The Chinese Communist Partys Ideological Change - Essay Example

?The Chinese Communist Party’s Ideological Change Introduction China is perhaps the only country in the world that has an exceptional party system of governance, and has been ingrained and institutionalized into the Chinese society. The system has its own challenges, although, it has achieved tremendous success in liberating the Chinese economy; this major factor has propelled the Chinese economy to great heights in economic growth. The Chinese communist party (CCP) has been in power since 1949, when the People’s Republic of China was founded. Remarkable changes and reforms in the last three decades have led to drastic transformations of the Chinese Communist party’s ideologies. These changes in the party is reflected by the adaptation of relatively current ideologies, represented by the ideologies of the three former Chinese leaders, Hu Jintao’s harmonious society, Jiang Zemin’s Three Represents and Deng Xiaoping’s Theory. The party has also developed a more flexible understanding and application of Mao Zedong’s ideology and the redefined neo-Marxism-Leninism. The Chinese party’s official ideology has shifted from the era of mobilization of the citizen’s support of the Party’s goals to a relative liberalized socioeconomic platform. In addition, Party moved from the revolutionary platform to a more developed and sophisticated governing party with an immense support from the citizens of china. This paper seeks to traces the manner in which the Chinese Communist Party’s ideologies have transformed and changed over the last three and a half decades. The first change that the paper would discuss is the transformation of the party with respect to Marxism, and the party’s efforts in retaining the core tenets that it is founded upon. Secondly, the paper will discuss how the party has evolved to redefine Mao Zedong’s political philosophy thought (Karl 2010, p.53). Third, the Deng Xiaoping Theory, this was the first ideology developed by the party’s highest hierarchy that initiated major reforms in the country, it was at certain period time was assumed to be the doctrine of the party and of the Chinese people. Finally, the paper analyses the party’s ideological advancements and beliefs of their current leader, Xi Jinping and the former immediate former leaders Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin Pessimism of the West There have been many changes in the political systems and in particular to the ideology of the Chinese Communist Party, from 1978, when the then leader of the party and the country Deng Xiaoping began to initiate reforms and a movement towards a more market oriented economy. According to Misra (1998, p.272) and other scholars predicted the imminent decline and demise of the Marxist ideology in China, while other scholars who held a contrary opinion held that the ideology is not on its death bed; rather it is on its path to recovery (Brugger and David 1990, p.7). Ordinary Chinese citizens had become tired with the ideologies of the party and those of the its high profile leaders, it was perceived by the masses as more of a privileged society but less in touch with what is happening on the ground, this majorly began in the late 1990s. Currently, there is a general feeling amongst the populace that the Chinese Communist Party is riddled with corruption, and its sheer size complicates effectiveness of the party. Pro-democracy scholars and activist have a firm belief that the Party has lost its relevance in this century, and that the current leaders have lost legitimacy from the people and that they suffer from governance issues and this will ultimately lead to its collapse. After the death of the Chinese leader, Deng in 1997, majority of leaders in the west and particularly the United States predicted the collapse and adoption of ideologies of democracy in China. Most of them had predicted in the late 1990s that the regime would eventually collapse in the year 2010; this has happened, as the current leader is tightening these political policies but opening up the economy. In the year 2011, the members of the party has increased two folds hitting unprecedented number of about 74 million people, taking top spot as the ruling party with the largest membership in the whole world (Zhou 2011, p.3). The rhetoric displayed by the CCP leadership, underscores its commitment to the creation of a classless Chinese society, its ultimate objective. This in turn renders arguments on the official ideology to be immaterial, as the leadership of the Party continues to place firm belief on the Marxist-Leninist ideology. Shifts in the tenets of the party’s official ideology has shifted from the 1978’s ‘practice is the sole criterion for testing truth’ movement to a more flexible campaign that are devoid of the dogma once associated with it (Woo 1999, p.31). The only hurdle that the party faced is the 1989 Tiananmen political tumult, however, the party enhanced its reform process of building a Chinese nationalized form of socialism (Hutchings 2002, p.44). The reform carried out by successive Chinese regimes from 1978 