Totalitarianism as Religion

This chapter examines the rise of communism in 20th century China in terms of a historical break that installs a symbolic order unfamiliar to most Chinese. Yet, the convergence of Chinese-style historical repetition and the radical break yields fluid boundaries between the sacred and the profane that appear overwhelming and precarious at the same time. Tracing the historical unfolding of Chinese communism as a secular religion, this chapter focuses on the founding gesture/moment, the creation of the sacred and the profane spheres with an emphasis on the splitting of the sacred itself: the distinction between the auspicious and the inauspicious sacred (or the abject). In addition, the chapter also explores the transition from the totalitarian to the post-totalitarian moment, the redrawing of the boundaries, and the shift from the politics of inevitability to the politics of eternity. The chapter consistently draws on Durkheimian and Lacanian analyses of religion, but strives to maintain a minimal distinction between the secular and the religious proper.