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1 39 The People’s Republic of China’s Sixty Years of Political Development yu฀keping The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) overthrew the rule of the Kuomintang and founded the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1949, marking the transition of the CCP from a revolutionary party to a ruling party, a substantial change of far-reaching significance for both the CCP and China. Thereafter, the primary task of the party and its government changed from seizing political power to consolidating it, from destroying the old state to building a new one. The foundation of the CCP’s legitimacy also gradually changed from revolution to reform and from political movement to law making. This political development advanced down six main paths: from revolution to reform, from struggle to harmony, from dictatorship to democracy, from rule of man to rule of law, from centralization to decentralization, and from state to society. This transition was slow and difficult and did not approach completion until China launched its reform and opening-up program thirty years later. The entirety of political life in the PRC over the past sixty-five years, with all its tragedy and drama, can be explained along these lines of change. From Revolution to Reform Revolution is an armed struggle with the aim of overthrowing the existing political order and making a thorough social transformation by means of violence. In the words of Friedrich Engels, “A revolution is the act whereby one part of the population imposes its will upon the other part by means of rifles, bayonets and 01-2535-0 chap1.indd 39 3/28/14 10:17 AM 40 Yu Keping cannons—authoritarian means.”1 Marxists believe that “revolutions are the locomotives of history” and a powerful driver of human progress.2 According to their logic, no reactionary class will depart the stage of history on its own accord; only through violent revolution can a new society be established. The CCP, by applying the Marxist revolutionary theory to China’s peculiar conditions to mobilize workers and peasants at the bottom of society and carry out a resolute armed struggle, eventually seized political power. In this sense, the founding of the new socialist state in China also marked the victory of Marxist revolutionary theory. Revolution was sacred to the Chinese Communist Party and the newly established People’s Republic of China. During the thirty years following the founding of the PRC, revolution was the shining political term and represented the highest political value and the highest political authority. Revolution was a formidable weapon not only for seizing political power but also for consolidating it. It was the fundamental source of legitimacy for the new government and all its actions. As a result, revolution became the fundamental political criterion dividing right from wrong in China. All thoughts, speeches, behaviors, systems, policies, and guidelines that were approved by the party and government were revolutionary, and thus whatever was opposed or not approved by the party and government was counterrevolutionary or nonrevolutionary. According to the political logic of the leadership, all counterrevolutionary forces must be resolutely suppressed. During the 1953 Campaign to Suppress Counterrevolutionaries, a total of 1.29 million people were arrested, 1.23 million were disciplined, and 710,000 were executed.3 Mao Zedong and other leaders also set about transforming every aspect of Chinese society, including ideology and culture, under the name of continuing “permanent revolution” until the fulfillment of communism. Mao Zedong said, “I stand for the theory of permanent revolution. In making revolution one must strike while the iron is hot—one revolution must follow another, the revolution must continually advance.”4 Acting on this theory of continuous revolution, Mao Zedong launched one political campaign after another, from the Anti-Rightist Movement to the Cultural Revolution. Led by the CCP, the people’s revolution fundamentally changed the historical process of China. It not only established the CCP’s ruling position but also created for the first time in China a socialist system, including an economic system based on common ownership of the means of production and a basic political system with the people’s democratic dictatorship at its core. The socialist revolution greatly advanced China’s social and historical progress. First, it substantially increased the country’s productivity, leading to rapid economic development within a short time. In 1952 the gross output of industry and agriculture 01-2535-0 chap1.indd 40 3/28/14 10:17 AM [18.119.130.218] Project MUSE (2024...

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