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CAPITALISM WITH CHINESE CHARACTERISTICS
Ranganayakamma
B.R. Bapuji
Introduction
This article is a continuation of our earlier
article More Leaps Backward which
appeared in 1985 (China Report,
May-June 1985). Our earlier article dealt with the developments in Chinese
economy, politics and culture between 1978 and 1983. We incorporated the
developments of that period in our post-script to the first edition of our
Telugu translation of Charles Bettelheim's book CHINA SINCE MAO (Monthly Review Press, 1978). The English version
of Bettelheim's book covered the developments up to February 1978 while the
Telugu version covered the developments up to September 1983. After a gap of
twenty years, we have now brought out the second edition of the Telugu version
and added a long post-script that covers the developments in China between
October 1983 and December 2002. These developments are presented, as far as the
collected data permitted, chronologically and thematically under the title: Exploitation with Chinese characteristics in
the name of 'Socialism with Chinese characteristics'. Barring certain
comments here and there, the entire data presented here are drawn from various
sources ¾ both Chinese and non-Chinese ¾ published during the period covered. The
Chinese sources include Beijing Review and
books published from China under 'China Basic Series'. The non-Chinese sources
include journals like Keesing's Record of
World Events, The
Revisionism
revisited
What follows here is nothing but the
continuation and extension of the various forms of Chinese revisionism, which
Bettelheim demonstrated way back in 1978.
Although, the Chinese Communist Party
(hereafter CCP or Party), until 1976, that is until the passing away of Mao,
could not accomplish wonderful changes, committed many mistakes and did not
have enough clarity with regard to Marxism, it included a group that followed
revolutionary path. The aim of this group was to fight for the emancipation of
the proletariat against the class of exploiters. Whatever mistakes it made, it
used to proceed in the direction of socialist transformation. It initiated both
major and minor socialist changes, with or without sufficient theoretical
clarity, in various spheres of society.
What the Revisionists initiated is to reverse
all the socialist transformations. They, however, do not abandon the word
'socialism'. They have to depend entirely on this term. They repeatedly recite
that the 'Gang of Four' (that is, the supporters of the 'revolutionary line') committed
many blunders which they are now rectifying and theirs is the real socialist
path. They try to sanctify the capitalist terminology by prefixing the
adjective 'socialist'. They call 'market' 'socialist market'! They call
'competition' 'socialist competition'! They call 'price rise' 'socialist price
rise'! They call 'profit' 'socialist profit'! This is how they call everything!
The Revisionists are able to present such
daring false formulations as socialism since the labouring masses do not know
well what socialism is! Any wrong formulation will circulate among ignorant
people without any opposition.
If people facing problems learn the necessary
knowledge, then such knowledge would turn into a great force. Until this
happens, people remain powerless. The Chinese proletariat, which could see a
little of newness of socialism is still far away from the theoretical knowledge
and is helpless. It is needless to talk about the proletariat of other
countries.
Here we will again and again see the hitherto
known fact that the present day CCP had turned into a capitalist party a long
time ago. Further, we will see its anxiety, zealousness and high speed in
becoming capitalistic.
The Chinese Revisionists needed the help of
foreign capitalists in order to destroy at the earliest possible the socialism,
however rudimentary it might be, which the supporters of the revolutionary line
initiated. The objective, which the exploiters of different countries have to
achieve collectively, is to eliminate handful of socialist developments that
occurred in one country! Here we see such total destruction.
In any society, economic, political and
cultural relations are mutually intertwined. It is impossible to separate them.
Yet, we need to try to understand those spheres separately as far as possible.
In order to understand how economy in any
society acts as fundamental force and how it influences political and cultural
spheres, changes in China¾both in the past as well as in the present¾will stand as wonderful examples. Knowledge of
these experiences would necessarily give a new strength to the world
proletariat.
First let us examine the economic sphere.
Comprador-cum-contract economy
At the end of 1980, two trends appeared in the CCP.
One trend argued for giving importance to 'market'. Deng was its leader. The
second trend argued in favour of reliance on centralized State planning. Chen
Yun was its leader. Deng's group, however, enjoyed majority support in the
party.
Free
flow of foreign capital
A change that occurred on a large scale in the
Chinese economy since 1983 was the entry of foreign capital into
On
By
November 1983, the Chinese government bifurcated the functions of 9,028
communes located in 902 counties. The central government confined communes
exclusively to economic functions and assigned the administrative functions of
the communes to 12, 786 townships. The government ordered that the
transformation of communes along these lines must be over by the end of 1984.
December
1983 issue of '
On
On
On
Beijing
Review of
On
The next day, that is on April 28, the top leader of CCP, Deng, when he met Reagan, said
that he was "reasonably satisfied" with the flow of
In May
1984, Zhao, the then Chinese Prime Minister, said in the parliament that
the open door policy must be implemented "resolutely" and bigger
strides must be taken in using foreign capital and importing technology.
"The Special Economic Zone in Xianmen will be extended", he
announced. At the same time he assured that 14 more coastal cities would be
opened to the foreign capitalists.
(In the beginning the Chinese government
permitted foreign companies only in certain limited number of areas¾as if it were a 'minor change'! But gradually,
it is extending such permission to more number of areas. This they call
'open-door policy'!)
Beijing
Review of
In August
1984, while talking to the president of the European Commission, premier
Zhao assured, "
Beijing
Review of
Red
Flag of November 1984 quoted what Deng said at the party's Central Advisory
Commission on
Deng defended the current economic policy and
described the fears of some 'old comrades' about reforms as unwarranted. He
said that the basic means of production would remain in the hands of the State
and there would be "no new bourgeoisie".
In a speech published on
The Chinese government permitted individuals
and companies to carry on money lending business.
At the 4th session of the 6th
National People's Council held in March
1986, Premier Zhao declared that the trend towards liberalization and
decentralization would continue. He claimed that the reforms, including the
"policy of encouraging some people to become prosperous sooner than
others" had increased
(Although the Chinese Revisionists gave
numerous assurances to the foreign capitalists, the flow of foreign capital
into
On
In April
1988, the Chinese parliament made "Sino-foreign joint venture
law" according to which foreign partners are entitled to make managerial
decisions¾including hiring and firing of workers¾without governmental interference.
On
According to Financial Times of
By October
2002,
Other big companies like General Electric,
Samsung Electronics, Toshiba found
The
Far Eastern Economic Review, which
reported all this also informed that one American Company decided to shut down
its plants in
Promotion
of Various forms of private capitalism
When agricultural lands in rural areas were in
the form of cooperatives and communes, the land was the collective property of
the rural, agricultural people. Agricultural people used to work in collective
farms and nobody did own land as his/her private property. Every person had job
security. (All this happened even though the principal that 'every one must do
labour' was not yet properly observed.)
The Chinese Revisionists followed the path of
destroying collective agriculture. They began to break collective farms into
pieces and gave the land on contract to private individuals, groups and
organizations in rural areas. This had, in fact, began much earlier (since
1978).
By
1983 some peasant families in
villages had owned tractors, trucks and other agricultural implements to a
minimum extent. But the number of privately owned agricultural implements
increased gradually.
William Hinton, an American author, who has
been studying
On
Promote
multiform economic responsibility systems centered in contracting through
public bidding. All contracts by tenders. We must encourage competition.
Try to
extent the experiments in putting urban housing construction on a commercial
basis and develop a real estate business.
Strive to
make Special Economic Zones (SEZ) a success, open more coastal cities and
create a new situation in economic and technical exchanges with the outside
world. (This he called 'independent' foreign policy!)
Consolidate
and improve forms of contract system whereby agricultural lands and other
production enterprises in rural areas are assigned to private individuals,
households or groups.
Replace
the system of profit delivery with tax payments in state owned enterprises
since such replacement has more advantages. The enterprises can retain
after-tax profit.
Encourage
individuals and collectives to run small state owned enterprises under contract
or lease or payment of taxes.
Emergence
of contract labourers
At the same conference, Zhao made several
suggestions with regard to employing workers on contract basis: We should
gradually reduce the proportion of regular workers and introduce a labour
contract system so as to sharply increase the number of temporary and seasonal
workers. Enterprises must reduce or stop bonuses or even withhold part of the
wages of the workers when they have failed to fulfill their quotas (of the
state plan) and paid less taxes and earned less profits. (This is to make
workers work more, produce more and bring more profits! In case this does not
happen, Mr. Prime Minister advises the capitalists not to pay full wages to
workers!)
Le
Monde, a French newspaper,
carried a part of Zhao's speech in its issue of
(All this means, it is the managers and
directors who would decide all these matters. The only thing which workers must
do is to come to the factory at the right time, do more work and return home.
They should have no role in any decision. The Chinese Revisionists are
introducing all these regulations with the sole purpose of burying all that had
been done during Cultural Revolution. During Cultural Revolution, workers
initiated great changes with regard to workers' management teams in the
enterprises. Charles Bettelehim's book 'Cultural
Revolution and the Industrial Organisation in
All
powers to Directors !
Beijing
Review of June 18, 1984 carried an article by its economic editor in which he
described the powers of the directors of the production enterprises as follows:
"Director of an enterprise has the power to decide on the production and
sales of products, the purchase of raw and semi-finished materials and the
technical transformation of the enterprise, and to control appointments,
transfers, rewards and penalties among the workers and staff.
(While the fact remains that workers have no
role in the managing the enterprises, the consequences of the appropriation of
all powers by directors will be disastrous. Corruption among directors of the
enterprises would become rampant. There arise opportunities for them to take
bribes in every transaction¾while purchasing raw materials, while selling newly produced goods and
appointing workers. Which means, the very nature of this managerial system
encourages and nourishes corruption in the enterprises. If workers could
intervene in all these matters in the form of 'Workers' Management Teams' by
rotation, the decisions would not be made by a couple of directors and none
would get an opportunity to take bribes secretly.
