"The Chinese political system has undergone a profound transformation since the death of Mao Zedong in 1976, and nowhere is this more evident than in the effort to exorcise the influence of the ultra-Leftism that is alleged by the current Chinese leadership to have characterized much of the last two decades of the Maoist era. The author places the post-Mao assault on radicalism into the historical and ideological perspectives of earlier critiques of ultra-Leftism within the Marxist tradition and the Chinese Communist Party. He traces the evolution of the critique in the writings of Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Mao and carefully examines three anti-Leftist criticism and rectification campaigns in recent Chinese history: the retreat from the Great Leap Forward of 1958-61, the campaign against ""Swindlers like Liu Shaoqi"" carried out in 1971-73 after the death of Lin Biao, and the criticism of the Gang of Four following their purge in 1976. These cases are analyzed in terms of both the political conflict surrounding each campaign and the ideological issues raised by the critique of ultra-Leftism. Understanding the nature and extent of the critique of ultra-Leftism helps to clarify the ideological world in which the Chinese leaders operate, to explain some of the most perplexing events in the history of the People's Republic, and to assess the changes that continue to shape the political environment of post-Mao China."
