China dumps Marxism
First step towards multi-party democracy
ON November 14, the week-long 16th Party Congress of the Communist
Party of China (CPC), convened at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, attended
by nearly 2115 delegates came to an end. Hold every 5 years, usually in
September or October, the Congress is where the party’s as well as the
country’s top leaders are formally selected and board new policy proposals are
launched. So this year’s Congress commenced but delayed by nearly two months,
on November 8. It may be recalled that in the previous Congress, held in
September 1997, President Jiang Zenin brought his proposal, popularly known as
‘Jiang’s Plan’, that it called for whole-sale privatisation of the then
existing 300,000 Chinese public sector undertakings. The delay in planning this
year’s Congress gave rise to much speculation among the political analysis and
most of them believe that infighting at the highest levels of Chinese leadership
was the main cause of the delay.
Many expected that Jiang would use this Congress to step aside and make
room for Hu Jintao, who had been anointed by the ex- President Deng Xiaoping
nearly a decade ago, as the successor of Jiang, now 76 had already served for 13
years as the most powerful man in China and held 3 most important posts
together, namely (1) the President of the State, (2) General Secretary of the
Communist Party and (3) the Chairman of the Central Military Commission which in
effect made him the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. And most of the
observes believed that it would be quite reasonable for him to relinquish all
the three posts and thus giving opportunity for the fourth generation leaders to
take up.
However, at the concluding session of the Congress on November 14, Jiang
gave up only one post, the General Secretary of the Communist Party and he
retained the two other posts. However, Jiang will have to give up, willingly or
unwillingly, the post of state presidency in March next year, because by that
time he will have served the maximum two 5 year terms specified by the Chinese
constitution. While he could retain the military post for an indefinite period,
till his death, as it does not have such a constitutional provision. It may be
mentioned here that his predecessor Deng Xiaoping held on to that military post
for more than two years, after leaving all other posts. Others believe that,
ultimately Jiang will have to vacate all the posts in near future as the party
regulation says that a leader above 70 should give up.
But anxiety lies in the fact that Jiang, for past two years, was silently
carrying out a campaign among the bureaucrats aimed at building up a support for
a ‘keep Jiang’ movement. Moreover, he was utilizing the state controlled
media to built up an air that Jiang is indispensable for China’s economic and
political interest and instability will spring up in his absence. So it appears
that his present unwillingness to give up the said two posts is a reflection
that Jiang will not retire quietly.
On the other hand, Jiang has succeeded to stack the Politburo Standing
Committee, the most powerful body of the party, with so many of his cronies that
it would render the transfer of power to Hu meaningless. At the same time, Jiang
has engineered an expansion of the said Politburo standing committee (PBSC) from
7 to 9 members and out of this 9 members of the newly formed PBSC, sixes Jiang
faithful. Many believe that this is the result of manipulations, which Jiang
carried from the moment he assumed the post of state presidency – he utilized
his office to raise his chosen people to prominent position so that they could
get an entry into PBSC without much difficulty.
So, many apprehend a severe political infighting in near future which may
distract the leaders from China’s pressing social and economic challenges such
as rising unemployment epidemic corruption. Hence Chen Li, a professor and
China-specialist at the Hamilton College in the US, says, “Jiang has made a
terrible mistake under meaning Hu and deciding to hang on to power. This may
invite political chaos and instability”.
Another China-expert Arthur Waldron at the university of Pennsylvania
says, “Jiang is hanging on because he is not ready to go”.
It is also not true that Jiang and Hu are mortal enemies. They were
working together for past ten year and both held similar views about tackling
the present problems of the country. At the present Congress, Hu appreciated the
policy of economic liberalization initiated by Deng and he also vowed to respect
Jiang’s theory of “Three Represents” and hence to include, once shunned,
capitalist into the party.
