319 | Frank Dikötter: Shattering the Myths of China After Mao
The Realignment
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The Imminent Collapse of Capitalism
In classic Marxism, all you need to do is really wait. These contradictions are such that capitalism will collapse under its own weight and there will be a proletarian revolution. But of course, Lenin is not all that eager to just sit back and wait. So he wants to make that revolution happen from above. This is why he sees his power in 1917, saying with Mao, 1949, let's make the revolution. That's not just wait for it to happen. The people have been bred up thinking about the imminent collapse of capitalism and they believe it is happening all the time. Whenever there's a crisis, whenever there's inflation, whatever there's an employment, when a bank collapses anywhere in
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