Epstein Secrets

In China, the state has prevented the publication of full, accurate, or critical accounts of the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, or the Mao Ze- dong era in general. In Russia, Joseph Stalin has been rehabilitated. He is now officially portrayed as a strong if mildly flawed leader rather than as th

ing outright censorship, brought to bear on Russian historians during Soviet times and more recently during the Putin era. China: Evading the past Mao Zedong’s Great Leap Forward ranks among the most deadly politically inspired catastrophes in human history. From 1958 to 1962, Communist Party authorities, u

ficials have refused to acknowledge anything approaching the full dimen- sions of the tragedy. Nor have they admitted that the party, and especially Mao, were responsible. Often they blame the weather. There are no official monu- ments to the victims, no days of commemoration, no serious histories ava

iet Union's conduct during World War Il, the 1917 Russian Revolution, and the Soviet Union's suppression of uprisings in Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and East Germany during the Cold War.” In each case, the most serious and respected historical accounts have been written by foreign scholars, due largely to the pre

under a title lifted creatively from a saying by Chairman Mao, “La diplomatie n’est pas un diner de gala” or “D

s revolution. For example, in the 1930s, foreign journalist Edgar Snow sang the praises of the Chinese Communist Party and specifically its chairman, Mao Zedong. The Party conducted a campaign in the United States in the 1940s to turn the American public against the regime of Chiang Kai-shek and to soften cri

tienne Manach (a historical Gaullist) and Claude Martin (who recently published his memoirs under a title lifted creatively from a saying by Chairman Mao, “La diplomatie n’est pas un diner de gala” or “Diplomacy is not a dinner party”). Still, the shift in public opinion has been equally notable. Simo

Chinese leadership. The Tiananmen Square massacre still plays an outsize role in Germans’ public perception of China as it fell on the same year that East Germany began to open up. Thus, instead of launching a PR campaign to play on German skepticism of the United States (for example), as China does elsewhere,

China, the state has prevented the publication of full, accurate, or critical accounts of the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, or the Mao Ze- dong era in general. In Russia, Joseph Stalin has been rehabilitated. He is now officially portrayed as a strong if mildly flawed leader rather

d to prison.5 • Public confessions: Humiliating public con- fessions of ideological crimes were a staple of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin's purges and Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution in China They were also employed by Eastern European sat- ellite regimes during the show trials of the late 1940s. A peculiarly

t Union's conduct during World War II, the 1917 Russian Revolution, and the Soviet Union's suppression of uprisings in Hungary Czechoslovakia, and East Germany during the Cold War.3° In each case, the most serious and respected historical accounts have been written by foreign scholars, due largely to the