History

Not to their fascist enemies though

the way i see it there's a thin line between self improvement and self sabotage. but larger systems (like countries or ideological blocs) are not about the self. the line there is between believing one's propaganda (which can be a good thing, motivating you, or a bad thing that causes you to attack iran and trigger the closure of the strait of hormuz) vs having any faith in the fundamentals of your system. stalin's, lenin's and mao's self crit probably drew a line at questioning communism as a system or drowning one's own foundational moments in criticism and denounciation. the moment kruschev decided to denounce the foundation of his system it just didn't matter if he believed in communism or not. he planted the seeds of major trouble ahead of time.

compare and contrast with the empire. american exceptionalism is the basis of the american civic cult. neither exceptionalism itself nor its founding fathers are ever called into question, certainly not to the degree that de-stalinization questioned the foundations of the USSR. in fact, exceptionalism is what underwrites american policy to the extent that it was invisible for decades, in the same way that capitalist realism is just 'basic economics'. the idea that the united states and the american way - whatever that means from decade to decade - are supreme is just a given.

however: specific, living, american politicians can and are criticized for failing to live up to that ideal, either from a reactionary or a liberal perspective. america can't fail. but biden and trump can still lose a war. because biden is too liberal or trump is too reactionary, depending on which side of the aisle you're from.

likewise the current incarnation of China is critical of Mao. it will praise the fact that Mao won the civil war and initiated the basic industrialization of China with Stalin's help. the CPC also recognizes that things like the Great Leap Forward was not based on economic principles but rather on romanticism and maoism's blueprint for mobilizing the masses. Mao and maoism remain, nonetheless as foundational to China.

so really, there's a difference between xi jinping or the chinese government doing a self crit on their economic policy or whatever. the chinese estabilishment, especially the military one, is kinda famous for doing that a lot (its just in mandarin so foreign people don't read that sort of thing). but there's a difference there from criticizing china as a whole through all time and space, from the revolution to today. that's the destructive western leftist line levied against any revolution that doesn't fail.

but all that is just besides the real and fairly miserable point: in an ideological war messaging is key. never cede the field to your enemies. never buy into their premises. never doubt your own. if you're at war, the only self crit worth having is criticism on how to win said war.