Bourgeois Revolutions/Cultural Revolutions

In a recent debate with a friend, we have come across the difficulty of dealing with the aftermath of the Cultural Revolution in China, the intellectual ferment of the 1980s, and finally the contemporary intense nationalism of the CCP style free markets: I have argued that there needs to be a redemption of the Cultural Revolution for the Chinese, and an acceptance of responsibility for that catastrophe that it became if there is to be a reckoning, a real reckoning and not just the triumphal and tired Deng and post-Deng celebration of the present.

I find Alain Badiou (in "The Cultural Revolution: The Last Revolution?" positions: east asia cultures critique 13:3 (winter 2005), 481-514 - available on-line through Project Muse) unrepentant about a Maoism that other prominent French intellectuals have tried hard to live down.

If we are to demand redemption and reckoning for the Cultural Revolution, we should demand teh same thing of the bourgeoisie: bourgeois revolutions of the past brought us innumerable benefits that I do believe are critical. Whether or not one is a fan of private property and individualism, these conditions tore humanity out of the bondage of feudal relations.

So that's where I think the CR went wrong, TERRIBLY wrong, but to condemn it the same way the bourgeoisie was condemned by the CCP is to repeat the most totalitarian gesture all over again.