Public
bidding
According to Beijing Review of
After a week, in its issue of July 30, the
economic editor of Beijing Review
argued as follows: "Some people think that signing contract through public
bidding is a method prevalent in capitalist countries and is incompatible in a
socialist planned economy. This is wrong. Experience has proved that it is an
objective law which transcends the nature of society and can be used under both
capitalism and socialism". (This is their experience because they have
been able to introduce Revisionism easily! Contract system is an objective law,
they say! This means, in order to attach value to any dirty job, add before it
words like 'objective', 'logical', 'rational' or 'socialist'. This is the
tactic, which the Chinese Revisionists are following.)
Emergence
of rural capitalist class
The Central Committee (CC) of CCP in its
document 1 of 1984 announced its policy on private ownership in agriculture.
The system of contracting lands was already there. But now the government
enhanced the period of contract up to 15 or more years. In case a peasant
household wants to withdraw from that contract, it need not hand over the land
to the government. The household can transfer that land to another household
for lease. The second household would pay rent to the government. A national
conference on this policy hoped that leasing or selling of land to other
peasants would encourage a gradual transfer of contracted land plots into the
hands of those skilled in cultivation. (But, there is scope for the first household
to get some bribe from the second household.)
Another aspect of the agricultural policy is
that peasants could fix prices as they wish. They called all such policies
'reforms'. (These are in fact actions that would defend private property rights
and lead to exploitation.)
The conference said that a longer contracting
period was necessary to encourage "more rational and effective use of
land". It would give peasants an incentive to invest more capital and
labour. (This means, the assigned land would become the private property of the
individual or that household.) Around this time, the director of the Rural
Policy Research Bureau said that in future peasants would be allowed to hire up
to seven labourers. (This means, there was permission to hire less than seven
labourers. Now they re raising the number of labourers.)
But none of these rules would be effective. One
would hire as many labourers as he needs but would show the legally permitted
number in the records. Once the system of hiring labour exists, all other
regulations would remain futile.
Disappearance of collective mode of production
implies loss of employment. When the system of leasing the land comes into
operation, the household that took the land for lease would cultivate the land
in 3 ways¾(1) without hiring labourers (2) performing labour along with the
labourers or (3) exclusively by hiring labourers.
But land would gradually goes into the
possession of rich households. A system becomes established whereby all kinds
of agricultural labour are carried out by means of hired labourers.
After the elimination of collective farming,
people who cannot afford to take land on lease and those who cannot sustain
that lease would inevitably turn into hired agricultural labourers. The same
director (of Rural Policy Research) is describing the process of rural
population becoming rich as follows: "Currently, some people are
prospering quickly, some slowly and some not at all. To let all people
eventually get rich, it is necessary to let some get rich first. At the same
time, efforts are being made to let others get rich gradually. To prosper
together does not mean prospering simultaneously".
(It follows that those who take land on lease
make labourers do labour and become rich first. Thereafter, those labourers too
would get rich. After some time all people would get rich! No other expression
except 'senseless gibes' is appropriate to this kind of talk. The director of
the Rural Policy Research is talking so senselessly, thinking that labourers
cannot understand what is wrong in his talk! Thinking that labourers would feel
happy thus, "perhaps we too may get rich after some time, as Mr. Director
said!"
Labourers would really feel happy if they do
not know what 'getting rich' means. One gets rich only if he exploits certain
portion of the labour of the labourers. If the households of masters get rich,
the households of the labourers would remain poor. It will never happen that
all people become rich. All people live happily if we imagine that all people do
labour, that the class of masters and exploitation do not exist!
Capitalism in the rural areas began with such
changes as leasing of agricultural land to private individuals, and permitting
them to hire workers.
In October
1984, a resolution of the CC of the
CCP defined the 'individual enterprises' as an 'indispensable complement to the
socialist economy'. The individual enterprises were, initially permitted to
hire 7 workers and subsequently the limit was abolished. It follows that one
can hire any number of workers. (Still, it is a socialist society, according to
them!)
By the end
of 1984 about 25 million rural families transferred their lands to other
families and started other businesses like workshops and small factories. All
those masters who hired labourers form rural capitalist class. They are called
'prosperous households' in
Extreme
poverty
According to a Chinese official report in 1987, about 100 million people¾mostly rural¾were suffering from extreme poverty. Most of
them belonged to poor peasant families. They could not retain the lands, which
they took on lease from the government. As they could not provide themselves
with necessary resources to carry on agriculture, then transferred the lands to
the rich peasant households, left villages and began to migrate to nearby small
and large towns. (Had those families cultivated those lands collectively,
mobilizing resources would have been their collective responsibility. It would
not have been the responsibility of a single individual family. When land is
collectively owned, the portion of the 'surplus value' would remain with the
collective of peasants since there won't be masters and hence it won't go into
the pockets of the masters. Thus, the collective would be able to mobilize
easily all the resources necessary at the place of production. Then the problem
of 'livelihood' does not arise.)
In March-April
1988, the Chinese parliament made certain laws which: gave a free hand to
managers in running enterprises, hiring and dismissing workers; legitimized the
existence of the private sector and thereby encouraged its expansion; and
legalized the right to buy and sell land.
Dependence
of women
Before the introduction of privatization of
land during the existence of collective farming, women used to work in the
collective farms and earned their own income. But when the same lands were
assigned to individual households, women in a given household would not get a
specified amount of income of their own even though they do labour in their own
contracted land. The entire income would be in the hands of men. Thus, the
privatization and contract system make women dependent on men.
Abolition
of free higher education
On
Law
of inheritance
The CC of the CCP approved
(If it were a society without private property,
property would always belong to the collectives.)
Stock
exchange under 'communist' party rule
On
On October
14, the official Economic Daily
described the development as a means "to relieve our country's shortage of
capital, to develop production and make workers more concerned about the future
of their companies". (The meaning of this statement is that workers would
work hard in order to secure more profits if they too buy shares. When workers
are totally ignorant of economic matters, every false argument would become a
great principle!)
New
code on labour contracts
On
Price
'reforms'
On
Zhao talked about the price reforms further:
Reform in the price system is an essential step in the construction of
"the perfect socialist market system" and the development of a full
"socialist commodity economy". (Add the word 'socialist' before the
word 'market'! Add 'full' before 'socialist'! Full socialist market! Price
reform is meant for such a market in which capitalists can fix prices according
to their wishes!)
On
On
In
defence of stock market
By 1989,
the leaders of CCP described Chinese economy as the elementary stage of
socialism in order to defend the stock markets, business in bonds and sale of
lands to private individuals. As if all these practices are inevitable since it
is an elementary stage in socialism. They said that this stage continues for 50
years and all these practices would continue. (Later, there won't be any need
for 'socialist guise'! It means that they would remove it!)
They also said: This market system and stock
exchanges come under commerce and they are neither socialism nor socialism. Any
society can use these systems. (If these systems can be followed in any kind of
society, why did they say that the stage in which these systems are followed is
the 'elementary stage' and they are inevitable in this stage? They said so
because there is no one to question them. They did not find it necessary to
talk little cautiously while taking such gibes.)
On August
9-11, about 1,000,000 people arrived in Shenzhen from all over
Call
for 'socialist market economy'
The CC of CCP met on Novermber-14, 1993 and released a document on the establishment of
socialist market economy. This document called for better conditions for the
development of a market economy. (Which means, they want to develop better
conditions based on 'competition' and not on 'socialist planning'!)
Inflation
and public order
Speaking at the second session of the eight
NPC, Premier Li Peng expressed his concern over 'public order' problems due to
wide gap between urban-rural living conditions, inflation and corruption. (This
is tantamount to admitting the disastrous consequences of capitalist economic
maladies.)
Rise
in cost of living
According to figures issued in mid-June (1994), the overall cost of
living in the country's 35 major cities had risen by 23% in the preceding 12
months. More particularly, there was a sharp increase in the cost of many
staple foodstuffs.
At the National Conference on Price Monitoring
held in the same month, the State officials warned shopkeepers and factory
managers against unauthorized price rise. (It was the State, which talked about
'price reform'! That is freedom to fix prices according to market! The same
State is warning against price rise! The first act is true while the second one
is false. This is a drama to deceive people!)
Deliberate
destruction of state owned enterprises
According to the official conception, reform of
State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) takes place through a variety of means:
reorganization, merger, leasing, contract operation, joint stock partnership or
sell-off. All these reforms are obviously intended to destroy SOEs deliberately
and convert them into Privately Owned Enterprises (POEs).
The State official who explained the nature of
reforms also uttered some more great words. According to him, laying off of
workers is an inevitable part of the reform process but this would be
"good for economic development and the long term interests of the Working
Class". (Removal of workers is good for workers, says he! This is true in
a sense! If workers, due to removal, are subjected to more sufferings, and
revolt against officials and drag them from their seats of power, it will do
god to workers, isn't it? This official has a very good foresight!)
Privatization
of land
All land in
(The Chinese revisionists are describing all
this as Socialism. They argue like this, 'These properties will be in the
possession of private individuals temporarily for about 50 or 70 years only.
But the State possesses the actual rights; that is people possess them. Hence
this is Socialism'. But, if a contract is extended for 70 more years after the
initial period of 70 years, that property will continue to be in the hands of
the private person. Or, if it is transferred to others it would be in somebody
else's hands. By means of this, the State would only get some 'tax'. Workers
must always be under the private masters. Yet, they say that all the means of
production belong to people.)
Growing
unemployment and plight of the workers
According to Labour Ministry statistics
published in Xinhua on
On
On
Do you know what these laws are? Minimum wages
to workers. Prohibition of child labour.
