I have read with much interest the article written by my erstwhile friend and contemporary at Peradeniya, Mr. Ariyawansa Ranaweera (AR) entitled "Whither China", which appeared in the "Satmag" of November 7, 2009. "What really happens in China" is not a strange phenomenon to a Marxist and to those who are familiar with the history of the Communist Party of China and teachings of Mao Tsetung. Had AR consulted writings of a few more Sinologists and so-called China watchers in addition to Richard Evans, he could have added some more "drastic changes" that had taken place in other spheres, including culture.

Between 1924 and 1927 was the period of the First Revolutionary Civil War in China opposing imperialism and feudalism. This period saw the first cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Chinese Communist Party. The rightist faction in the Kuomintang headed by Chiang Kai-shek connived with the imperialists to betray the revolution. Chen Tu-hsiu of the Communist Party carried out a rightist capitulationist line and a policy of compromise and surrender to the Kuomintang rightists, handing over the Party’s armed forces to the Kuomintang. In April 1927 Chiang staged a coup and massacred party members, ending the revolution in failure. After the failure of the revolution, the Communist Party was led for a short period by Chu Chiu-pai. He made the mistake of "Left" adventurism. There were many more big struggles between different lines in the Communist Party until the rehabilitation of the "unrepentant capitalist roader" Deng Hsiao-ping, after the purge of the "gang of four".

At the working conference of the Central Committee in August 1962 and at the Tenth Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee of the Party in September of the same year, Mao put forward the basic line of the Party for the historical period of socialism. Accordingly, the socialist society covers a long historical period. In this period there are still classes, class contradictions and class struggle. There is a struggle between the socialist road and the capitalist road. There is the danger of capitalist restoration. He emphasised the correct understanding and handling class contradictions, distinguishing the contradictions between friends and foes from those among the people and handling them correctly. He warned, otherwise a socialist country will turn into its opposite and degenerate and capitalist restoration will take place. Mao’s epoch-making work, "On the Correct Handling of Contradictions among the People" (1957) under twelve sub-headings expounds very clearly these contradictions in the era of socialism and the danger of capitalist restoration. Hence there is nothing to be "amused and amazed" as these are foreseen by the Great Teacher. "While the prospects are bright, the road has twists and turns."

I do not wish to comment on the options given by AR in his concluding paragraph. Are these prophetic words of a former top bureaucrat or a dirge in anticipation of throwing away "the pseudo trappings of socialism"?