And, speaking of totalizing revealed ideologies, the Chinese Communist Party is finding little difficulty in proof-texting its current doctrines out of the scripture that is the collected writings of Marx and Engels. Their point that Donald Trump and Brexit suggest that unequal slow-growth political democracies do not have it right is powerful. And it is hopeful that Xi Jinping and company view gross inequality as a problem to be solved—"the result of an 'early stage of development'"—rather than a reality to be suffered:
Tom Hancock: China’s Selective Version of Marxist Theory Is a Puzzle: "A TV show, Marx Got it Right, and an illustrated edition of his masterpiece Das Kapital aimed at 8- to 14-year-olds.... The Communist party is stepping-up promotion of Marxist thought when it has largely abandoned its core tenet: public ownership of the means of production. About 80 per cent of urban workers are employed by private companies. Levels of wealth inequality are among the highest in the world, making egalitarianism potentially subversive. It is rendered more confusing by a recent crackdown on self-declared Marxist students at elite universities.... Beijing pushes a selective version of Marxism... likes the theory of historical change that helps portray Communist party rule as inevitable.... Marxism means one-party rule... means fixing inequality, the result of an 'early stage of development'... gives US president Donald Trump and Brexit as examples of 'serious problems of capitalist development'...
...A retooled Marxism asks a lot of the party’s leaders. First, that they take on those, including party elites, who hoard opportunity. Second that technocratic management can limit financial risk. Failure to deliver on either could bring the party problems. The leadership appears to believe fostering the development of ideals that could eventually challenge it is a safer option than presiding over nihilism or allowing the young to invent their own principles for living...
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