But
at any rate, Hu must have to consolidate his power and decline to act as an
instrument of Jiang. In the past, every Chinese leader, since Mao, established
his power by ousting the followers of his predecessor. Deng ousted Mao’s
faithful Hua Guofeng in 1978 to become the supreme leader and, following the
footprint of Deng, Jiang got rid of Deng’s choice Chen Xitong, the then
Beijing party chief by ordering an arrest in 1995, on the charges of corruption.
Before that Jiang purged another Deng’s faithful, Zhao Ziyang, in 1989. “So,
Hu will have to move against someone in Jiang’s camp to show his strength”,
says W u Guoguang, a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
“Jiang’s power-play may kill the prospect of a political reform in China”,
and he adds. “So, it is to be seen what Hu Zintao does to established himself
as the most powerful man in Chinese politics”, says an analyst.
So
far, the Chinese leaders managed to have fudged this serious inconsistency under
the euphemism----“socialism of Chinese variety” is important to note here
that our Marxist leaders were also extensively using the term firstly to cover
the total failure of Marxism China, and secondly, to befuddle the common people
of this country. But time has come for the Chinese leaders to dump Marxism in
the junkyard for their own survival, otherwise they will be kicked out of power
in no time by the new powerful class of private entrepreneurs.
Capitalism
in China:
Beside selection of new leaders and transition of power, the present
Congress was important for another reason. President Jiang had to get his
“Three Represents” concept, claimed to be the latest modification of Marxist
ideology, to be rectified by the congress Mao Zedong perceived a classless
socialist China having no exploitation and private property as visualized by
Marx. But his successor Deng Xiaoping could discover that the Marxian model of
socialism, based on state owned production system controlled by an economy is a
utopian concept, which can never be put into practice. This is a due to the fact
that state controlled public sector undertakings cannot operate profitable.
So to save Chinese economy from an imminent disaster, Deng
re-introduction the institution of private property and capitalist mode of
production in China nearly two decades ago. But unfortunately, he did not
undertake any political reform and allowed the one-party dictatorial rule to
continue and thus he turned China into a unique country in the world where
capitalist market economy was being run by a totalitarian
set up based on the doctrine of---------.
On the other hand, due to introduction of capitalism, a new
of wealth domestic enterprise grew very rapidly. “China now past nearly
10,000 entrepreneurs each $10 million or
more”’ says the Beijing based Chinese Academy of
Sciences. Moreover, a recent she has revealed that China’s affluent
ranks are among the fastest growing in the world. In 1989, the 50th
position a list of 100 richest China businessmen was occupied by an entrepreneur
having assets worth $ -----million. But in this year, the same 50th
position has been boasted by capitalist worth $110 million.
An example may be given here to estimate the economic might of the new
class and their influence in today Chinese society. Huang Qiaoling is one of the
richest men in China, who has accumulated his fortune of a few billions of
dollars by launching a ----management company. Recently, he has built a replica
of the White House the official residence of the President of USA, in his home
city of Hangzhou spending more than $10 million. Every details of the White
House, from drawing room to the dinning hall, --------been immaculately
reproduced. “Everything you see here is just like Washington. Only its all
mine”’ say Huang to his visitors. The government in Beijing asked an
explanation saying “What motivated you to copy building of world’s most
------ imperialist?” Huang in his reply said “I can built anything I like
with ------ money”. Such an audacious reply against a government query was
unthinkable even 5 years ago.
But the problem is how he accommodates this new influential -------- into a political party that spouts Marx rhetoric and paints capitalists a bloodsucker of the working class. On the other hand, it has become very urgent to bring them into the party share administrative and political power; otherwise in near future -------.
THE
CHOSEN ONES
THE DROPPED-OUTS
will utilize their economic and social influence to oust the present leaders and grab state power. So the party constitution should be amended to facilitate not only their joining the party as members, but also their admission into the party Central Committee, the highest policy making body of the country.
Considering this vastly changed political, economic and social landscape
of the country, President Jiang Zemin, nearly 2 years ago floated his “Three
Represents” concept. The three elements of Jiang’s theory were (1) advanced
productive forces (or the new class of rich domestic capitalists), (2) advanced
culture for the new political and social system, and (3) broad interest of the
people (or the well being of the common mass, including workers and peasants).