Eight hour working day. Maternity leave for women workers. Improvement of
workplace safety measures. This is what they discovered after discussing it for
15 years! This is like, to use a Telugu saying, digging at the hill and
catching a rat! Making legislation now means that relevant laws are either
non-existence or non-operational. Even now, we should not hope that these law
would be implemented. Those who sit in the legislature have to play some tricks
and hence they play tricks like "workers' welfare".
Workers'
struggles
Workers do not exhibit resistance proportionate
to their suffering. It is because they do not know whom, how and why they have
to resist. The Communist Party has to educate them. If this does not happen,
struggles of workers won't be strong. In such a situation, they try to adjust
with the problems, however varied their problems are. Yet we can find some
struggles in that ignorance as well.
In June,
1997, many workers held demonstrations at their workplaces in
Some 300 workers had staged protest
demonstrations in Zigong of Sichuan province in support of their demand for the
payment of wage arrears. Police had broken the protests. (We have to assume
again and again that police are present wherever there is a protest
demonstration.)
In September
1997, President Jiang Jemin, gave a call to accelerate economic reforms in
SOEs. The result was millions of workers lost their jobs.
On October
13, People's Daily reported that
50,000 people in
The
Independent of December 5, reported that hundreds of
workers in the city of
On December
8, in Hufei, the Capital of Anhui province, about 400 workers staged a
protest outside the provincial government offices to complain about losing
their jobs.
Further protests during December were held at
many places. On December 26, the
State media reported that President Jiang Jemin had ordered police to step up
efforts to safeguard social stability in the face of increasing labour unrest.
(The president of a 'socialist' country is ordering the police to suppress the
workers' protests!)
In 1999,
in a speech to mark the 78th anniversary of the founding of CCP,
President Jiang Jemin ruled out "full blown privatization". (As it
was the foundation day of the party one should speak like that, shouldn't he?)
He said that some officials had misinterpreted efforts at reform as a call for
total privatization of State firms and he condemned those individuals who had
sold off State assets to enrich themselves. At the end, he preached sermons to
the Party members thus: Retain Marxist outlook! Don't lose faith in the
"final victory" of Communism over Capitalism!.
On
During May
15-17, about 3000 workers surrounded their factory and government offices
in
The International
Herald Tribune of July 19, reported
news of agitation of various sections of people. For example, villagers in the
drought stricken Shandung province had killed one police officer during riots
which began over access to drinking water.
About 1000 workers surrounded a factory in
On
The Far
Eastern Economic Review of
Steel workers, miners and oil men who received
benefits like housing, health and education for 50 years are now deprived of
all those benefits.
Hu Ming, a 63 year old worker who was laid off
after working 40 years in a factory at Tiexi, said to the reporter of the
magazine: "The cadres are eating and drinking in hotels and making stupid
talk". Another worker commented: "This is not a socialist country any
more¾the gap between rich and poor is very wide".
In
The reporter observed that workers with grievances
¾ late wages, pension payments or redundancy ¾ are no longer just getting mad but they are
organizing. For the workers in the first half of 2002 launched a series of
apparently coordinated strikes and demonstrations in several old industrial centers
ranging from Northeast to the southeast. But the protests petered out because
the party officials told the local government authorities to settle them
quietly before they could mar the 16th Congress to be held in
November.
Another significant news was that rather than
being organised by a few intellectuals or political activists, the protests
were about bread-and-butter issues and had large-scale support.
According to the Hongkong based China Labour Bulletin, the mass workers'
protests, which took place, were all economically driven and work-place based.
In 2002, the life of workers in
(Fights among bourgeois leaders do not interest
workers, do they? This worker indeed is right in his thinking.)
Politics of single party dictatorship
In this section, we can see how changes in
economy influence politics. First let us see the attitude of Chinese
Revisionists toward Marxism and what they are saying to people about it.
According to the Chinese Revisionist Party,
Marxism is not relevant to the contemporary problems. Even if it is relevant
there is no much use.
Don't worship Marxism 'dogmatically'. Abandon
Marxism and follow Deng's theory ¾this is what they preach to people.
In the party's constitution, they still
retained the old formulation that Marxism-Leninism-Mao's thought is the basis
for the ideology of the Communist Party. Whenever party congresses are held,
they raise slogans like 'Retain Marxist outlook!' They do so in order to give
an illusory impression to people that the party is committed to the proletarian
interests. The Chinese Revisionists still find the utility of citing Marxism.
They are praising as well as criticizing it. Only when they are fully confident
that the label is no longer necessary, they would give up the very name of the
party as 'Communist' party. Then they would abandon chanting mantras of
'socialism'. All their attempts and hopes are harbored on such a 'holy day'!
Besides creation of aversion toward Marxism,
another important need of the Revisionists is to root out the positive attitude
of people toward Cultural Revolution. For this purpose, they initiated certain
campaigns in the form of purges in the party.
Repudiation
of and revenge against Cultural Revolution
On October 11. 1983 the CC of the CCP decided
to sort out and expel those who rose to prominence during the Cultural
Revolution. It also decided to expel from the party those cadres who resist the
policies of the CC adopted since third plenum of the eleventh CC (that is, when
the Revisionist line led by Deng emerged as the strongest in 1978!)
We may recall that in 1976 the Revisionists
arrested 'Four' leaders who organised Cultural Revolution and sentenced them in
1981. Again, they conducted fresh trials in a
On
On November
2, the Chinese foreign minister rejected
Amnesty's appeal saying, 'Criminals should be given the punishment that
they deserve in accordance with the law. This is routine work to maintain the
public security of a country. It is the internal affair of a country".
Beijing
Review of
On April
12, 1984 Nanning Radio reported
that three people who had "formed factions during the Cultural Revolution,
risen to power through rebellion and committed serious violations of law and
discussion" had recently been expelled from the party and arrested. (This
means purges in the party have been continued since 1976).
On May
29, Guangxi Radio called for the
elimination of remaining leftist influence during the current party
rectification campaign.
On
In July
1984, in
Arrests and trials of this kind continued for
some more time. The main charge in all these cases was that the accused either
participated actively in the Cultural Revolution or attempted to reestablish
it.
On September
26, 1984 Amnesty International
published a report alleging that
In October
1984, shortly before the publication of the details of 'economic reforms',
the People's Daily had printed a
first page commentary calling on all party members to renounce the policies of
the Cultural Revolution. (This means, there had been stray attempts, here and there,
to restore policies of the Cultural Revolution!)
On November
25, People's Daily published
details of a CC directive to "earnestly carry out organization work for
re-registration" of leading party members, in the coming rectification
campaign, launched in October 1993. (This is another way of removing many
members from the party. When a member applies for re-registration, he would be
taken in only if the leadership believes that he is not a revisionist. This is
a kind of expulsion, which does not appear to be so!)
The CC also directed that the political records
and ideological conduct since 1979 (when the revisionist economic reforms began
under the leadership of Deng) should be scrutinized before giving membership or
re-registration. According to the official New China Agency, Xinhua, "those considered
unsuitable for membership can be expelled and if crimes are exposed under the
reassessment, the guilty party members could even end up in gaol"
Abandoning
Marxism
On December
7, 1984 People's Daily observed,
in its front page editorial, that many of the ideas of Marx and Lenin were
outdated and "one cannot take a dogmatic attitude towards Marxism".
(Marxism is outdated but capitalism would never become outdated! It is ever
green!). It also said, "One cannot expect the works of Marx and Lenin to
solve today's problems". (True! One can expect that Deng's writings alone
solve the problems. In other words, flow of capital solves the problems!)
On December
10, however, the Chinese officials told foreign correspondents that this
last passage was a mistake and should have read "…to solve all of today's
problems". (This amounts to saying, "Marxism may solve some problems
but not all! What ism will solve the problems, which Marxism cannot solve? What
else? Can't we grasp this point? We have Dengism, don't we?)
Many 'blatantly heretical statements' implying
the abandonment of Marxism appeared in the party press.
"Marxism has remained a closed ideological
system for a long time"¾ Statements of this type appeared many a time. Criticism of Marx's
'Capital' appeared in Social Scientist
(No. 7, 1984), published from
On
In a speech on economic progress, published in February 1985, Hu Yaobang, the party
general secretary commented that "20 years beginning from Great Leap
Forward in 1958 to Mao's death in 1976 ¾ wasted because of "radical leftist
non-sense". (This means, had the party followed Deng's path during those
20 years since CCP came to power in 1949, that period too would have been very
fruitful! So much 'interest' in 20 years! So many profits! Haven't they been
lost or not? How wasteful that period was!)
On
By 1985,
the total estimated party members were 40,000,000. About 60,000 officials had
been expelled or had retired from the party since the rectification campaign.
In 1985, anti-Japanese student demonstrations
severely criticized
On
The CC criticized that the party's previous
adherence to the principle of class struggle at the expense of educational,
scientific and cultural understanding was a 'serious miscalculation' which had
resulted in the Cultural Revolution of 1966-76, a 'decade of domestic turmoil'.
The CC defended open door policies of
encouraging foreign investment and justified it as a "basic unalterable
state policy". It said that Marxism-Leninism-Mao's thought is the
ideological foundation of the State. But it had specifically rejected the
concept of Marxism as a rigid dogma on the grounds that it was only natural that
differences of opinion should often arise in both theoretical and practical
work. (To say that differences of opinion arise in theoretical work means, that
if one holds Marxism as his theory, others may hold capitalism. So differences
of opinion exist, don't they? All kinds of opinions should find place,
shouldn't they? Who want capitalism ¾ capitalists or labourers? This means, under
the slogan that 'we must give space to differences of opinion', the proletariat
has to allow the capitalist class to sit on its head! This is what 'giving
space to differences of opinion' means! Then, capitalists too should give space
to differences of opinion, shouldn't they? Will they give space to Marxism?
Will they give up exploitative property rights, interest, profits, masterhood,
domination and begin to live on their own labour? When will they give space to
this kind of differences of opinion?)
