Capitalist roader

Capitalist roader Liu Shaoqi being subjected to public criticism and humiliation during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution after being publicly purged.

Capitalist roader is a term which originated in China under Mao Zedong for those individuals who sought to develop China’s economy through the use of capitalism or otherwise capitalist methods. One of the earliest usages of the term was on January 14, 1965, in the Central Committee document, “Some Current Problems Raised in the Socialist Education Movement in the Rural Areas” (known as the Twenty-three Points): “The crux of the current movement is to purge capitalist roaders in authority within the Party.” However, the term within Chinese communist thinking can be traced back to the Hungarian Uprising of 1956.  While the Hungarian Revolution was taking place, Mao Zedong saw "Soviet autocratic rule" in the Eastern Bloc as improper and no longer representing the needs of the Hungarian people. And in the much larger and longer Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution the capitalist roaders were also the primary target.

See also

• Deng Xiaoping
  • Dengism
  • Socialism with Chinese Characteristics
• Liu Shaoqi