ABSTRACT
Amongst the re-emerging Marxist currents in Europe and North America of the late 1960s and early 1970s, a widespread disillusion with the Soviet Union seemed to be amply compensated by a newfound optimism in the Chinese experiment. Fascination with the 'Chinese road' as it was presented to the world ten years ago led us, conveniently, to exult in the former and overlook the latter. A predilection for utopias was—it must be said—buttressed by the official Chinese self–descriptions of the time, which few outside observers were able to place in their correct context. Nevertheless, Chinese planners take some satisfaction in the multiplying of populations and of industrial output in the remoter provinces. As Manuel Castells eagerly informed us in 1977, in contrast to the Soviet experience, the Chinese revolution was set on a course of robust industrial growth which would avoid the horrors of capitalist urbanisation by maintaining all the advantages of village life.
