主题：【原创】杰克·贝尔登和《中国震撼世界》 -- 李根

Belden goes on to make a strong second point: while the local village revolution had the potential for democratic progress, Mao’s national revolution had the potential for despotism. “The Communists”, he reasoned, “took power by making love to the people of China,” and “won the people to their cause” by meeting their needs better. But in order to do so, Mao and the Party built a “wholly new power apparatus.” They may have sincerely intended to represent the interests of the common people but their new power apparatus would also “elude their intentions and tend to exist for its own sake.” He warned that “there may arise a new elite, a set of managers standing above the Chinese masses”, bringing a danger that “rulers not subject to democratic checks” may “confusing themselves with God”, “expand their private viewpoints into an arbitrary vision of what society should be..., force their dreams on others, blunder into grave political mistakes and finally plunge into outright tyranny.”[7]