fuelled their economy, enabling China to be the nerve centre of the world’s manufacturing industry, consequently, threatening the hegemonic status of the United States as the sole super power. Currently china has adopted more say into the world’s politics; it has taken centre stage in politics and conflict resolution mechanisms in Asia (Li 2011, p.124). In most communist countries and other countries that adopted socialism, ideologies have always been and perhaps were central to the governance of those countries. The study of Chinese communist party’s ideology therefore, becomes relevant when looked at how it shaped china’s political environment. The concept of ideology The concept of ideology has always explained in a variety of ways, confirming the general trend in most concepts in the social sciences, however, Zhou (2011, p.4) defines it ‘as a set of ideas, feelings, or a set of political values which guide individuals to act and behave in a certain way or manner towards achieving a particular goal’. This in a deeper understanding, can imply the language that defines the aims at understanding the key elements of the given political philosophy, this is on a scale of what is beneficial to those who adhere to those beliefs. It lays up the concepts on what the member are expected of them to adhere and practice and what they should not. It also directs the leaders of a political system to follow the procedures and guidelines as stipulated, setting up on the members of a political system certain moral and ethical codes that must be followed. The Chinese communist Party’s ideologies draw their principle from the Marxism-Leninism ideology; this is the foundation upon which the party’s ideology is based upon. The change being explore in this paper, refers to the subsequent adjustments that are occurring to china’s key institutions and structures. That is the analysis of how the shifts in ideologies affected the country’s key institution and structures from 1978 to the present and possibly how the reforms might continue to occur in the future. Marxism Reorganization There were striking similarities between the ideological transformations of Chinese Communist Party and the changes that occurred after the historical 20th congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) that engulfed the International Communist Movement (Zhou 2011, p.7). The reforms that began to take shape in 1978, involved a great deal of organized public debates and seminars coupled with the movements that was based on the call by the leader for the members to ‘emancipate the mind’. These were intent on ingraining the party’s reform ideologies on the masses. Deng Xiaoping, organized the great debate in 1978 and the subsequent conference on the National Theory of 1979, they began by examine the radical policies developed by Mao Zedong and criticizing the Cultural Revolution, what followed was a string of political and economic reforms in the party and the country(Zhou 2011, p.5). These new breed of reform minded party members would ultimately face off with the ultra conservatives, the ultra conservatives had a pre-set mind, they strictly adhered to the policies as had been set by Mao. Zhou (2011, p.5) call this group as the ‘whatever group’, in that they safeguard and strictly follow the instructions as had been set by Mao. They continued with the ideology of revolution that was instrumental in bringing to power Mao regime, embraced the different dogmas of the Cultural Revolution such violent removal of emerging bourgeois class and other prominent party’s slogans. On the other hand reformists lead by the then leader, embraced the new and non-radical ideas, when he rose to the helm of the party’s leadership adopting ‘practice is the sole criterion for testing truth’, this was enhanced by the new breed of reformers. Their main submission was that the only means of determining the truth was through practice, this was in contrast to the Maoist doctrine; they insisted on the superiority of practice over theory, though this notion is a view was also fronted by Mao. The most important aspect that led to reforms in the political climate in China was the Third Plenary Session of the 11th China communist Party Central Committee, in 1978, the session enabled Deng to hold and consolidate more power, serving as the final nail on the head to the conservative members of the party. This was the ultimate move that unearthed China’s move towards modernization and economic growth and development, thus this policy became the party’s official line (Zhang 2013, p.231).The great debate that occurred in 1978 pitted the pro-reformers against the conservatives, lead to a nationwide search for the Marxism principles and teachings and how they applied to the CCP. This prompted the re analysis of the concept of class, class according to Marxist theory meant increased levels of class struggles that would ultimately lead to revolution. The anti-reformers preferred revolution to real and expected economic progress, this lead to relegation of class struggle in favour of socialist modernization. Thus, the communique from the session stated that