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. . . . ' . ~ ' . . ........ &'·15 a m..m· s r 1Nl i rn· 'e.' . ...... .. .. .. . . . . . . : . The 1989 Student Democratic Movement: ALegal Perspective The Chinese socialist legal system developed steadily after its re-establishment by the Third Plenum in 1978, according to Deng Xiaoping's vision of political stability . A framework was secured for building socialism in a peaceful environment. For more than a decade, Communist Party leaders tried to reconcile Chinese Marxism with a positive notion of socialist law and for more than six years, 1983-89, the Party attempted to graft the political system on to a constitutional scheme. Current legal reform was based on the hope that China was heading towards a comprehensive socialist legal order. But encouraging signs that China was turning away from ideological concerns to more practical ones, geared to socialist construction, did not dissipate scepticism concerning the Party's commitment to a legal order. Behind the optimism, one could always perceive limits on the rule of law, namely those imposed by the Four Cardinal Principles. The proclaimed harmony between law and Party leadership merely obscured latent conflict. The crux of the matter was the extent to which a legal order was feasible in a Communist regime, with a political tradition hostile to law and enshrined in Marxist ideology. Nevertheless, the increasing political tolerance shown by the regime considerably tempered Party arrogance and gave more scope for the development of a legal order. One might see that a political crisis could provide a test of the Party's commitment to the rule of law.! In retrospect, legal order, under Deng, never proceeded smoothly. It had to survive the two-year campaign against 'spiritual pollution' after 1983 and the short-lived campaign against 'bourgeois liberalization' after the 1986 student demonstrations. Yet survive it did. The Party continued with reform and handled any crisis legally. 1. See Chapter One on 'The Impact of Ideological Upheaval on the Legal System in China'. 272 Towards a Chinese Socialist System and a Chinese Theory of Law There was never so tough a test for Deng and the Communist Party's commitment to law as the 1989 democratic movement. The movement was triggered off by the death of Hu Yaobang - the disgraced former Party General Secretary - and culminated in the massacre by the military in Beijing on 4 June 1989. A nationwide political and ideological purge then followed. Has that crisis shattered hopes for socialist modernization in general and a legal order in particular? Clearly the bloody incident raises serious questions concerning the salience of law and its adequacy for crisis management, as laid down by the 1982 Constitution. The incident shows the limits of reform. In order to evaluate the June-Fourth incident, we must understand the Communist leadership's mentality in crisis management under an atmosphere of an apparent higher degree of political tolerance shown by the regime in the reform era. The Political Tolerance in Deng's China Deng Xiaoping's policy of 'promoting democracy and strengthening the legal system ' indicated a move towards a more tolerant society. Yet Deng was somewhat conservative and his contribution to democracy consisted merely in clearing away some of the forces hostile to democratization. It was after his apparent and temporary 'retirement' in 1985, that the two Party General Secretaries, Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang, took steps to push for a more liberal society, each with different emphases. The former was more explicitly democratic while the latter concentrated on developing a freer economy. The downfall of Hu Yaobang following the student movement of 1986 highlighted the fact that Deng, though in 'retirement', was still the dominant actor in Chinese politics when crises occurred. Deng was tolerant, but within pre-set limits. Democratization, he felt, should never jeopardize political stability and the unity of the regime. The scope of democracy was constrained by the Four Cardinal Principles. Democratizing the Political System As the 1982 Constitution indicated, Deng promised a democratic political system.2 Indeed, the slogan 'developing socialist democracy' was constantly stressed throughout the 1980s. As the Party saw it, the pace of democratization depended on the progress of legal reform; democracy had to be promoted through the legal system. But not all agreed on the pace. Hu Yaobang, supposedly the most liberal and democratic Communist leader, reacting to escalating anti-democratic sentiments within the Party, suddenly raised hopes for democracy in the aftermath of the campaign against 'spiritual pollution'. In 1986, the appeal to 'a socialist political system that is efficient, democratic and supported by a legal system...

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