The cultural revolution’s failures occurred due to ultra-leftist control of the CPC and China, whose main mistakes were adventurism (attempting to change the superstructure of society well beyond what is materially possible to sustain). The reaction to the gang of four’s crimes and mistakes was for the CPC leadership to adopt a much more conservative approach, what might be termed as “right-wing communism”. Essentially, they shifted the focus sharply from developing the superstructure to developing the productive forces of society.

Sometimes, when I look at the CPC’s social policy, I would argue that they might have overreacted and adopted the opposite stance (on some issues) to adventurism, that is, tailism. I think the example of Cuba serves much better to show what a proper vangaurd approach to social issues looks like. There, they used mass participation and referendums to create one of the most progressive family codes in the world. They did so while being significantly poorer and a catholic society, which shows that China is developed enough to adopt a much more LGBTQ friendly policy.