it was time the people of china shifted their attention away from Marxist principles of class struggle and instead they embraced socialist modernization. They pointed out that forces of production were the primal revolutionary factors and these forces persisted in the life of every human society, and that the ‘human society was determined by the development of material force –just as the superstructure essentially reflected the economic base’ (Zhou 2011, p.5). This represented a clash in ideologies of the reformers versus the Maoists, while the former preferred production as the key to their philosophy, the latter favoured class struggle as the base upon which they held their principle. Several pro-reform Chinese writers pointed out that most Chinese officials had superficial understanding and interpretation of the Marxism ideology, and that they merely understood the concept in terms of specific quotations, some specific words and specific conclusions (Su 1993, p.111). They therefore chose to re-organize Marxism under the realms of contemporary reality, devoid of dogma associated with the strict manner in which hard-core pro- Marxism officials and thinkers did interpret and understand the concept. These leaders came to combine the existing forms of socialism and communism with the needs of the reforms, these within the requirements of a modern society. The ripple effect of these reform processes led to unprecedented manner in which the Chinese society transformed, in turn led to deeper and more intricate understanding of Marxism. Zhou (2011, p.6) identified the path that the process followed, first, was upholding of Marxism, and then doing away with irrelevant conclusions that did not reflect the realities, and finally, growth in modernization must embrace other cultural achievements of mankind. Mao Thought redefinition The formal recognition of this political ideology happened in 1945, at seventh Chinese Communist Party Congress when a section of the party officials present, gave a definition to the term. The Thought was described as the extension and enhancement of Marxism principles in the national, domestic revolution in a colonial, semi colonial and semi- feudal country at that time period (He 2001, p.264). The creation and development and of the concept of Mao Zedong Thought and the official recognition of the ideology by the Chinese Communist Party have taken a considerable amount of time involving complex systems. Mao Zedong Thought was initially understood to include the integration of Marxism-Leninism philosophy with that of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. The major tenet of the Marxism ideology refers to proletarian eventual revolution against the bourgeoisie class, this would eventually wipe out capitalism and in its place, and socialism and capitalism would reign supreme. Mao Zedong adopted this Marxist ideology and deployed its meaning in the context of the Chinese society, this is essentially, what came to be known as the Mao Zedong Thought, and he attempted to move the party from a more theoretical aspect of Marxism-Leninism to a more practical aspect. The regimes that were in power from 1978, began to question the radical ideologies that the Mao Zedong Thought had established, at the end of 1981, the Chinese Communist Party delivered a communique titled, ‘Resolution on Certain Question in the history of Our Party since the Founding of the People’s Republic of China (Knight 2007, p.213). This document identified the mistakes that were adopted in Mao Thought while at the same time reaffirming and stressing its commitment to the ideals of the Thought. Mao was cheered and jeered in China, though not in equal measure, Deng gave Mao a rating of 70 percent for the good work he did for the ordinary people and then 30 percent for the atrocities he committed. Zhou (2011, p.9) identifies the major flaws in Mao regime, these included ‘over-estimation of the role of subjective will, flouting of the objective economic laws, widening and absolutising class struggle’. Deng realized that Mao was pushing for a societal system that was at best a fantasy. In the sunset of his years, Mao developed an unlikely radicalized approach, as he failed to identify right from wrong and foes from friends, and these were different from Marxism and swayed away from China’s realities. The communique declared that the ideology (Mao Zedong Thought), as a collective wisdom of all the members of the CCP was a radical shift from the personality cult that Mao had built around him; thus, the Mao Zedong Thought came to be understood as the collective effort of the Chinese Communist Party. This prompted the party to develop a careful use of Mao, and in addition, the flexible ways of interpreting the official ideology of the party, this implied that Mao Zedong Thought would not be thrown out; rather it would go through a process of transformations. Deng’s Theory Deng Xiaoping rose to power in 1978 and thereafter began initiating reforms in the CCP under his guiding principles, which he referred to as the Four Modernizations. Political scientists and scholars came to refer to Deng