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A Nation at the Crossroads
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11768 |
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Section : |
CURRENT ISSUES
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| Issue
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4 / 1987 |
2,381 Words |
| Author
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David Chen
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Early in December 1986, students of the prestigious National University of Science and Technology in Hufei, the provincial capital of east China, took to the streets to demand more liberty.
It was a relatively orderly procession and, to a certain extent, took place with the approval of senior school authorities. In many ways the students' action was the natural consequence of the reformists' endeavor to further release the forces of productivity.
Their action was soon taken up by students of at least another dozen universities, including universities in Shanghai and Beijing, respectively the industrial colossus and the seat of power of the vast People's Republic of China (PRC).
Except for some domestic grievances, the demands of the young people were practically the same: unanimous support for the reform policies that have been the central theme of the authorities in recent years, a faster pace in the political evolution of the system, and an awakening to the need for a greater degree of liberty in all spheres of life.
The authorities' response was sharp. Within a couple of weeks, not only were rallies banned, but drastic action was taken against their immediate instigators and those seen as the root cause of such dissension.
The results were the resignation of the party's top man, Hu Yaobang; the expulsion of three noted activists from the party; and the launching of an "antibourgeois liberalization" campaign that initially appeared to portend all the dreaded aspects of a bloody campaign of yesteryear: the Cultural Revolution.
In spite of repeated pledges by the leaders, the atmosphere on the mainland is frosty. Not only are literary figures imperiled, but the chill is spreading to other areas. The word 'reform' is now rarely pronounced. Price restructures, which are an essential ingredient in urban reforms, are frozen. Wealth and material incentives are little heard of. In their place is the repeated exhortation that the Chinese Communist Party is supreme and its principles must be upheld. As for Western influences, the authorities drew a fine line between the areas of trade and technological cooperation and the metaphysical region of thoughts and ideals, categorized as "bourgeois liberalization."
Contradiction within Deng
The seemingly contradictory positions that now exist side by side in China are a reflection of the mentality of the man who is the overall leader of the country - Deng Xiaoping.
A close follower of Mao Tse-tung, Deng is an orthodox Marxist, though he lacks Mao's ability to expound convincingly the Marxist doctrine. Deng's orthodoxy is reflected in his active participation in the antirightist campaign of the late 1950s, the strangulation of the Beijing Spring of 1979, the formulation of a policy of upholding the "four cardinal principles" that champion the tenets of communism and the Chinese Communist Party, the campaign against spiritual pollution in the early 1980s, and the drive against "bourgeois liberalization."
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