This blog provides longer reflections and information on socialism in power. Some of the earlier posts deal with Marxist philosophy and religion (Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin). But the more recent material concerns the realities of socialism in power, since there has now been more than a century of rich and ongoing experience in many parts of the world. As Lenin and Mao said repeatedly, it is relatively easy to gain power through a communist revolution; it is infinitely more complicated to exercise such power in order to construct socialism. So I am interested in the many dimensions of socialism ‘after October’, after the revolution, for only then do many new practical and theoretical possibilities arise.
These issues include the socialist state, socialist market economy (which is different from a capitalist market economy), socialist democracy, Chinese Marxist approaches to human rights, and the influence of specific contexts, histories and cultures on the development of socialism with different characteristics – albeit in light of basic principles.
Most of the material now relates to China, where I now work in Marxist philosophy at Renmin University of China, as well as at times the DPRK and (soon) Vietnam. The posts include early thoughts that provide the basis for careful analysis in my writing. Other material includes reposts from news and resource sites in this part of the world.
But why ‘Stalin’s Moustache’? Let me quote Tito, who said – alluding to Lenin’s jutting chin of history – ‘Stalin is known the world over for his moustache’.