Xiaoping’s philosophies collectively, ideas, and policies as the Deng’s Theory under which the banner of reform began to take off, the theory became engrained in the party’s constitution, and this was in addition to Mao Zedong’s thought and Marxism-Leninism orthodox philosophy. This then resulted in incorporation of the guiding principles of Marxism-Leninism together with the culture of the Chinese society, and the continued recognition of the revised Mao Zedong Thought, this gave rise to a collective ideology and this constitutes Deng’s Theory. Drastic transformations and changes were occurring in the country, reflecting the sharp contrast that existed between Mao thought and Deng’s theory, he implicitly improved on the weaknesses that Mao exposed the country in his sunset years. Deng’s theory is based on socialism with Chinese characteristics quite different from Mao’s radicalism to modernization models. Maoists perceive socialism to be the stepping-stone to communism, this analysis by the Maoist’s disregarded the crucial element of economic conditions, and if these are not properly developed to move a society into communist, this may result into collapse of such a system. Marxist’s on the other hand point out that that socialism officially begins after the collapse of a capitalist system; however, socialism has come to be understood as public ownership of production and distribution. Deng’s theory stressed that China had achieved had reached the socialist stage, and that country had low levels of technology and scientific penetration, this in addition, to the high number of poor people, inhibited any meaningful growth. The initial intent of the leader was to encourage economic socialism, drive the economy towards modernization, and industrialization. Deng refused to concede that China will adopt capitalism, even if they adopted certain tenets of capitalism such free markets, He argued that embracing certain principles of a market economy does not necessarily imply capitalism, the model developed was mixed, in that it was socialist society containing a market economy. The difference between capitalist society and socialist one rests in the crop of leadership that are in control over the country, a socialist society is largely controlled by leaders who represents the masses, while the former society is controlled by the owners of production. The Chinese Communist Party therefore had to play a very important role in ensuring that the society does not role to embrace capitalist tendencies, rather it should serve as a guide in leading the society in achieving in communism via a market economy. To this end, he came up with four important cardinal principles; Marxism-Leninism integrated with Mao Zedong thought, leadership by the Communist Party, dictatorship by the proletariat and socialism that he believed would aid the country in achieving the ultimate aim of communism. Therefore, the party’s ideology under Deng was just as it had previously been, only being broader, encompassing the market economy. Jiang Zemin’s Three Represents In the aftermath of the crisis that affected Tiananmen, Jiang Zemin emerged as the undisputed leader of China, but unlike his predecessors, he neither was a founder member of the party nor was he a war hero of the revolution. His input to the official ideology of the Chinese Communist Party was inform of the theory of the Three Represents, that is the party should represent advanced productive forces, advanced culture and the masses interests. This theory was later engrained in the party’s constitution, serving as continuation from Deng’s Theory; this elevated the leader to be on the same level as Deng, Mao, Lenin, and Marx. The First Represent was ‘advanced productivity’ – this was to enable the society to produce business entrepreneurs, business leaders and managers who were dynamic and would ensure the continuity of the socialist principles while embracing a market economy. He stressed that the reform process initiated by his predecessor, Deng Xiaoping and continued under his regime was intent on producing a new crop of people in the private sector who did honest work and obeyed the party’s guiding principles. That is these breeds of people were the ones who were propelling Chinese economy to greater heights, while at the same time building socialism with Chinese characteristics. He coined the term private business owners to differentiate it from the term capitalist, a veered term in communist countries. The second represent, advanced culture, included these important combinations of civil behaviour, common beliefs, morality, and a progressive social attitude. This became an important and critical object for reviving china, it aimed at restoring the beliefs and shared virtues and values of Chinese civilization and through incorporation of Marxist principles. This acted as a guide when approaching the First Represent, in some the latter is known as the material civilization while the former came to be known as the spiritual civilization. The Third Represent, the fundamental interest of the masses, implied continuity with the ideology of Marxism; this ensured