Jung Chang: evaluation

Transcript context

…Yeah, but I think he might have been right. And obviously, the point is that he would have been right to say that. Well, this is actually inherent in the communist regime in Russia in the '80s when they have glasnost and perestroika, and they talk openly about the gulag system. That is one of the main contributing factors. And people say, well, how can a regime that allowed this to happen be allowed to exist anymore? How can this be our governing regime? And that does lead to the—yes, exactly. Which is why, by the way, Mr. Xi's argument, because he was against Gorbachev, against perestroika and glasnost. And exactly that, the communist regime would—know. In today's terms, that is the wealth, the money that is associated with power. In the book, you point out that Mao is acting in his self-interest and selfishly doing all these things. But it seems to me that a strong, if not motivation, at least enabling factor and organizing factor is definitely provided by the ideologies of communism and socialism, which sort of organizes society. Otherwise, it doesn't make sense to collectivize farms and to close down shops. And it also necessitates the purges. Because communism is a science, it has to work. And if it doesn't work, there must be internal capitalist saboteurs who must be condemned, brought out and killed. Isn't it the communism and socialism at the heart of the issue here?…

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