CONCEPTUAL DIVERGENCES OF SOVIET AND CHINESE MARXISM: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF PHILOSOPHICAL, POLITICAL AND CULTURAL STRATEGIES

Abstract

A comparative analysis of Soviet and Chinese Marxism as two historically and ideologically distinct models of interpretation of Marxist theory has been carried out. It is analyzed how specific historical conditions, cultural and political challenges shaped two distinct models of socialist construction. It is shown that Soviet Marxism (Marxism-Leninism) and Chinese Marxism (Maoism) developed differently and represented the two most large-scale experiments on the transformation of society, which, despite common roots, developed their own, cardinally different development strategies. If Soviet Marxism developed mainly as a canonized ideology based on Marxism-Leninism, with a clearly defined orientation toward an industrial model of development dominated by the party-bureaucratic apparatus, then Chinese Marxism, formed on the basis of Maoism, appears as a result of the adaptation of Marxist theory to an agrarian society in which the key role was assigned to the peasantry. Significant attention is paid to the study of the transition from proletarian centrism in the USSR to peasant messianism in China, as well as the role of culture in the legitimation of power. It has been established that the Soviet model was based on rigid ideological control and unification of the cultural space, while the Chinese model was distinguished by a radical, yet more flexible form of interaction with the national cultural heritage. It is concluded that Soviet and Chinese Marxism should be considered not as homogeneous phenomena, but as historically determined, contextual interpretations of Marxism that reflect the specific nature of the social, political and cultural development of the society of both countries.