that the party was no longer a preserve of a few members of the populations but to the masses as well. Strategically, these new brand of entrepreneurs was incorporated into the party, was to quell any opposition that would have risen from amongst them and in addition, this was a new source of support for the party. However, there were the ultra-conservative members of the Party who did not approve of the new breed of entrepreneurs who were incorporated in the Party. They argued that the party could not aim at practicing to models or systems concurrently; there was no way that the Party could admit people who were the exploiting class. They wrote to the leader a series of letters voicing their opposition to their membership and in fact, drawing him back to the Marxist theory and practice contained in the Communist Manifesto. Hu Jintao’s Harmonious Society: Mobilization of Consent He ascended to power in the year 2003, serving as the secretary general of the Chinese Communist Party and the leader of the republic until this year when he was replaced by Xi Jinping in the year 2013. The greatest noteworthy impact to the development of the Party’s philosophy is his theory of Harmonious Society. In the year 2005, while delivering a speech at the Central Party School, he came up with the key ideas of the ideology, which he gave us, ‘the Socialist Harmonious Society is that that has democracy, the rule of law, fairness, justice, trustworthiness, sincerity, full of vitality, amity, orderliness, stable, and harmony between mankind and nature’. Many critics of the ideology point out that this ideology is a common communist rhetoric aimed at impressing the masses, with the aim of legitimizing his leadership. This ideology was also officially adopted into the party’s constitution in the year 2007 at a general congress meeting of the members of the party. Jintao’s theory also includes the concept of globalization; this ideology became relevant concerning china’s interests and growth, promotion of peace, development and common prosperity. Conclusion The Chinese Communist Party’s ideology transformed extravagantly over the last three and a half decades due to ascension to power of reform minded leader, beginning with Deng to Xi. This began with re-organization of the Marxism ideology, then re analysis of Mao Zedong radical policies and decrees, re thinking the orthodox –Marxist ideology, incorporating Deng and Zemin’s theories and finally Hu’s harmonious concept. The party redefined Mao Zedong thought, which was once regarded by party members as a sinfication of Marxism, the party identified key flaws in the thought and disbanded while retaining its key concept and reaffirming their commitment to the Thought. The Thought was de-personalized, as it was considered a cumulative effort of all, beginning at the revolution stage. This gave rise to two key steps in structuring a new ideology first, the selective application of Mao and second, flexibility in making additions to the official ideology. The current leader has not developed an ideology of his but rather working under the guidelines of the past regimes; however, he has stressed the importance of observing the party’s ideological guidelines and avoiding the western influence. On March 17, 2013 the new Chinese leader began to give direction on the shape of which his ideology would take, he gave a speech titled the “China Dream, The People’s Dream”. In the speech, he outlined his vision of the communist society; he reaffirmed the commitment of the party to the ideals of his predecessors and at the same time hinting at opening up the economy and lessening of state control of the market. The aim of the Chinese society would therefore, include a harmonious, strong, prosperous, civilized, democratic and a socialist society. References Brugger, B.and David K. 1990. Chinese Marxism in the Post-Mao Era. Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press. He, Henry Y. 2001. Dictionary of the Political Thought of the People's Republic of China. Armonk, N.Y: M.E. Sharpe. Hutchings, G. 2002. Modern China: A Guide to a Century of Change. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press. Karl, R. 2010. Mao Zedong and China in the Twentieth-Century World: A Concise History. North Carolina: Duke University Press. Knight, N. 2007. Rethinking Mao: Explorations in Mao Zedong's Thought. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. Li, M. 2011. China and East Asian Strategic Dynamics: The Shaping of a New Regional Order. Lanham, Md: Lexington Books. Misra, K. 1998. From Post-Maoism to Post-Marxism: The Erosion of Official Ideology in Deng's China. New York: Routledge. Su, S. 1993. Marxism and Reform in China. Nottingham: Spokesman. Woo, W. 1999. "The Economics and Politics of Transition to an Open Market Economy: China. Washington: OECD. Zhang. 2013. Ideology & Econ Refor Under Deng. London: Routledge Zhou, S. 2011. changes in the official ideology in contemporary china. [online] Available at: http://www.griffith.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/333749/Zhou-Regional-Outlook-Paper-29.pdf [Accessed 18/05/2013] Read More