To many, modern China epitomises the “communist dream” of an egalitarian society along with a thriving market economy — something that was never imagined by their ideological forefathers. Socialist leaders, Marxist scholars, political parties and their affiliate groups and institutions around the world celebrate this grand success of their ideological peers. It also proved the futility of Francis Fukuyama’s “End of History” thesis that proclaimed the decisive win of capitalism and democracy over communism after the fall of the USSR. Communism and socialism are very much there, kicking and challenging the Western hegemony of global capitalism.
China is a “civilisation state” with an imperial history of around 2,000 years. Not all of the dynasties that ruled China were Chinese, in the sense that they were not all of ethnic Han Chinese in origin. The historical legacy continues to influence attitudes in contemporary China that includes the Opium War and the impact of the West in the 19th century, peasant rebellions, cultural nationalism as part of response to the challenges posed by the West, military occupation by Japan, the civil war between communists and nationalists, the rise of Mao Zedong and the radical experiments of the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. The Chinese leadership was committed to wash away the stains of “century of humiliation” and emerge as a strong state. After founding the People’s Republic, it focused on its socialist transformation, “completing the transition from New Democracy to socialism, establishing the basic system of socialism and developing socialism economically, politically and culturally”. It was argued that only a strong, unified China could prevent a repetition of that period of national humiliation.
The formal structure of China’s government in the early years of the PRC closely resembles the model of the Soviet Union which was a one party state. The Chinese Communist Party not only solely represents the working class or the people, but also the state, its institutions and overall policymaking. It wielded unparalleled powers and China was practically governed under a dual party-state system in which organs of the government are shadowed by the CCP monitoring bodies. There was considerable overlap between personnel in the government, the People’s Liberation Army and party hierarchy. China’s first proper constitution adopted on 20 September 1954 also drew heavily on the Soviet constitution of 1936. It enshrined the principle that PRC would be led by the working class effectively represented by the CCP and it would dominate China in the foreseeable future.
The Chinese Communist Party derives its powers and character from its constitution. According to the constitution of the CCP, amended and adopted at the 16th CPC National Congress on 14 November 2002, “The Communist Party of China is the vanguard both of the Chinese working class and of the Chinese people and the Chinese nation.” The realisation of communism is the highest ideal and ultimate goal of the Party. The party takes inspiration from Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought and Deng Xiaoping theory and the combined three is its guiding force to action.The highest ideal of communism pursued by the Chinese Communists can be realised only when the socialist society is fully developed and very advanced, which is a long historical process.
The primary objective of post-Mao economic planning was how to initiate reforms to revive the economy without reducing political control. The essence of socialist economic reform with,“Chinese characteristics” was to create a unique blend of socialist public ownership with market economy. It was a major breakthrough of traditional Marxist economic theories and a fundamental shift from other communist societies. It was an unprecedented move for primarily two reasons: public ownership and market economic mechanism is contrary to the thesis of classical economics and Western orthodox economics that believes that only capitalist private ownership could sustain with market economic mechanism. And secondly, it was against the traditional Marxist theory that believes that public ownership of any form can’t coexist with a free market economy, and private ownership of all types should be eliminated. By combining the public ownership and market mechanism the Chinese economic model negated both the Western orthodox economics and Marxist economics.
Deng Xiaoping had played a pivotal role in China’s transformation. “Deng Xiaoping Theory was the outcome of the integration of the basic tenets of Marxism-Leninism with the practice of contemporary China and the features of the times, a continuation and development of Mao Zedong Thought under new historical conditions; it represents a new period of development of Marxism in China, it is Marxism of contemporary China and it is the crystallised, collective wisdom of the Communist Party of China. It is guiding the socialist modernisation of China from victory to victory”. In leading the cause of socialism, the Communist Party of China must persist in taking economic development as the central task, making all other work subordinated to and serve this central task.China had lifted the official ban on private farming in 1982 and by 1983 almost completed the de-collectivising of the agricultural sector. Deng famously said that to open the economy, the party would have to “let some people get rich first”. His most famous catchphrase — “It doesn’t matter if a cat is black or white; as long as it catches mice, it is a good cat” — became immensely popular among policymakers. His passionate endorsement of market economics laid the foundation of modern China whose trade and business model swamped the world.
Officially PRC called itself a “Socialist Market Economy” that allows a considerable degree of capitalism and globalisation; but the bureaucracy still holds significant influence and control over the forces of production and distribution in the state, predominantly the CCP, decides the direction of the Chinese economy. Commenting on China, economist Nicholas Lardy, author of The State Strikes Back, said that the private firms in China currently account for roughly 70% of the country’s output (gross domestic product). However, Lardy has also argued that a reversal in economic liberalisation by favoring the state-owned firms began after Xi Jinping took over the leadership of the communist party in 2012. Interestingly, contrary to most liberal assertions that the market economy paves the way for opening up of the political system, China became more rigid and ruthless after the Tiananmen Square massacre. Chinese economist Zhang Weiying even argued that China’s success in recent years has “not been because of the state, but in spite of the state”.
The membership of the Chinese Communist Party that was originally open only to workers, peasants, and intellectuals, was made flexible to accommodate professionals, government servants and entrepreneurs. It created a storm when the names of the founders of the three Chinese Internet giants — Baidu’s Robin Li, Jack Ma of Alibaba and Tencent’s Pony Ma — together make up the “BAT”, appears in the People’s Daily list of 100 peoples whom the Central Committee of the CCP decided to honour for their contributions to the reform and opening up. The membership of the party rose to 92 million and every 15th person in China is its member. Some of the richest men in China including Jack Ma, Wang Jianlin and Xu Jiayin are party members.
Modern China boasts of the ideological legacy of Marx, Mao and Deng, but simultaneously presents contrasting images of state capitalism and political authoritarianism; economic marvels and the debt trap, also refers to as new economic colonialism; mega SEZs, multinational companies and large concentration camps; the policy of peaceful rise of China and the Chinese bullying, aggressive military posturing in the South China sea, Asia Pacific, Ladakh and Central Asia; the claim of being a People’s Democracy and the muzzling of people’s democratic voices in Xinxiang, Tibet and Hong Kong; and its anti-terrorism policy while supporting the rogue states and globally-designated terrorists for political reasons.
The author teaches Political Science at the Lady Shri Ram College for Women, DU.
