Ah yes, the classic “populist” versus “others classified as educated elitist” as some would call the later group….
History would tell us when a nation divided people into these two groups, and then pinned them at each other, things did not end up very well…..
There was one notable leader that did this…..
Chairman Mao and his communist party versus all the “scholars” and the famous “Cultural Revolution”….And then the following 40-50 years of no progress in that country….See, the pretty euphemism they give to these “revolutions”?
It’s really ironic that decades later, China provided communism failed and they are a capitalist pig, more so than the U.S. And if you want to talk about wealth inequality, it’s more like the top 0.1% controls 99% of the wealth in that country.
Oh, the irony.
And the reason why china progressed so fast recently? The ruling communist party finally figured out if you put the smartest people in the country in charge, things move much quicker in the right direction. On the other hand, in the absence of democracy, putting really dumb people in charge (like China did in the past)….it would take decades to recover….
Given that, democracy might not be the most efficient way to move a country forward, but I’d like to believe the system is probably still the best system we have out there.
But then again, it somewhat erriely feels we are having our own little Cultural Revolution here….
So let’s start practicing…
Welcome Dear Leader, Mr Trump. No one is smarter than you! You are the divine gift of the Peoples Republic of the United States, Dear Leader.
The Cultural Revolution, formally the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement that took place in the People’s Republic of China from 1966 until 1976. Set into motion by Mao Zedong, then Chairman of the Communist Party of China, its stated goal was to preserve ‘true’ Communist ideology in the country by purging remnants of capitalist and traditional elements from Chinese society, and to re-impose Maoist thought as the dominant ideology within the Party. The Revolution marked the return of Mao Zedong to a position of power after the Great Leap Forward. The movement paralyzed China politically and negatively affected the country’s economy and society to a significant degree.
The Revolution was launched in May 1966, after Mao alleged that bourgeois elements had infiltrated the government and society at large, aiming to restore capitalism. He insisted that these “revisionists” be removed through violent class struggle. China’s youth responded to Mao’s appeal by forming Red Guard groups around the country. The movement spread into the military, urban workers, and the Communist Party leadership itself. It resulted in widespread factional struggles in all walks of life. In the top leadership, it led to a mass purge of senior officials, most notably Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping. During the same period Mao’s personality cult grew to immense proportions.
Millions of people were persecuted in the violent struggles that ensued across the country, and suffered a wide range of abuses including public humiliation, arbitrary imprisonment, torture, sustained harassment, and seizure of property. A large segment of the population was forcibly displaced, most notably the transfer of urban youth to rural regions during the Down to the Countryside Movement. Historical relics and artifacts were destroyed. Cultural and religious sites were ransacked.
Mao officially declared the Cultural Revolution to have ended in 1969, but its active phase lasted until the death of the military leader Lin Biao in 1971. After Mao’s death and the arrest of the Gang of Four in 1976, reformers led by Deng Xiaoping gradually began to dismantle the Maoist policies associated with the Cultural Revolution. In 1981, the Party declared that the Cultural Revolution was “responsible for the most severe setback and the heaviest losses suffered by the Party, the country, and the people since the founding of the People’s Republic”.[1]
