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In Maoist thought, a capitalist roader (Chinese: 走资派; pinyin: zǒu zī pài, or 走资本主义道路的当权派, pinyin: zǒu zī běn zhǔ yì lù xiàn de dāng quán pài) is a person or group on the political left who demonstrates a marked tendency to bow to pressure from Bourgeois forces and subsequently attempts to pull the Revolution in a capitalist direction. If allowed to do so, these forces would eventually restore the political and economic rule of capitalism; in other words, these forces would lead a society down a "capitalist road". The term first appeared in Chinese Communist Party literature in 1965, but the idea was initially developed by Mao Zedong in 1956-1957, against what he saw as reactionary tendencies in the party.[1]
Capitalist roaders are described as representatives of the capitalist class within the Communist Party and those who attempt to restore capitalism while pretending to uphold socialism. Mao contended that Deng Xiaoping was a capitalist roader and that the Soviet Union fell to capitalist roaders from within the Communist Party after the death of Joseph Stalin. To the extent that the term has any neutral meaning, Mao was ultimately correct about Deng; his Southern Tour laid the official groundwork for the eventual resurgence of capitalism in China.
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