same in every single respect.) And no, I'm not suggesting that there is a direct comparison. But let's just say that there are echoes of this earlier elite imposition of its goals against the will of the people. And the fact that this cavalier use of the term "Gang of whatever" without any irony or reference is just a little bit creepy considering the current circumstances.

And I would also remind everyone that in Before the Storm, p. 396 and 31, Rick Perlstein quotes from "How To Win An Election" by Barry Goldwater's campaign manager Steve Shadegg, who cites Mao Tse-tung's "valuable book on the tactics of infiltration" as an inspiration for one of his specific organizing tactics for getting Barry elected. He quotes Mao: "Give me just two or three men in a village, and I will take the village." Paul Weyrich wrote in Cultural Conservatism, Theory and Practice:

"Perhaps the model for Cultural Conservatism as a political force is Chairman Mao in reverse. His theory for taking over China was to capture the countryside; isolated the cities would fall. If we think of America outside Washington as the countryside and "Inside the Beltway" as the city, his theory is right."

I didn't say it. They did.

.
digby 4/23/2011 11:30:00 AM |