Fight
for bourgeois democracy
After economic reforms began in the name of 'Socialism
with Chinese characteristics' and bourgeois liberalization, the beneficiaries
of these reforms began to demand political reforms as well. This demand implies
that
Their line of argument is: when you are
allowing capitalist forms of economy why don't you allow similar forms in the
sphere of politics?
Bourgeois democracy does not simply means the
right to form bourgeois political parties. It is only a political meaning of
the term bourgeois democracy. The economic implication/meaning of bourgeois
democracy is that one should have rights to occupy all means of production
including land as private property and to hire workers. Just as slave masters
had rights to own slaves in the slave-owning society, the employers will have
rights to hire workers. Right to hire workers means, right to exploit some
portion of the labour of labourers. That portion, however, does not appear to
be 'a portion exploited'. It exists under the names, 'rent for land',
'interest' and 'profit' for land and capital. The employers would have the
rights to receive these incomes.
In fact, it is neither the land that yields
'rent' nor 'capital' that yields 'interest' and 'profit'. All are parts of
'labour'. If workers perform that labour, the said parts are also grabbed from
the workers. (Marxism discovered the secret truth and revealed it to the world.
The class of masters also knew this secret. But it has not reached the
proletariat!)
When human beings are split into two different
classes: 'Workers and Masters', there won't be any democracy that is
identically useful to both the sides.
If bourgeois democracy is the democracy of
Masters, social democracy is proletarian democracy.
Another name of Socialist Democracy is
'Dictatorship of the Proletariat'.
Assuming that a proletarian party, whose theory
is Marxism, has seized political power and begun its rule in a given country,
then there won't be property rights that facilitate exploitation. There won't
be 'Master-Worker relationships' in which workers alone perform labour. The
class of former masters too would have to do labour and live on its own labour.
Then land rent, interest and profit disappear.
All means of production would belong to all
people. When all human beings in a society perform labour, some of them do not
constitute 'masters' and others do not constitute 'workers'. These names would
become meaningless and all would
uniformly become 'producers'. Such a society would be 'communist' society.
It is the responsibility of the working class
to establish communist society. It ought to do so not for the sake of any
'ideal'. Emancipation from 'slavery' and 'hardships' is not for the sake of an
ideal. It is for the sake of self-protection! For the sake of its own
liberation from the exploitation of labour.
When a proletarian party begins its rule, it
has to remove the rights of the Master class to exploit labour. Hence, it is
obliged to proscribe bourgeois democracy, the freedom of the Master-class to
exploit and the bourgeois political parties.
Proletariat would not permit any theory, any
freedom and any political party which asks for the rights to exploit others'
labour, namely, 'Right to receive interest and profits' and 'Right to occupy
means of production' and so on.
Dictatorship of the Proletariat is the sum
total of all the measures and restrictions to be imposed in order to remove
exploitation of labour.
To say that 'everybody must do labour and no
person has any right to live on the labour of others' is the Dictatorship of
the Proletariat. To say that all human beings are equal and nobody has any
right to be the Master and nobody has any duty to be a Servant' is Dictatorship
of the Proletariat;.
All the measures that remove the relations of
domination and subordination in any aspect of any sphere of social life
constitute Dictatorship of the Proletariat.
This Dictatorship demands the class of masters
to live on its own labour! If the class of Masters understands what is
'justice' and what is 'truth' and agrees voluntarily for all the changes, there
won't be any Dictatorship over that class. As the class of Masters does not
change voluntarily, the Proletariat has to wage a struggle. Restrictions
imposed by the proletariat on the class of Masters, rules which it formulates
for its own development in the course of class struggle ¾ all those constitute Dictatorship of the Proletariat.
This Dictatorship is not similar to the
Dictatorship of the Bourgeoisie. While the Dictatorship of the Masters is to
oppress others (Workers), the Dictatorship of the Proletariat is meant for
protecting from the oppression by others (Masters). This in fact won't be a
Dictatorship if viewed from the point of view of 'truth' and 'justice'.
Different sections exist within the
Proletariat. The interests of these sections remain somewhat different until
bourgeois division of labour is transformed into Socialist division of labour.
Hence, these sections will have different political parties. As all these
parties represent different sections of the Proletariat, all of them oppose
exploitation of labour.
The
If the Communist Party intends to implement
Dictatorship of the Proletariat in its right spirit, it ought to reject
bourgeois political parties which demand 'right to exploit the labour of
others' and permit the political parties of the sections within the proletariat
to function.
According to "
Wherever and whenever there is an election ¾ including when only one person files
nomination ¾ election by secret ballot is the essential and the correct practice.
The rule that representatives of the former class of exploiters are not
entitled either to stand in elections or exercise their right to vote for some
specified period of time is a separate question.)
The Chinese Revisionists are not observing
correct principle in any matter. They, in fact, transformed the principle of
'Dictatorship of the Proletariat' into 'the Dictatorship of the People'. By
'people' they don't mean 'working people'. The entire population constitute
people. It is because, Revisionists wanted to abandon the term 'classes'.
Hence, they lumped Masters and Workers together and called them 'people'. The
Revisionists wanted to abandon the term 'proletariat' and retain
'Dictatorship'. Finally, they transformed 'Proletarian Dictatorship' into
'People's Dictatorship'.
But when all are considered 'people' what is
that Dictatorship meant for? Where is the other class? When there is no other
class why is Dictatorship needed?
Well, when we speak of Dictatorship of the
Proletariat, this Dictatorship is aimed at the bourgeois division of labour and
bourgeois relations of production as represented by the effective controllers
of means of production. The objective of the Proletarian Dictatorship would be
to liberate itself (the Proletariat) from the shackles of bourgeois relations
of production, bourgeois division of labour and bourgeois forms of management.
But, what is the objective of 'People's
Dictatorship'? When we don't have another class or group, who is not, called
people, what would be the task of this Dictatorship of the People? Nothing.
Hence, in the context of present day
The Chinese Revisionists need the word
'Dictatorship' for some time just as they need the word 'Socialism'. But, it
should not be exercised over the class of owners. Hence 'People's Dictatorship'
replaces the term 'Dictatorship of the Proletariat' so that it won't hurt the
feelings of the class of owners. Of course, Masters are aware of the fact that
it won't harm them since it won't impose any restrictions on them.
In the actual fact, this Dictatorship of the
People involve Dictatorship of 'Master-people' over the 'Working-people' in the
daily life. In this manner, the Chinese Revisionism welcomed bourgeois
democracy into their 'Dictatorship of the People' and accordingly wide opened
the door of the economy. In other words, they gave away all the rights to carry
on exploitation of others' labour. But they still kept the doors of politics
closed. Which means, they are not permitting other parties to grow! This policy
brought them a new problem from the other parties.
Although CCP has become fully capitalist, there
is no unanimity among its members on the issue of dealing with (other) bourgeois
parties. Majority of the members are opposed to bourgeois parties. Group led by
Deng is also opposed to it because bourgeois parties would become their rivals
in elections if they are permitted. The new bourgeoisie, which emerged as a
result of contract system and other forms of privatization will join (other-)
bourgeois parties. And there is no guarantee that the Communist Party would win
such elections. It won't be a clever action on the part of a party, which has
been ruling the country like a monarch, to invite such threats from other
bourgeois parties. If other bourgeois parties and elections by contest and
secret ballot were not there, the Communist Party leaders can rule the country
for the largest possible time under the banner of Communist Party. (If God
blesses, their children would rule, and then, the children of their children!)
This is such an opportunity, which is not possible in any capitalist country.
They should not lose it. If (other) bourgeois parties emerge, the sun called
Deng may sink into oblivion and disappear. How can the revisionists invite such
a danger?
The leaders of the CCP, therefore, are not
inclined to introduce bourgeois democracy into the political sphere; even if
they do they are not favorable to introduce it so quickly. But, an opinion to
permit bourgeois parties is not completely absent in the party. Such leaders
are, however, in minority. The intention of such leaders is (or might be) that
once bourgeois parties begin to function, they can slowly jump from the Communist
Party to the other side. Or the leaders themselves may quit the Communist Party
and form other bourgeois parties. This is why, some leaders within the CCP are
in favour of permitting bourgeois parties to form and function. But, the group
led by Deng has majority.
According to Deng's group ¾ All economic relations must transform into
capitalist but political relations must be under the domination of a single
party with the labels "Socialism" and the "Dictatorship of the
People". And that single party must be under their control. All this is
nothing but "Socialism with Chinese characteristics".
In September
and December 1986, Mr. Deng expressed some invaluable views. Internal
documents of the CC contained Deng's views which the CC's general office circulated
to senior CCP members in January 1987 and to the representatives of the foreign
press in February ¾ Democracy can only be achieved step by step because the adoption of
"western ways" would lead to "chaos". (This means, he was
appeasing bourgeoisie, 'Don't be in a hurry. If you want bourgeois democracy we
will get it as well. Why are you in a hurry?)
Who would ask Mr. Deng thus, "If western
ways lead to chaos why have you initiated them in the economy?" If some
one asks him this, the reply would be 'execution'! Yet we have to assume that
there were people who asked like this. When so many executions were taking
place daily, won't there be political opponents?
Democracy, according to Deng, should be
achieved step by step! But, some sections in the Chinese bourgeoisie were
impatient.
Students' protests had already begun demanding
the introduction of bourgeois democracy. Referring to these protests, Deng
praised the manner in which the Polish had dealt with the unrest arising from
the Solidarity Labour Movement in December 1981 and had maintained that similar
"dictatorial methods" were essential in
The main demand heard in the students' protests
was: "more liberalization and more democracy".
From
On December
19-20, about 70,000 students held demonstrations in
CCP's propaganda director warned students not
to adopt "western bourgeois" democratic ideals.
People's
Daily commented: A handful of
people with ulterior motives were trying to vilify the party leadership and
socialist system and confuse people. Demand for democracy was only a pretence.