Most of the hard-liners were contemptuous about this new theory and convinced
that through this backdoor, Jiang was trying to establish bourgeoisie rule
firmly in China.
Bao Tong was one such leader and in the second week of August, he
publicly expressed his reaction in this regard by writing an article. He wrote,
“The party now looks only for its own interest, and offers nothing to Chinese
peasants and workers, who were promised moon in 1949, when the Communists came
to power”. In the same article, Bao urged the delegates of the forthcoming
congress to resist Jiang’s effort to insert the said “Three Represents”
theory into party constitution and any future efforts to put the said concept
into practice.
Bao also advised Jiang to step down entirely and criticized those who
were propagating the view that Jiang’s exist would bring instability. “If
China’s stability depends on a single individual, then the situation must have
been very dangerous, and very tragic too”, wrote Bao. Obviously, Bao earn
extreme displeasure of the top party leaders and, as a result, he is now living
in his house in Beijing under constant surveillance.
While commenting on this developments, Lin Hong, a professor at the
Beijing based Research Centre for contemporary Chinese politics says;
“Economic reform and marketisation cannot on their own make a society more
balanced, but rather cause new imbalances. ….If China’s political system is
not flexisible enough to absorb pluralistic political participation, this could
cause social instability”. So, according to him, present economic and social
set-up of China needs a pluralistic political system, or in other words a
multi-party democracy. And if the Chinese leadership still remains obsessed with
the rigid one-party dictatorship, as dictated by the communist ideology, the
result will be a serious social instability.
As a matter of fact China is communist in name only. Its economy is
entirely capitalistic with Asia’s busiest stock market in Shanghai. Its
private sector has emerged third largest in the world, which is accounting for
more than 70 percent of its domestic GDP. So far, the Chinese leader managed to
have fudged this serious inconsistency under the euphemism—“socialism of
Chinese variety”. It is important to note here that, our Marxist leaders were
also extensively using the term, fastly to cover the total failure of Marxism in
China, and secondly, to befuddle the common people of this country. But time has
come for the Chinese leader to dump Marxism in the junkyard for their own
survival; otherwise, they will be kicked out of power in no time by the new
powerful class of private entrepreneurs.
Role
of the 16th Congress
In the opening session of the Congress President Jiang Zemin justified
Deng’s police of infusing capitalist features in a command economy and
repeated the famous quotation of Deng that reads, “It does not matter if the
cat is black or white, as long it catches mice”. In his 68-page report he
urged the delegates to keep pace with time and said, “We must move forward, or
we will fall behind”. He also asked the delegates to roll out the red carpet
for the capitalists and said, “We should admit into the party the advanced
elements of the social strata (i. e. the capitalists) who accept the party’s
programme in order to increase the rallying force of the party”.
“It is time to welcome private entrepreneurs into the party”, he
added. As a matter of fact, it was for the first time, a communist of China gave
an open call to the capitalists to join the party, in the 81-year history of the
CPC. He appealed to the delegates and said, “We must respect work, knowledge,
competent people and their creations and this should be an important policy of
the party and the state”.
In the 68-page report, Jiang has put maximum emphasis on economic reform
and said “Economic reform and opening up are the ways to make China
powerful”. But at the same time he declared that exciting one party
totalitarian political system would continue and said, “party should remain
central to China’s development”. The report though made passing remark on
importance on a political reform, but did not disclose what type of reform the
present leadership wants to undertake. While introducing its theory of “Three
Represents”, he said, “China will undertake political reform as well, but
that will not be a copy of the Western-style political system”.
There is no doubt that the ultimate aim of the capitalists is to
establish multi-party democracy in China by overthrowing the present communist
dictatorship, because multi-party democracy suits their aspirations best. It
should be pointed out here that historically this political system came up as a
child of today’s capitalism and hence there is no doubt that introduction of
capitalism would ultimately bring in the said political system in China too.
