SUN WUKONG 'Red capitalists' unravel the party line
By Wu Zhong, China Editor
HONG KONG - In an apparent move to defuse a decades-old ideological debate,
China's Vice President Xi Jingpin, who is widely tipped to succeed President Hu
Jintao, has proclaimed that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has turned itself
from a "revolutionary party" into the "ruling party".
For observers, it is plain to see that the CCP is the ruling party of China, so
Xi's statement seems to be tautologous. But for party members and Chinese
people in general, this is a new definition of the CCP which is of great
significance in theory and in practice. It may even be a breakthrough for a new
round of the "emancipation of minds".
Late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping's political wisdom was to
shelve thorny issues that might impede progress. For example, in April 1978, a
dispute rising from the sovereignty over the Diaoyu Islands (called Senkaku
Islands in Japan), a cluster of barren islets north of Taiwan and south of the
Ryukyu Islands, flared up and threatened to disrupt the signing of a peace
treaty between China and Japan.
Deng demanded the territorial dispute be shelved. In October of that year, Deng
visited Japan and attended a ceremony to exchange the instruments of
ratification for the Sino-Japanese Peace and Friendship Treaty. When he was
asked about the Diaoyu Islands issue, he said, "The issue of Diaoyu Island ...
could be set aside for the moment; probably the later generations would be
cleverer than us and would find a practical solution."
At home later that year, Deng started economic reforms aimed at turning the
socialist command economy into a capitalist-style market economy. He was fully
aware this was a revolution that would spark fierce political and ideological
debates which could ruin his goal. In turn, he used all his authority to
suppress attempts to instigate such debate. The issue of whether the economic
reforms were socialist or capitalist "must never be debated, not in 100 years",
Deng said in what was later called his "political will" during an inspection
trip to the south in 1992, his last public appearance.
Deng's pragmatic approach proved successful in pushing forward economic
reforms. However, the tough stance also meant many necessary political and
ideological changes were put off and now must be clarified in face of
fundamental changes in Chinese society.
Foremost among these issues is how to define the CCP in a capitalist-style
market economy.
According to classical Marxist, Leninist and Maoist theories, political parties
are products of class struggles with each party representing the interests of a
certain social class. A communist party is thus the vanguard of the
proletariat.
In fact, the current CCP constitution still stipulates just that: "The CCP is
the vanguard of the Chinese proletariat ... The highest ideal and ultimate goal
of the party is to achieve communism." According to the charter, China must
"uphold [the] socialist road, uphold people's democratic dictatorship, uphold
the CCP's leadership, uphold Marxism, Leninism and Mao Zedong thought ... and
oppose bourgeois liberalization".
But if the CCP remains a revolutionary party representing the interests of the
working class, how can it lead reforms aimed at developing a capitalist-style
market economy?
After Deng's death in 1997, this "contradiction" has been used by orthodox
Marxist ideologues led by Deng Liqun, the CCP's former propaganda tsar, to
attack economic reform and open-door policies as trying to "restore
capitalism". In the view of Deng Liqun and his cohorts, this goes against the
principles of the party itself. In recent years, Deng Liqun has found dozens of
young followers mainly based in Beijing.
Nevertheless, in practice the CCP has quietly adopted a pragmatic approach
toward this problem by accepting people from various social sectors - including
"red capitalists". This approach has gradually changed the CPP into an
"all-peoples party" rather than the so-called "vanguard of the proletariat".
According to Vice President Xi, the number of CCP members was 4.4 million in
1949 when it seized power, growing to more than 36 million by 1978. By end of
2007, party membership jumped to 74 million, of which 70% were new members who
joined the party after Deng's economic reforms. The number of CCP members in
the private sector now totals more than 4 million.
But change has come quietly for the CCP. The party shied away from publicly
abandoning revolutionary rhetoric until now. The timing is good: after 30
years, Deng's reform and open-door policy have taken root. The few surviving
senior revolutionaries and orthodox ideologues are getting old (Deng Liqun is
now 93 years old) and their young followers wield little influence. Addressing
the issue in today's political and economic climate is unlikely to stir up
serious debate.
It was against this backdrop that Xi Jingpin on September 1 told new students
at the Central Party School, the CCP's top training center of which Xi is the
president, that the CCP has matured from a party of revolution into one which
"holds the power to rule the country in the long term". His full speech -
23,000 Chinese characters in total - was later published by the Study Times,
the official newspaper of the Central Party School.
Analysts say Xi certainly wasn't just offering his personal opinion, but
announcing a policy decision made by the top CCP leadership. This signals -
after 30 years of economic reforms and openness - the CCP is finally willing to
declare its departure from revolution.
"It is good that finally the CCP explicitly says goodbye to revolution.
'Revolution' always reminds people of the cruel struggles during the early CCP
rule under Mao. And declaring itself as the ruling party, it must try to
continue and consolidate its rule by devoting its efforts to better serve, and
thus 'flatter', the majority in society, rather than relying on violent means.
This is big progress," a retired political science professor at Nankai
University told Asia Times Online.
Still, the CCP may have to revise its charter to reflect this change and its
new emphasis on putting people first, he added.
Chinese dissidents in exile, however, have criticized the announcement,
claiming that it does nothing to change the actual nature of the party. For
example, Xu Shuiliang wrote that calling the CCP a "ruling party" does not
change the fact that it remains a one-party dictatorship. After all, opposition
parties are still not allowed.
There is difference, however, between a revolutionary party and a ruling party.
By calling itself a "ruling party", the CCP must be responsible for its rule.
Therefore, CCP officials must take responsibility for what happens under their
jurisdiction. The CCP must now be subject to public supervision, while as a
revolutionary party, it could always suppress dissent in the name of "the
revolution".
On celebrating the 30th anniversary of Deng's reforms, Chinese leaders,
including Hu himself, have encouraged officials to further "emancipate their
minds". In this regard, Vice President Xi has set a fine example by addressing
a thorny ideological issue.
Hopefully, this will encourage more officials to follow suit, and more new
ideas to take root.
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