On
People's
Daily called upon the
authorities to adopt a clear cut stand in opposing bourgeois liberalization and
criticized unnamed intellectuals and CCP members for their failure to combat
the trend. Observers interpreted that the criticism is aimed at Hu Yaobang, the
General Secretary and some other leaders. (So, the doomsday of the General
Secretary is approaching!)
On
On January
14, the Party expelled Wang, a well known Marxist intellectual and a
popular writer. Because Wang described the party leadership and Socialism in
On January
16, Xinhua reported that the Hu
Yaobang submitted his resignation after making self-criticism in Polit Bureau
that he violated the principle of collective leadership. (Pity that he made
self-criticism and yet rendered resignation! Poor fellow, why resignation when
he admitted his mistake?)
Enlarged meeting of Polit Bureau of the Party's
CC accepted Hu's resignation and elected
Premier Zhao as the Acting general secretary.
Deng's statement on
On
On January
23, another supporter of Hu Yaobang was expelled from the party. At that
time, Hu was expected to meet the then visiting Japanese delegation. But he did
not meet them. The party officially informed the delegation that Hu was
"too exhausted from over work" to meet the delegation. (Perhaps, the
delegation pretended as if they believed the Chinese explanation. Did they
know/guess that Hu was not in his post of general secretary?)
The thirteenth Congress of the CCP began on
Strikes
Workers facing unemployment in many nearly
bankrupt State Owned Enterprises resorted to agitation like strike or slow down
of the work.
In 1987,
97 strikes were held. In the first six months of 1988, 49 strikes were held. According to one survey in
Discovery
of mistakes in Marx !
Guangming
Daily of
Students'
movement for bourgeois democracy
Analyzing the situation in 1989, a
In April
1989 massive demonstrations by students started, opposing corruption and
nepotism. (In any society, if a person does not do any labour and lives on the
exploitation of others' labour, such conditions constitute real corruption.
From this fundamental corruption, there arise the other, secondary forms of
corruption. In the course of exploiting workers, it becomes an imperative on
the part of the capitalists to bribe the State officials for several needs. If
the corruption called 'appropriation of surplus value by the capitalist' were
absent, corruption in the form of bribing would also be absent.
What moral right do the agitators have if they
defend the corruption called 'exploitation' and invite the creation of
bourgeois parties (which render such exploitative rule) on the one hand and
fight against corruption only in the form of bribes, on the other?
It is those capitalists who benefit from the
economic reforms and their followers who were demanding the political reforms.
Majority of student demonstrators
might not be aware of the meaning of the demand for greater democracy. They
might have thought that they were demanding democracy only!
According to an analysis of the
subsequent period (which the new General Secretary of the Party Jiang Zemin
made on October 1, 1989), there were
two opposing views in the party regarding reforms.
(1) One that defended economic reforms, leadership
of the CCP and Dictatorship of the People.
(2) The other demanded total westernization in all
walks of life. In other words, it defended the creation or existence of
bourgeois parties.
(This analysis is correct. But
both the kinds of views are bourgeois in nature. The advocates of the first
view represent 'single party capitalism' while the advocates of the second view
represent 'multi-party capitalism'. This is the only difference between the
two! None of these two is a communist conception.)
Scholars who watched
On
On May
13, Zhao made the first public remark on the students' movement. On the one
hand he stressed the importance of stability and on the other hand he said that
"reasonable demands from students should be met through democracy and
legal means".
On the same day about 1000 students
sat on hunger strike. Many government employees and others visited the hunger
strike tents and supported their struggle. On May 14, about 1000 teachers expressed their solidarity. On May 16, about 10,000 journalists too
marched in support of students. Also doctors, lawyers and miners as well as
civil servants, police and even members of
At that time, the Soviet leader
Gorbachev was present in
Students gave a letter to the
Soviet Embassy in
The CCP and the State Council (the
Govt.) appealed to students not to do anything harmful to national dignity and
interest.
The police whisked away 500 students who were
on hunger strike to hospital. The same day, the Standing Committee of the Polit
Bureau met. In that meeting, in which Deng was also present, Zhao called upon
the party to enter into serious discussions with student leaders. He had also
proposed: the withdrawal of People's Daily editorial of April 26 in which it
criticized the students; establishment of a parliamentary body to investigate
alleged corruption of high-ranking government and party officials and
publication of financial accounts of leading officials. Four Standing Committee
members (that is majority members) including Li Peng rejected Zhao's proposals.
The next day, that is on May17 Zhao issued a statement praising
students struggle for democracy and law, opposition to corruption and promoting
reform. (Why has Zhao ¾ who said earlier that there was no question of other parties ruling the
country ¾ changed like this? This means, he has separated from Deng!)
On the same day, the full 16-member
Polit Bureau met and voted to remove Zhao and appointed Li Peng as the new
general secretary. (It may be recalled that Hu Yaobang was removed and Zhao was
made secretary earlier since Hu supported the students' movement. But Zhao too
has done the same thing and lost his position.)
The same meeting approved Deng's
decision to begin the movement of military units from the provinces to
On May 19, student demonstrations and hunger strikes continued. Zhao
met students at
On May 20, the government declared martial law officially in
Large numbers of
On May 21, student demonstrators remained in
Large demonstrations were held in
By the end of May, whereabouts of Zhao were not known. (Subsequent reports
indicated that he was kept under house arrest! Hu Yaobang died of illness in
April.)
On June 3, around
At
On June 5, soldiers roamed in the city and attacked the crowds of
angry civilians. There were similar reports from other provinces as well.
According to the estimates of
western diplomats and journalists, the casualties (including both civilians and
soldiers) were about 2,000-5,000. But the government spokesman said that only
300 died, out of which 23 were students.
On June 9, Deng addressed the military commanders but the text of the
speech was not released until late June. Some points of Deng's speech: The crux
of the current incidents is the confrontation between "bourgeois
liberalization" and the four cardinal principles: (1) Socialist system,
(2) Dictatorship of the Proletariat, (3) the leadership of the CCP and (4)
Marxism-Leninism-Mao's Thought. The goal of the counter-revolutionaries had
been the overthrow of the Communist party and the establishment of bourgeois
republic entirely dependent on the west. There was nothing wrong with the basic
concepts of reforms and openness;
He pretended as if his government
was following Marxism and trying to establish Socialism but the
counter-revolutionaries were attempting to restore capitalism!
The group led by Deng ¾ which itself introduced bourgeois
liberalization on the ground that Marxism is not relevant ¾ claims, whenever necessary, that it is
following Marxism and the opponents are obstructing them. In such contexts this
group uses the phrase 'Dictatorship of the Proletariat' instead of
'Dictatorship of the people'. But, the Chinese working classes do not grasp all
this. Those cadres who read news papers may believe that "Comrade Deng
said very well!" But there won't be any one who could question Deng
immediately. No newspaper publishes criticism against the leaders.
How cruel is it to send military
troops and fire at the unarmed demonstrators! How undemocratic it is! But,
these revisionists are not going to allow other bourgeois parties to function.
But the protestors demanded the same. The rulers answered the demand with guns!
The defect of the students'
movement is this: Movements must always be based on work place. The impact of a
movement would be unimaginable if main spheres of production, especially
transport activities, are at standstill and if other important spheres of
activities also join it.
If all the activities at work
places are carried on smoothly; if the pockets of the capitalists are filled
with surplus value day and night and if days pass without any problem anywhere,
what will be the loss for the government even if the students ¾ who are unconnected with any work place ¾ organize procession, demonstrations and hunger
strikes for any number of years. In fact the government remained unperturbed
even though such demonstrations went on for about five years. The government
would lose nothing even if those demonstrations continued for ten more years.
However, the State ¾ following the principle that 'one should kill the snake, however small
it may be, with a big stick' ¾ attacked the unarmed demonstrators cruelly.
A movement of nearly five years
period died out with gun fire in a single night! Without achieving any
political reform! Not even the demand of conducting an inquiry into corruption!
Everything ended up without achieving any thing!
Thus, 'Socialism with Chinese
characteristics' which Deng discovered could breathe more clearly despite such
movements by students!
Such cruel attacks as these had
never happened before the revisionist rule; that is, never happened in the past
during the Communists' rule.
On June 24, Zhao was formally dismissed from 4-5 posts: as the general
secretary, as Polit bureau member of the standing committee, as vice-chairman
of the central military commission etc. He was dismissed from these posts since
he supported the movement for political reforms. The Polit bureau 'elected'
Jiang Jemin as the general secretary.
In the subsequent period also,
dissidents were arrested and jailed on the charges of attempting to establish
bourgeois democratic parties.
After the
On
On November 12, Deng met the high ranking military commanders and said
that he would continue to concern himself with party, state and military
affairs.
Chiang ching passes away
On
Wang dies
On
Fourteenth congress praises Deng
In October 1992 Fourteenth party congress was held and Deng's
followers were in majority in the Polit bureau. The congress confirmed
abolition of Central Advisory Commission headed by Chen Yun, an opponent of
Deng in certain matters. Presenting his 'Work Report', the general secretary of
the party, Jiang Jemin praised Deng for his theory of 'Socialism with Chinese
characteristics". He described Deng as "the chief architect of our
social reform, of the open policy and of the socialist modernization program".
He set the deadline to achieve "socialist modernization" by 2050. He
assured foreign capitalists that more areas would be opened up to foreign trade
and investment. He stated categorically that the goal of the reforms is to
build a socialist democracy but absolutely not a western, multiparty
parliamentary system.
On
In October 1994, there were rumors that Deng was dying, or had
actually died. (This means people were not aware whether that man was alive or
dead!). These rumors caused sharp stock market falls during October, but at the
end of the month, the prices remained stable when fresh news came in that Deng
was alive and well. (It might not be true. Deng must have died by that time. He
might have come into existence once again in order to increase share prices?
