Karl A. Wittfogel

Chinese Society: An Historical Survey

Traditional China was an agrarian society which experienced a significant development of handicraft and commerce. In this respect, China was similar to medieval Europe and to certain pre-Hellenistic civilizations of the northern and western Mediterranean. However, while these Western agrarian civilizations ultimately lost their societal identity, Chinese society perpetuated its basic features for millennia. And while medieval Europe saw a commercial and industrial revolution that led to the rise of an industrial society, traditional China never underwent such changes. Obviously, when characterizing societal structures, it is not enough to speak of agriculture, handicraft, and trade in general. We must consider their ecological and institutional setting and the specific human relations involved in their operation. Chinese society originated in the Yellow River basin under semi-arid conditions. In this setting agricultural man created a stable economy by manipulating water

The Ruling Bureaucracy of Oriental Despotism: A Phenomenon That Paralyzed Marx

When Marx, in 1849, took up permanent residence in London, he devoted himself once more—and with great thoroughness—to the study of the classical economists. And he accepted, along with many other ideas of Adam Smith, Richard Jones, and John Suart Mill, their conviction that, outside and independent of the Western world, there existed a specific institutional conformation, which they called Asiatic or Oriental society.

Part 1: The Legend of “Maoism”

A number of months ago I discussed in an article some conceptual weaknesses in the study of Chinese Communism. To illustrate my point, I briefly reviewed the “Maoist” thesis—the claim that Mao Tse-tung, in 1927 and subsequently, violated basic principles of orthodox Marxist-Leninist Communism.

The Marxist View of Russian Society and Revolution

“The victory of communism is inevitable.” This claim has been made since the consolidation of the Soviet Union, and it has been restated with relish by the Kremlins supreme spokesman during his recent visits abroad. It rests on the argument that Russian society, in accordance with the Marxist-Leninist doctrine, has advanced from feudalism to capitalism and socialism, blazing a trail along which all other countries are bound to go. Thus the superiority of the Communist regime is asserted not merely on the basis of operational successes, but with reference to historical considerations which are ascribed to the “classics” of communism, and ultimately to Marx and Engels.

Meteorological Records from the Divination Inscriptions of Shang

FIG. I According to traditional chronology, which has been broadly confirmed by modern research, Chinas early historical dynasty Shang (or Yin) ruled for a period that ended in about I 100 B.c. and began 500-600 years before.1 Excavations, undertaken partly for practical purposes, partly with an archeological aim, led to a series of thrilling scientific findings, including Peking Man and Chinas Red and Black Pottery culture.2 The discoveries also included the now famous oracle inscriptions of Shang from the site of Yin Hsui, the late Shang capital, near Anyang in northern Honan (Fig. 1).3 Besides bronze vessels of great perfection and other objects of bronze, stone, or bone, the site yielded fossil bones of various kinds. Many of the bones were obviously nothing but the remains of hunted or domesticated animals; but a large fraction of them, and some tortoise shells also, bore curious markings, which careful investigation revealed to be a very early form of Chinese script. A group of brilliant Chinese experts and a few equally brilliant Western scholars began to decipher the queer texts. Today, forty years after the discovery of the oracle bones and about thirty-five years after the first attempts to read them, more than two dozen collections have been made4 and a large part of the inscriptions deciphered. The civilization of Shang as revealed by the inscriptions and other archeological findings in Anyang represented a relatively advanced type. A complicated script was used to communicate with the magic world. In most cases the text was intended directly or indirectly

Russia and Asia: Problems of Contemporary Area Studies and International Relations

The educated American of the middle nineteenth century who took an inventory of his knowledge of the world found himself much more poorly informed on Asia than on Europe. The reason for this is manifest. Americas relations with Asia were fragmented and peripheral, trade alone being a major concern. Interaction with Europe proceeded on an entirely different plane: For the New World, Europe was an inexhaustible source of population increase and personal contacts, of monies for economic growth, and of technological, artistic, and educational inspiration.

The Marxist View of China (Part 2)

In the present context we need not trace in detail the changes Lenin made in Marxs socio-historical views on the eve of and after the revolutions of 1917. Having previously described Lenins doctrinal engineering of institutional history in general and of Russian history in particular,106 I shall here indicate only the change in the image of China that Lenin initiated after 1917 and that after his death Stalin and the Chinese Communists completed.

The Legend of “Maoism” (concluded)

In the first part of this article I argued that the “Maoist” thesis is a “Maoist” legend. It is so because it is based on a false concept of Marxist-Leninist orthodoxy. And it is so also for two other reasons. Contrary to “Maoist” assertions, Mao in his Hunan Report did not outline a concept for a Communist-led peasant-supported revolution; and he did not, in 1940, present himself as an original top-ranking Marxist-Leninist theoretician.