this post was submitted on 28 Jan 2026
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The Deprogram
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"As revolutionaries, we don't have the right to say that we're tired of explaining. We must never stop explaining. We also know that when the people understand, they cannot but follow us. In any case, we, the people, have no enemies when it comes to peoples. Our only enemies are the imperialist regimes and organizations." Thomas Sankara, 1985
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I'm wondering, why do some people really dislike Deng and his reforms? I can get being disappointed in him moving away from what Mao built and more traditional Marxism/M-Lism, but it does seem like he's made real material good within China and the people who have come after him have kept that good. I don't know all too much about him, so, from an outside perspective, it seems like he's done decent and his market reforms, while not 100% Marxist, have lead to decent living in the modern day. But, I could be wrong.
Also, is that what Ultras are? Those really insane people who freak out on you for stepping out of their line? Those people who take themselves and their "mission/ideology" way too seriously. I've met a few genuine freaks but I never had a word for them.
I think that quote perfectly sums things up.
Another thing, though. The word socialist is casually used to refer to countries with socialist intent who are working towards it, similar to communist, but socialism literally means a state where the proletariat dictate the means of production and the political system. Does that truly create multiple definitions of the word? To my knowledge, there hasn't been a state that has met the literary definition, same with communism, but we still use it.
Do anti-Deng people dislike him for the reason of not building a literal socialist state, or do they genuinely think that he was trying to move China away from even working towards it? From everything I've seen, Deng was a Marxist.
Deng read and followed Lenin and Mao's take on using state-controlled capitalism to build productive forces for transitioning towards Socialism. The hate against him does expose a lot of 'well-read' Marxists.
I do think that's an important part to a potentially successful socialist experiment: having a "capitalist," or industrialization, phase. Marx wrote about the socialist revolution beginning in an industrialized, capitalist(?) country like Germany, the UK, or the US because these people were at the heart of the capitalist, imperialist core and had felt the exploitation.
But, it seems that socialism has mainly arisen within countries that were exploited by those industrialized, capitalist countries through colonialism. I think it's because the people in the imperial-capitalist nations are just comfortable enough to not revolt; while the people being exploited through colonialism live through hell each waking moment. Sure, work's hard and you don't own the means of production, but, you have a house you can go home and relax in. The people in those colonial countries don't have any of that, making the revolution almost inevitable.