Can't we imagine this much. Should we believe rumors as they come into
circulation?
In March 1996, some deputies of the parliament called for a new law to
protect trade unions from harassment by employers particularly those in foreign
funded and private enterprises. But no such law has been made.
Widespread use of death sentence
On March 13, 1996 Amnesty
International released its report in which it stated that despite increased
economic freedom, torture remained common in detention centers and thousands of
political dissidents and members of religious and ethnic groups were in prison.
It also criticized the widespread use of capital punishment, pointing to 2,000
summary executions in 1994.
According to the report the number
of crimes carrying the death penalty had risen from 21 in 1980 to 68 by 1995.
Media clampdown
The Economic Work Monthly,
a journal based in the southern-western
Communist values vs. 'Reforms'
The sixth plenary session of the
fourteenth CC of the CCP was held on October
7-19 in 'customary secrecy' in
On
'Real' death of Deng!
Deng died (really!) on
President Jiang Zemin headed a
459-member funeral committee.
On the day of the funeral (February 25), Zemin eulogized Deng as a
"great Marxist". He spoke for about 45 minutes while frequently
wiping away tears. He said that without Deng the Chinese people would not live
a new life like today's and there would not be today's new situation of reforms
and opening up and the bright prospects of modernization. (True, without Deng,
Jiang Zemin would not have become the party's general secretary. It seems he
used the word 'Chinese people' instead of 'Chinese bourgeoisie' due to slip of
the tongue in these sorrowful moments!)
He pledged that
That day, all the newspapers
reminded their readers Deng's famous quotation: "It doesn't matter whether
it is a black cat or a white cat; as long as it catches mice it is a good cat:
(This great Marxist built socialism based on cat and not on Marxism! So we have
to now apply this axiom to the contemporary society. "It does not matter
whether a capitalist is of native origin or foreign origin. He is a real
capitalist as long as he can exploit labourers! Deng passed away after teaching
this principle to the bourgeoisie.
Assurance to Bourgeois
On July 1, 1997 Britain handed over Hongkong to China. Hongkong once
was part of China. Britain leased Hongkong from Chinese rulers in 1898 for a period
of 99 years. After the completion of the lease period China regained Hongkong.
But as per the agreement between Britain and the Revisionist China in 1984, the
Chinese Revisionists guaranteed the continuation of Hongkong's capitalist
economy and life styles for 50 years after 1997. Tun Chee-hwa, a former
shipping magnate became the chief executive of Hongkong under the auspices of
the CPC.
Fifteenth congress eulogy to Deng
Fifteenth congress of CCP was held
in September (12-18) 1997 and Deng
group was in majority.
Jiang Zemin, the general secretary
of the party dumped tons of praises on Deng in his political report: 'Hold high
the great banner of Deng theory and push forward the cause of building
socialism with Chinese characteristics to the 21st century in all
spheres'.
He described Deng as one of the
three great men (the other two were Sun Yatsen and Mao). Deng theory alone
could settle the issue concerning the future and destiny of socialism, he
added. (This gentleman is eulogizing Deng in so many ways. We can't say whether
'house arrest' is waiting or 'death penalty' is waiting for him!)
Underground workers union
On April 2, 1999 workers in the northern city of Tianjin announced the
formation of an underground workers union dedicated to helping Chinese workers
regain their place as the masters of the nation. They named it, "Chines
Association to protect Workers' Rights". They declared that they formed
this association because the government backed "All China Federation of
Trade Unions" was not serving interests of the workers.
There had been numerous
demonstrations in China during the early months by angry workers because
State-owned enterprises did not pay their wages.
In March 2002 a wave of unprecedented street protests by tens of
thousands of disgruntled workers were held in Liaoning. Authorities deployed
thousands of additional military police to the region. In the city of Daqing,
5000 demonstrators clashed with military police. Reports said that as many as
86,000 laid off in Daqing since 1999. (Note that these workers' struggles were
not aimed at any bourgeois parliamentary reforms. Merely for the sake of their
livelihood. For the sake of work and wages! But no reforms would fulfil these
demands except class struggle!)
The Far Eastern Economic Review of 15
August 002 described the worker protests in China from March to May 2002 as
a turning point because of their size and organisation. ' The protests by laid
off workers in Liaoning, Daquing and Fushun challenged the ruling party's
legitimacy. It also informed that for the first time so many well organised
laid-off workers and sympathizers ¾ in the tens of thousands ¾ took to the streets simultaneously and
sustained their protests for weeks rather than days".
New heir of Deng
As the sixteenth party congress was
approaching there were indications that the time had come for Jiang Zemin to
relinquish the post of party's 'chief'. Jiang was 76 at that time and 59 year
old Hu Jintao was waiting to occupy that seat. Deng, it was reported, picked Hu
to be groomed as Jiang's successor making him the youngest member of the Polit
bureau standing committee in 1992. He was promoted to the post of state
vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission in September 1999. In 2001, he
was sent to meet leaders in Russia, Britain, France, Spain and Germany. In
February 2002 an unusual meeting with the U.S. President Bush was arranged at
Beijing Tsinghua University.
Specialty of sixteenth party congress
As expected, Hu Jintao became the
general secretary of the CCP at its sixteenth congress held in November 2002.
Jintao determined to excel Jiang
Jemin, the former secretary, in eulogizing Deng.
So far, the earlier general
secretaries used the phrase Marxism-Leninism-Mao's thought, didn't they? Now
Jintao put Deng's name beside Marx and began to use the phrase "Marxism-Leninism-Mao's Thought-Deng's theory" and declared
that the theme of the congress is to hold high this phrase.
The specialty of this congress is
to invite "private sector tycoons" to a 'communist ball' as a correspondent
of the Far Eastern Economic Review of
November 21, 2002 aptly put it. One
of the capitalists is a tycoon in power cables. Another fellow is a capitalist
specialized in sewing machines industry and racked up to 100 million dollars in
exports in 2001.
One of the private capitalists was
made CC member while another was made alternate member of CC. Of course many
more capitalists were admitted as ordinary members.
(Capitalists in the Communist
Party! Capitalists in China are any way demanding separate capitalist parties,
aren't they? So the Communist Party accommodated them thus, "why separate
parties. Join this party".)
According to a report of the Far Eastern Economic Review of November 28, 2002, 2, 114 delegates of
this congress pledged to achieve the following objectives: "Private
capital will be allowed into more sectors. Discriminatory regulations on
investment, financing taxation, land use and foreign trade will be over hauled.
Private property will have fuller legal protection.
Culture of capital(-st) punishment
(In
the previous section, we have seen how capitalist economic policies led to the
demand for bourgeois reforms in the sphere of politics. Similarly, let us see
how changes in the economy influenced the cultural life.)
As the capitalist property rights
were permitted, property disputes gradually began to surface, also. Many kinds
of crimes cropped up. Along with them, different forms of punishment increased,
too. Murders and suicides increased. Owing to the abandonment of socialist policies,
safety measures decreased and accidents at work places as well as outside
increased. The number of orphan children increased. Superstitious beliefs
became widespread.
All the problems of this kind were
very common and natural in societies based on exploitation. These problems
which were prevalent in pre-1949 China gradually decreased since the rule of
the Communist Party. But the same old kind of problems again emerged during the
revisionist rule. The reason for this is that conditions conducive to their
(re-)emergence are existing in the revisionist society. We are going to see
this fact now.
Property disputes
Cases and courts connected with
property disputes, which were almost absent in the past have now reappeared.
Courts established between 1980-83 tried 89,494 cases connected with business
disputes. Out of these cases, 73,000 were contract disputes and involved
properties worth of 2.9 billion yuans. About 400 million economic contracts
were signed in 1982 and about 10% cases arose over these contracts.
Large scale executions
Unofficial estimates suggest that
up to 10,000 people had been executed between August 1983 and December 1985.
The accused persons were executed after being convicted of crimes including
murder, rape and robbery.
Spread of pornography
The spread of pornography
videotapes and unwholesome tabloids ¾ many imported from the west and Hongkong ¾ since 1984 encouraged sex offences such as
abuse of young girls and day time and out door rape, even in rural areas where
these crimes were unknown in the past.
"Spiritual pollution"
In the early 1984 the government
launched a campaign against so-called "spiritual pollution". The
party journals Red Flag defined
spiritual pollution as including primarily decadent music, pornography and the
expression of bourgeois individualism. This pollution, the journal felt, was
the result of contacts with the west. The campaign resulted in a stricter
censorship of books, ban on some plays and films.
The real motive, however, behind
this campaign was not to oppose spiritual pollution. It was meant to deflect
claims by 'leftists' in the party that Deng and his supporters were permitting
China to suffer moral decay in the interests of modernization. The campaign was
also initiated with an intention to make the forthcoming purge of leftists in
the party more acceptable to its opponents in the army and among the party
cadres.
Bourgeois entertainment
Beijing Review of August 6, 1984 reported favourably
about the 'lively evenings' in big cities. It said, "Major cities are
seeing more and more night life as shops introduce evening hours and
restaurants and cultural centres organize concerts, tea parties and
dances". It also informed that the recently opened Shanghai Hotel has
extended its opening hours to 11 p.m. providing music, tea and closed circuit
TV.
Beijing Review of August 15 enthusiastically depicted the
changes in the fashions of young people's clothing. It reported that nowadays
young people are no longer judging clothing based on its simplicity. They would
like to look modern. The emphasis is on the beauty and the fashionable dress
closely follows the lines of the body. Yong men prefer western style shorts and
young women are fascinated by sleeved dresses, pure silk blouses, thin woolen skirts,
especially shirts about 6.5 cms below the knee. The fashions begin at Shanghai
and from there spread to other parts of the country. (Of all the bourgeois
businesses, the business of modern fashionable dresses is the biggest one. If
fashions are changed constantly, sale of new models and fashions is guaranteed.
