CHINA: A PART FOR THE PARTY?
By Mumia Abu-Jamal
Column Written 7/16/01
All Rights ReservedSimply put, China is on a roll.
The world's most populous nation has most recently plucked the nose of the world's lone superpower by pulling down and dismantling a sophisticated spy plane, its economy is booming in a world which is experiencing a distinct chill, and it has just been awarded a berth as host of upcoming Olympic Games in its capital city, Beijing.
The Olympics award was a particular plum as it came amidst an unprecedented spate of Western attacks on China for its human rights regime. From the Chinese perspective such a concern for the "human rights" of Chinese people, coming as it does from some of the very countries that savaged China during the imperialist period, seems somewhat hollow. The Chinese remember well the Opium War (1839-'42) when Britain forced China to sell and allow transport of opium, which severely damaged their nation and drained their economy for Western wealth.
Even now, 150 years later, China is seen by many in the West as an exploitation field, a vast population that can pump trillions of yuan into Western economies. When Western capital views China, they do not see the latest manifestation of one of the eldest civilizations on earth; they see a churning, yellow sea of 1.3 billion consumers, who they wish to sell Nike sneakers, Apple computers, Marlboro cigarettes, and McDonald's cheeseburgers.
They see profit.
Very recently, the Chinese Communist Party (CPC) held its 80th anniversary ceremony in Beijing's Great Hall of the People, where CPC general secretary (and President) Jiang Zemin recalled the long period of China's semi- colonialism and feudalism.
Jian recounted the long and frustrated historical attempts to oust foreign exploiters, and to organize a strong national polity. He recalled various nationalist movements, like the Opium Wars, the Movement of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the 1898 Reform Movement and the Tihetuan Movement (known to the west as the Boxer Rebellion), all of which were unsuccessful, he contrasted this with the origin of the CPC (in 1921), with some 50 members, and the present of an independent China, with a CPC membership of some 64 million, arguably the largest on earth.
President Jiang's speech also noted the role of the Party as a representative of the working class, and an agency of its interests:
"The Chinese working class is a product of China's social development, particularly the expansion of large-scale, socialized production since modern times. It has a strong sense of organization and discipline and is firm and wholeheartedly for revolution. The Communist Party of China has identified itself as a political party of the Chinese working class ever since its founding and has remained the vanguard of the working class, which has laid a solid class foundation for maintaining its advanced nature... With intellectuals being part of the working class, the scientific, technical and academic level of the working class has been raised considerably. Now we have adopted the basic economic system under which public ownership plays a dominant role in the national economy while other forms of ownership develop side by side. We are shaping a socialist market economy and introducing strategic readjustments to the economic structure."
The CPC general-secretary spoke of something called the "Three Represent's Theory," and called on the party to adhere to the ideological guidance provided by "Marxism- Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, and Deng Xiaoping Theory."
While it is unclear what "Deng Xiaoping Theory" is, it seems to be the innovation of a "socialist market economy," or a kind of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
While the Chinese economy has undoubtedly undergone dramatic transformation, President Jian left no doubt as to the prospect of political transformation, telling the thousands there assembled, "We must resolutely resist the impact of Western political models such as the multiparty system or separation of powers among the executive, legislative and judicial branches." (China Daily, 7/2/01, pp. 4-6).
These are but some glimpses of the New China.
© 2001
Text © copyright 2001 by Mumia Abu-Jamal.
All rights reserved.
Reprinted by permission of the author.International Action Center
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