The Crisis Deepens } 525
cadres of newspapers—the people who politically educate the Chinese pub-
lic.^51 Gao Di began by informing his audience that he was conveying the views
of the Central Committee. The Soviet coup failed because Gorbachev’s New
Thinking had abandoned the doctrine of class struggle, replacing it with the
good of humankind as a whole. This switch overlooked “the fact [that] from
the very day that socialism was established international imperialist and
reactionary forces have constantly sought to destroy it.” Most recently, those
forces were using a strategy of “smokeless warfare” and “peaceful evolution.”
Developments in the USSR were an outcome of this ideological confusion
utilized by imperialism. Gorbachev had “undertaken a wholesale repudiation
of Sta lin.”
The test of a true Marxist is whether or not he acknowledges the dicta-
torship of the proletariat. Overthrowing the reactionary regime which
Gorbachev and Yeltsin represented would have been an act of revolu-
tion, a seizure of power. Revolution is merciless; if you do not overthrow
him, he will overthrow you. There is no room for compromise in this, or
for so-called human sympathy. Revolution is violence. Once the seizure
of power had begun, they should have arrested Gorbachev and Yeltsin.
You do not ask a tiger politely for its skin; either you kill him, or he will
kill you.
Applying this perspective of class struggle to the international sphere, Gao
continued:
The real world is precisely this merciless. All of us hope for a peaceful
international environment within which we can develop. But circum-
stances to not always permit this. ... it will take twenty years for the
Soviet Union to make the transition to full market economy ... These
twenty years will be particularly important to us. We must use these
twenty years to make China successful. During these twenty years the
lives of the Soviet people will be very difficult, whereas the lives of the
Chinese people will steadily improve. This will demonstrate that the
Chinese socialist system is a good one. If we can make good use of these
twenty years to manage affairs in China well, this will be beneficial to
Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, and the entire Third World. The
strength of a good example will be limitless.
China should be cautious about openly expressing its views about the cur-
rent nature of world affairs, but should very clear about such matters inter-
nally, Gao Di told the heads of China’s media. “We have our own views of
what is happening in the Soviet Union, but we will not take issue with the
Soviets on this. Internally we will make our own views clear. What we do
internally and abroad are two different things.” Nei wai you bie. Gao Di also
explained the key reason for the CCP’s low-profile approach: avoiding rivalry