Boundless profits to garment capitalists!)
Domestic servants supplying companies
As a result of unemployment, the
number of house workers increased. Beijing
Review of June 18, 1984 was very
happy to report the news that "China has begun to run companies providing
housework services". It reported that 'The Chaoyang Housework Service
Company' was the first of its kind in China. This company hires unemployed
youth and retired workers, train them in various kinds of housework and
supplies them to its customers. (A part of what the customer pays goes to the
hired worker and the other part goes into the pocket of the company. What
remains after deducting the office expenses is the profit of the company. It is
workers who do the housework whereas profit goes to the company!)
According to Beijing Review of August 13,
there were 30,000 housemaids and nannies in Beijing by July 1983. This numbers
excludes those living outside their employer's household. Many domestic
servants come from outside. Domestic servants (house workers) perform all kinds
of work in the households of their masters. House cleaning, cooking, gardening,
feeding and cleaning of dogs, caring of children and the old ¾ they do not one but all household chores!
If we consider the family of a
master, it is the workers who do labour in the factory of that family; again it
is the workers who do labour in the household!
What the members of that rich
household do is killing their time with rest and recreation. The system of
hiring domestic labour, which was absent before revisionists came to power, has
now begun.
Higher crime rate in special economic zones
In its issue of August 20, 1985, Sociology, the generally pro-reform journal, admitted that violent
crime was rare in Shenzhen and Zhuhai provinces before they became Special
Economic Zones. Unsavoury elements here are imitating the underworld social
organisation in Hongkong and Macao. Drug traffic, smuggling, abduction and sale
of women and children had increased and on January 21, 1986, 18 people in
Beijing were executed after being convicted of these crimes.
On February 19, two sons of leading party officials in Shanghai were
executed after their conviction on 50 charges of rape or indecent behaviour.
On June 25, 1986 a mass execution of 31 convicted rapists, murderers
and thieves was conducted.
On August 6, African students in China held a protest rally in Beijing
demanding protection from further attacks (by Chinese students at Tanjin
University) and an end to racial discrimination.
On October 10, 1986 Xinhua
news agency reported that unauthorized production of police weapons was now
common among criminals engaged in violence on a scale unprecedented in history.
At the same time, Yunnan Daily
contested the public security bureau's positive assessment of criminal activity
and reported the recent sharp rise in the thefts and economic crimes. The
newspaper warned of the crimes reminiscent of pre-liberation days such as
murder, arson etc.
A study on the impact of
introduction of the labour contract system observed that, in 1987, there were
more prostitutes, more rapes and robberies. Unemployed young people have
committed a large part of them. Many youths, according to this study, now dare
to kill people, steal guns and even rob State banks!
By 1989, the public order problems
in China grew more serious. For instance, big cities established mobile armed
police forces.
Law as a full time profession
Before the triumph of Deng's
revisionism, there were only 3,000 lawyers in China. Although population grew
by more than 235,000,000 between 1957-80, the number of lawyers remained
constant at 3000. Many of them were trained prior to 1949 and are in their late
60s. They pursued law as a part-time profession.
As a result of bourgeois economic
reforms like contract system and various forms of privatization, number of
legal disputes increased and the government found it necessary to give licenses
to more than 40,000 persons to practice in some 4000 law offices set up by
government. There are about 32,000 (by 1990) legal service centres established
in rural areas where about 100,000 persons are functioning as para-professional
staff. There were also about 15,000 notaries available in about 5,000 law
offices.
In 1992, President Jiang Zemin estimated that China needed 300,000
lawyers.
In 1993, the Chinese Law minister estimated that number of lawyers
would reach 75,000 during the eighth Five Year Plan and by the end of this
century the number of lawyers would reach over 150,000. (The Law Minister was
not ashamed of the number of lawyers in China where the number of part-time
lawyers had remained constant for about three decades ¾ which fact indicates that social contradictions
were at least not bad for the last three decades!)
Unsafe
working conditions
On January 1, 1996 a fire in a Taiwanese-owned Christmas decoration
factory killed 19 migrant workers and injured dozens more. This factory is,
obviously, located in the export-driven southern Shenzhen Special Economic Zone
where even the minimum government legislation safeguarding workers' rights
including safety measures are commonly flouted due to widespread bribery and
corruption among the officials.
Crime and punishment
On April 28, 1996 the government launched a national campaign against
criminal gangs involved in drug dealing, prostitution and the abduction and
sale of women and children. Needless to mention that such criminal activities
were absent before the triumph of revisionists in the late seventies.
The official newspaper People's Daily of June 27, 1996 reported the execution the previous day of 231 people
in nine provinces convicted of drug trafficking.
According to Amnesty International,
some 650 executions had occurred after summary trials. Sentences were
implemented publicly and crowds of up to 200,000 witnessed executions. (This
means the people there have become so crude and cruel to witness death
sentences as an entertainment.) Apart from serious crimes, executions for minor
offences were also frequently reported.
In 1996, 4,367 executions were
conducted. (That is more than 4,000 in one year! 12 persons per day!)
In 1997, China had executed 1,876 people. This is, according to a
report of Amnesty International, more
than the rest of the world combined. (All the types of crimes that occur in
revisionist China also occur in all the capitalist countries. But we don't find
so many death sentences in those capitalist countries. That is because, the
governments in those countries have to face elections that take place among
several political parties. Owing to that fear, they ignore certain crimes and
try to be somewhat liberal. But in revisionist China, we find neither correct
socialism nor liberal capitalism. There is a criticism that Deng's wrong
policies destroyed socialist kind of relations and led to so many crimes. To
counter criticism of this sort, Chinese revisionists are resorting to such
severe punishments. Criticism will have no value if crimes occur less. If
criminals are threatened with dire punishments, the number of crimes may
decrease. Hence they argue that "it is good to have some people executed
to educate others", as the Public Security Minister once said. On the one
hand they created conditions that lead to crimes and on the other hand adopted
a cruel means to reduce the number of crimes. They don't have the fear of
facing elections since they rule like feudal monarchs. This is why the State in
revisionist China is more cruel than other capitalist countries!)
'New' marriage law
In mid-October 1998, the government introduced amendments to the 1980
marriage law, under which extra marital affairs (adultery, keeping concubines
etc) were to be made a criminal offence. In early November, a Party committee
directive in Guangzhan of Guandong province said that married men who kept
mistresses (!) or who frequent prostitutes could be sent to labour camps for up
to 3 years.
Gender imbalance
According to the figures of Chinese
Academy of Social Sciences in early 1999
showed gender imbalance: male to female ratio 120-100. Gender imbalance is the
result of one-child policy since 1979, which led to a massive upsurge in female
infanticide and the abandonment of baby girls. (Authorities in Anhui province
had to ban the use of ultra sound equipment to determine the gender of unborn
children. Because some parents were resorting to deliberate termination of the
fetus if the child was female.)
Suicide
statistics
On November 12, 1999 the deputy Health Minister revealed for the first
time that some 250,000 people ¾ mostly women ¾ committed suicide each year in China. The
minister admitted that poverty, male chauvinism and overwork in the countryside
are the causes for the high suicide rate.
Corruption
The official statistics for the
period 1997-2002 revealed that 118,
692 cases were registered against State officials who were involved in
embezzlement, bribery and misappropriation of public funds. (What about those
against whom cases have not been registered?)
Accidents
Owing to poor safety measures on
the part of the private owners and slackness on the part of government
officials, accidents have been on the increase.
In November 1994, 233 people had been killed in a fire accident in a
dance hall in Lianoning province. This accident showed inadequate safety
standards in public buildings. Similarly, on December 8, at least 311 people, most of them school children were
killed in a cinema fire in a town called Karamay. The cause for this tragic
accident is the inaccessibility of emergency exits from the crowded building.
In this fire accident, apart from those killed, about 200 people were seriously
injured.
Some 5,000 mine workers died in
accidents in 2000. In mid-November, 2001 in one week, 58 mine
workers were killed in four mines in Shanxi province. All the four mines were
designated as unsafe by authorities and should not have been in operation. It
is reported that there are 23, 000 mines still operating despite having been
designated as unsafe and earmarked for closure.
Religion restored
The day Deng's revisionism became
active all religious activities too had become active. Since the third plenum
of 11th CC in 1978 (when Deng's revisionism won complete victory),
1,000 mosques have been repaired or rebuilt in Ningxia, an autonomous region.
In 1982, the State Nationalities
Affairs Commission allocated about one million yuan for large scale repairs of
a mosque in Tongxin of Ningxian.
Beijing Review of June 11, 1984 carried an interview with
a Bishop on "Christianity in China". Some points in the interview:
All churches were closed down during Cultural Revolution. Now at least 1,600
churches have been reopened or built so far since 1979. In the past four years
(that is 1980-84) 1,300,000 copies of the Bible have been printed and
distributed. The main source of income of the churches is the offerings and
gifts of Chinese Christians. To a certain extent the churches still depend on
the rentals that they are able to collect from church properties. The State
exempts churches from taxes and give them the right to collect rentals,
"quite an exceptional privilege within a socialist system." Number of
new priests have been ordained and converts baptized. Local seminary to train
young clergy under preparation. Ordaining of women priests began since 1979.
In December 1985, the Beitang Patriotic Catholic Association
Cathedral, the largest church in Jeijing was reopened after 27 years for the
celebration of midnight mass on December 24. The cathedral was repaired, using
funds provided by the Chinese government.
According to Hunan provincial
radio's broadcast on March 30, 1986
wealthy peasants purportedly raised funds for restoring demolished temples.
A report of Hongqi (Red Flag) on October
1, 1986 indicated that the evaporation of the CCP and the State
administration apparatus in some areas had led to renew superstitious beliefs,
clan associations, ancestral sacrifice and even secret societies that attacked
Socialism. The party journal warned rural cadres against belief in demons and
gods instead of Marxism.