In fact, Jiang’s report has put emphasis on three aspects-firstly the
economic reform initiated by Deng and secondly, the party dictatorship of the
Communist Party would continue. And thirdly, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA)
would be modernized with the help of up-to-date science and technology. At the
same time, he said that the 2.5 million PLA, the world’s largest standing
army, should remain under the strict control of the party. So he said, “The
need of the hour is fewer but better troops”. He also said. “The army must
take Mao Zedong’s military thinking, Deng’s thinking on army building and
the important thought of “Three Represents” as its guideline”. He advised
the army to remain loyal to the party and said, “Three must be no wavering in
upholding the fundamental principles and the system that the party leads the
people’s army”.
Future
of China
It has been pointed out earlier that President Jiang Zemin has succeeded to
expand PBSC from a seven-member to a nine-member committee. On 15th
November, the first plenary season of the 16th central committee of
CPC, held at the great hall of the people of Beijing elected 9 members. Out of
these 9 members only two of them, bearing Hu himself, namely, Wen Jiaboa and Luo
Gan are Hu’a, and the rest are Jiang’s faithfuls.
It is known that the new leader Hu is a mute and less important political
personality. He has attended hundreds of Politburo meetings, but never asserted
himself and not invited even a single press conference till date. He came to
light only four years ago when he was selected Vise-President of the country and
in the previous year, he undertook his only foreign towers to Moscow. In the
1980s, he was the provincial party President in Tibet and presided over the
violent crack down of the resentment of the Tibetan people.
In Chinese politics, the PBSC is the most powerful boby and the next most
powerful is the CC and the majority of the members of these two bodies, as
narrated above, are Jiang’s Cronies. This would certainly turn Hu powerless,
or in other words, Hu will be forced to play a puppet of Jiang. So the question
naturally arises how long Hu will continue to parrot Jiang? But most of the
analysts belief that Hu will not any positive step in this direction before
assuming the office of the state of the Presidency in March, 2003. The most
important part of the episode is that, Hu will have to win the support of a
powerful Lobby to clean the CC and the PBSC of Jiang’s companions. And many
others believe that he will have no other alternative but to seek the assistance
of the powerful capitalist Lobby to consolidate his power. It is obvious that
the capitalists, in return, would demand some kind of a political reform that
would suit their entrepreneurial efforts and help them to get rid of the rigid
communist control.
There is no doubt that the ultimate aim of the capitalist is to establish
multi-party democracy in China by overthrowing the present communist
dictatorship, because multi-party democracy suits their aspirations best. It
should be pointed out here that, historical, this political system came up as a
child of today’s capitalism and hence there is no doubt that introduction of
capitalism would ultimately bring in the said political system in China too. So
to reach their goal, capitalist of China would immediately demand, as the first
step more freedom to the people freedom of speech, freedom of press and
religious and spiritual freedom. They might also raise the demand for lifting
the exciting ban on the Chinese democratic party (CDP) and the Falun Gong
spiritual sect. So, with all probability, they will try to initiate the
much-wanted Democratic Revolution in China, which was once crushed brutally in
the Tiananmen Square in 1989.
All the above-mentioned developments clearly indicate that China is now on the
threshold of a so-called democratic revolution and the entire world is
impatiently weighting to se how that political transition takes place in China.
Many except that the said political transition would take effect, as soon as Hu
Jintao takes the office of the President. Others believe that to do something
meaningful, Hu should have to gain control over the military. “Hu have to
snatch both the military post and the state Presidency by March, 2003, otherwise
his power will ebb slowly within next two years” says the editor of a
state-run newspaper.
Whether that imminent political transition would be peaceful like Russian Perestroikaika or a violent one is a matter of speculation. If Hu Jintao succeeds to fight out the military post in his favor it would certainly be a peaceful process. Otherwise, it would depend on two factors. Firstly, How Jiang and his army resist halting that transition and secondly, how far the capitalists are ready to go.
|
||||
