Neo-Leninism and Chinese Reforms: Soviet Perestroika Revisited.

The article presents a revisionist interpretation of the reforms in the late Soviet Union, focusing on the strong affinities between the perestroika and China's reform and opening-up. The article draws on social constructivism, poststructuralism, and post-Marxism and formulates an original typology of Soviet political discourses as the main method. Discourse analysis reveals that the implementation of the Chinese reform model in the Soviet Union was possible in discursive terms. Politico-economic analysis shows that the reform of Soviet socialism, which began in 1983 before Gorbachev's perestroika, coincided largely with the parallel process in China. The author argues that the neo-Leninist perestroika was modelled on Dengism until the hegemony of this discourse was replaced by liberal socialism in 1988. Nevertheless, neo-Leninism remained relevant up to August 1991 when the failure of the State Committee on the State of Emergency frustrated the prospects for socialism in the country. The article concludes that the dismissal of Dengism by Soviet leaders was one of the principal causes of the collapse of the Soviet Union. This historical experience provides the Communist Party of China with invaluable lessons and shows the crucial importance of the Four Cardinal Principles for reform and opening-up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]