Owing to the rapid evaporation of
the accomplishments of the Communist Party and the consolidation of revisionism
a sort of 'refeudalization' had begun. The 'new illiteracy' and the revival of
extraordinary consumption such as weddings, funerals employing geomancers and
having gambling sessions, evidence this. In Hebei, for instance, more than 50%
of the people belonging to rich and specialised households (who take land and
other means of production on lease or contract) have been involved in gambling.
Beneficiaries of the contract
system in the rural areas developed an outlook to live on interest. They are
resorting to tax evasion and arbitrary price increases.
Party officials in Tibet warned
that the 'rapid progress of reform' had transferred 'unhealthy social
practices' to their region in the form of religious revival.
On January 14, 1996, State Councilor for Religious and Nationalities
Affairs, ordered al places of worship to be registered with government. He called
for a crackdown on some followers of permitted faiths who were using religion
to subvert the State. (This is not anti-religious action. What it says is this:
Embrace religion of your choice, but give details of your religious
organisation. Do whatever you want, but don't subvert the government.)
On October 16, 1997 the government released a white paper on freedom
of religious belief. It lamented that Chinese religious communities had felt
the "disastrous effect" of Cultural Revolution. But it expressed its
satisfaction over the fact that there are more than 100 million followers
belonging to over 3,000 religious organizations under the leadership of 300,000
clergy.
More bourgeois practices
Return of advertising
Advertising as a business started from 1979. Both foreign and domestic
capitalists were informed that they could place advertisements on radio,
television, bill boards and in newspapers. This policy is contrary to what was
practiced during Cultural Revolution. At that time, advertising was described
as 'apotheosis of the capitalist religion of consumption'.
There was some criticism against
advertisements of cigarettes companies but the State did not stop then. It gave
full freedom to foreign cigarette companies for sponsoring sports events.
In 1997, a professor of Shanghai university defended the use of
advertising thus: "Developed countries use advertising as a tactic to
enter Chinese market; so Chinese too should adopt the same aggressive use of
advertising."
Disappearance of rural education facilities and basic medical care
Since 1980, after the abandonment of Commune system, the bourgeois
reforms had reduced the ability of local communities to spend funds on
education and basic medical care.
Rural schools have poorer quality
facilities and relatively higher fees than urban schools. As a result of new
revisionist polices, 3.7 million barefoot doctors, midwives and rural medical
workers left their jobs. Village level co-operatives that offered collective insurance
for health and basic medical care had largely disappeared.
Most advanced resources are
concentrated in the richest urban areas and are allocated free of charge to
those occupy highest ranks of the party and military hierarchies.
Merchant
of death
In the past China did not produce
arms on a large scale. It used to send some arms gratis to some revolutionary
movements in America, Latin America and some neighboring countries of its
choice. This continued up to 1976.
But commercialization of arms industry
began since 1978 as a result of triumph of revisionism. The chief motivation
for Chinese arms sale is profit and nothing but profit. For example, it sold
arms to both Iran and Iraq for about a decade and earned huge profits. It
manufactures and sells various kinds of heavy weapons like ballistic missiles
with largest range system, tanks, submarines, gunboats etc.
China's arms sale increased from
114 million dollars in 1977 to 3.5
billion dollars in 1988. It also
held arms exhibitions abroad to attract foreign buyers. According to one study,
there are many different arms export agents in China who compete and have a
particular relations to the State council and People's Liberation Army. Profits
from the arms sale are more likely to go into the pockets of a few high ranking
officials.
Practice of gun salute
On April 26, 1984, when Regan, the then President of America arrived
the Chinese government greeted him with a 21-gun salute. This bourgeois
practice of gun salute was halted in 1966 during Cultural Revolution.
Reintroduction of ranks in the army
On May 15, 1984 the government passed the 'military service law' which
included apart from other things, reintroduction of ranks in the army.
Provisions were also made for the preferential treatment of the military
personnel.
No ideals, only cash
Red Flag of June 16, 1986 expressed a little
dissatisfaction over the destructive influence of market principles on party
members. It said that party members now believe that ideals are far away,
politics are meaningless, but cash is real. According to a study on the
political reforms, large number of cadres supplemented their income through
corruption. Some cadres also resigned their posts to enter into business.
Orphan deaths
In January 1996, the Chinese government announced that it had
conducted a careful and thorough investigation concerning alleged torture and
abuse of children in a Shanghai orphanage and the investigation established
that accusations were completely groundless.
The same day the New York based
group Human Rights Watch/Asia
released a 331-page report with several pieces of evidence. Based on its
evidence, the report concluded that more than 1,000 orphans had died in the
Shanghai Welfare Institute between 1986 and 1992 as a result of brutal
treatment, including deliberate starvation, torture and sexual assault. The
report called on the government to open all its orphanages to international
inspection.
Corroborating the evidence of Human Rights Watch/Asia, which was
largely based on photographs and detailed medical records, the British
television screened a documentary film "Return to the Dying Rooms" on
January 9. Zhang Shuyun, a medical
doctor at the institute, supplied the relevant evidence in 1988-93.
On the same day when the U.K
foreign secretary arrived in China for a three day visit, the Chinese officials
informed him that the documentary film has caused a serious disturbance in
bilateral relations.
The Chinese government released a
lengthy paper on April 3, denounced
claims of Human Rights activists but admitted that the government was
struggling to accommodating growing numbers of orphans, many of whom were
unwanted girl babies, handicapped, or seriously ill.
Low hygiene standards
The Far Eastern Economic Review of December
5, 2002 published some health related facts based on its own investigation
as well as the reports of World Health Organization and United Nations
Children's Fund. It informed that in rural areas of China, the level of
potentially dangerous injections can be as high as 100% with hospitals not
meeting basic hygiene standards and dirty and unsterilized syringes spreading
disease.
Abandoning class struggle and embracing capitalism
The Far Eastern Economic Review of July
18, 2002 published an interesting interview with a Chinese author, Zhang
Xianliang. The brief summary of the interview: Today this writer is a
successful businessman, running a film-set theme park on the outskirts of
Ningxia's capital, Yinchuan that attracts 300,000 visitors a year. (Like Ramoji
Film City at Hyderabad!) He smokes 555 cigarettes and drives a BMW. He is head
of Huaxia Western Film and Television City.
His past history: He was born in a
wealthy family in the Kuomintang-ruled area but the family lost all its wealth
after liberation. He wrote a poem that spoke of "yearning for
freedom". Communist Party government used that poem, condemned him on five
separate occasions, each time thrown into labour camps for three years each.
His fate changed after the rule of revisionists. He joined CCP and became
Chairman of the party-run Writers'Association in Ningxia. Thereafter he wrote
his prison memoirs as novels. One of his books has been translated into 27
languages. This writer won comparisons with Milan Kundera, the Czech novelist
who suffered State repression. Susan Lawrence, the reporter of the journal
asked the writer, 'How do you reconcile your past life as a prisoner with your
present party membership'? Then he said, 'Easy. I have not changed, the
Communist Party has changed…It is still called Communist Party of China".
Then he laughed sarcastically. "It was a big, throaty laugh and spills out
without warning whenever something strikes him as absurd", described the
correspondent. He further remarked, "Abroad people still use this name to
judge the party. They don't know that this Communist Party and the Communist
Party of 20-plus years ago are already very different."
To this remark of Zhang, Susan, the
correspondent of the journal gave her interpretation to the readers as follows:
"True, today's party is different. It has abandoned class struggle and
embraced capitalism".
Thus freedom and liberty ¾ which this capitalist, who smokes 555
cigarettes and rents film sets, needs ¾ are flourishing in China, to use a Telugu
expression, like a plant with three
flowers and six unripe fruits.
Concluding remarks
It is unbearable and unthinkable
agonizing tragedy to see the degeneration of China ¾ the China which witnessed valorous struggles
like Long March and Cultural Revolution! Yet we have to bear it and try to
understand it.
A matter of justice, however true
it may be, will inevitably face defeat if there are no people who grasp it.
Not only victories but also defeats
will be invaluable experiences! All the experiences are lessons to be learnt!
In the past when socialist kind of
relations emerged in the sphere of economy, political and cultural spheres also
followed the same path. Similarly, as soon as anti-socialist relations emerged
in the sphere of economy, the other spheres too took the same path. From the
past to the present, China has been a great laboratory to prove that how
economy operates as a primary motive force of the entire society!
In the human society, the entire
past history is the history of class struggles, isn't it? So, as long as
classes exist, the future history too would invariably be history of class
struggles! That history will change only when classes disappear.
There has to be either a 'mode of
production based on independent producers" or a "mode of production
based on associated producers" if we do not want exploitation of labour or
existence of classes in human relations. But mode of production based on
independent producers keeps the producers as isolated and separated individuals
without any connection with one another. It deprives them of cooperation from
fellow human beings in sharing hardships or comforts. Mode of production based
on associated producers will alone contribute to the development of higher values and higher forms of existence.
Knowledge of theory alone is the
path to protect our selves. If we know the correct solution for the problems of
life, we can easily recognise the nature of solutions however varied wrong
forms they may assume. We will be able to avoid repetition of defeats in our
path of struggle.
Communist Party alone is the
embryonic form of new society which the proletariat ought to build for its
liberation. So, the newness and equality must begin from there. It must appear
as an ideal force to the proletariat and 'a lion in the dream' of the
exploiting class. It would acquire such capacity only when it retains Marx's
theory as its weapon. It would achieve so much victory as much as it has class
consciousness and as much as it can educate the proletariat with sincerity.
Revolutionary Communist Parties ought to know a
lot! They ought to improve a lot! They ought to overcome a series of
failures!
[Frontier,
dated February 8-14, 2004]
***
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