Marxism in Asia
Conclusion
It would be futile to generalize about the role of Marxism in the several dozen historically and culturally distinct countries of Asia. However, two brief observations might be ventured. First, Marxian-inspired movements in Asia have been politically successful only where they have come to express popular nationalist feelings and aspirations, as has been the case in China and Vietnam. This does not mean that Marxian Communism in Asia can be reduced to a species of nationalism, but a genuine nationalist content and appeal clearly has been an essential precondition for political success. In view of the original doctrine's internationalist message, this is one of the great ironies of the history of Marxism in the modern world.
Second, where Communists have come to power, Marxism, essentially a critique of capitalism, paradoxically has functioned as an ideology of economic development whose social outcome is a capitalist-type economy. This is clearly the case in China, and appears to be the likely fate of Vietnam.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Carrère d'Encausse, Hèléne, and Stuart R. Schram. Marxism and Asia: An Introduction with Readings. London: Allen Lane, 1969.
Duus, Peter, and Irwin Scheiner. "Socialism, Liberalism, and Marxism, 1901–31." Vol. 6, chap. 13, The Cambridge History of Japan, edited by Peter Duus. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 1988.
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Meisner, Maurice. Li Ta-chao and the Origins of Chinese Marxism. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1967.
——. Marxism, Maoism, and Utopianism: Eight Essays. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1982.
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Scalapino, Robert A., and Dalchoong Kim. Asian Communism: Continuity and Transition. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988.
Schram, Stuart R. Mao Tse-tung. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1967.
Schwartz, Benjamin. Chinese Communism and the Rise of Mao. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1951.
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van der Kroef, Justus M. Communism in South-east Asia. London: Macmillan, 1981.
Young, Marilyn B. The Vietnam Wars, 1945–1990. New York: HarperCollins, 1991.
Maurice Meisner
Additional topics
Science EncyclopediaScience & Philosophy: Macrofauna to MathematicsMarxism in Asia - Japan, China, Vietnam And Southeast Asia, India, Conclusion, Bibliography