Leninist Nationalism, 14th Dec., 2010.

Friedman, Edward. "National Identity and Democratic Prospects in Socialist China." M.E. Sharpe, Inc. 1995.  Page 26-27.

Leninist nationalism imagines a capitalist world as the enemy of an entire people and legitimates rule by a dictatorial Leninist system with a command economy because only such a ruling group purportedly has the insight and capacity to reject, negate, and check a murderous, predatory capitalism alleged to be the cause of a bloodthirsty imperialism that permanently threatens the nation's most precious values, and indeed threatens the very independence of the people. This core legitimation of Leninist anti-imperialism, as Professor Jerry Hough has shown, is a kind of xenophobic Khomeini-like fundamentalism that is in conflict with the reform imperative of economic openness to the world market that is necessary for growth in the era of post-steel technologies, flexible production, and instantaneous international finance. China's post-Mao rulers, who understand that economic growth at the end of the twentieth century requires tying in to a wealth-expanding world market, do not have an easy task in winning supporters from those who still give their primary loyalty to polices premised on treating that market world as an ultimate enemy. A reforming Leninist state ignites an explosive contradiction because new policies destroy the old legitimation. To confront the delegitimation of Leninist anti-imperialism and accept the imperative of economic reform, including the loss of a hate-filled nationalism that was the emotional glue of the polity, causes a deep crisis. In addition, in a Leninist reform era the artificial "socialist" culture loses its binding force, and the command economy's place-specific, stratified mode of distribution and politically created economic disparities inevitably foster political, tax, and budget backlashes that give more power to regions, thereby reinforcing loyalties to historically regional, but newly "nationalized," primary mobilizing identities. New populist nationalisms are waiting to explode and bury the old, discredited unity previously premised on anti-imperialist nationalism. Unexpectedly for the Leninist reformers, saving the nation actually threatens the nation, at least in its Leninist guise.

This reminds me of a story Economist Weiying Zhang wrote about zebras and horses, which I will publish later.