CC BY
65
social structure and social development социальная структура и социальное развитие
УДК 316.323.72
LU HANLONG,
Research Professor, Institute of Sociology, SASS
THREE MAJOR TRANSFORMATIONS OF CHINESE SOCIALISM
In the mid-1950s China completed the "Urban and Rural Socialist Reforms" and started to carry out socialism. Since then China had established a state dominating and central planning socio-economic system in about three decades. In 1985, the country launched a wide-ranging and full-scale economic reform. At the same time, China insisted that the country was heading toward the "socialism with Chinese characteristics". This article compares these two stages of socialist development in China, suggesting that the current socialist practice in China represents three major transformations of socialism: from the Idealistic "Great Egalitarianism" to the Realistic "Moderate Well-off"; from the "Wartime System" to the "Peacetime System"; from "State Socialism" to "Collective (group) Socialism", where family is reviewed as the basic unit of society but state is the largest and complex group.
Keywords: social transformation, socialism, China.
ТРИ ОСНОВНЫЕ ТРАНСФОРМАЦИИ КИТАЙСКОГО СОЦИАЛИЗМА
В середине 1950-х гг. Китай завершил «Городские и сельские социалистические реформы» и начал проводить политику социализма. Спустя почти три десятилетия в Китае был создан государственный доминирующий и централизованный план развития социально-экономической системы. В 1985 г. страна запустила широкомасштабную и всеобъемлющую экономическую реформу. При этом Китай настаивал на том, чтобы страна стремилась к «социализму с китайской спецификой». В статье сравниваются эти два этапа социалистического развития в Китае. Предполагается, что в нынешней социалистической практике в китайском государстве имеют место три основных трансформации социализма: от идеологического «большого эгалитаризма» к реалистическому «умеренному богатству»; от «военной системы» к «системе мирного времени»; от «государственного социализма» к «коллективному (групповому) социализму», в котором семья рассматривается как основная ячейка общества, а государство - как самая большая и сложная группа.
Ключевые слова: социальная трансформация, социализм, Китай.
The "Primary Stage of Socialism" and the New Model of China's Development
The 13th National Conference of the Chinese Communist Party in 1987 was a turning point of Chinese socialism. At that conference Deng Xiaoping for the first time gave his approval to the statement that socialism in China was still at its "primary stage". Moreover, Deng pointed out that such stage would last for a considerably long time1.
1 In March 1987 Deng approved the CCP's 12th National Congress documents that claimed that China was at the preliminary stage of socialism. This makes the assessment official.
Deng Xiaoping did not fully interpreter the theory of primary stage of socialism. He brought it out simply as a political decision. Nevertheless, such a theory provides the base for understanding Chinese socialism. It is derived from China's history, it does not trade off principles, and it is realistic about China's reality.
The French sociologist Emile Durkheim once gave an incisive comment on socialism. Durkheim believed that "socialism is to consciously reorganize economic lives". His lecture notes were published after his death, of which the first volume was entitled Socialism. Durkheim defined socialism as "Any theories that aim to combine economic conditions (which are now becoming universal), either entirely or in part, with social control and ideology as centre" [1, p. 45]. Here socialism is broadly defined and easy to understand. In particular, we should note that in Dur-kheim's theory the combination of economic condition, social control, and ideology could be achieved "entirely or in part". In other words, the key difference of different types of socialisms in the world is the level and the scope of the integration of economic condition, social control, and ideology. Indeed, the concept of socialism is meaningful only in the context of "socialism versus individualism". Socialism emphasizes on the control of free market economy, aiming to maximize individual interests through collective interests, consciousness, and actions. At the same time, socialism, in the name of public interests, impose limits on individual, asking people to sacrifice and make concessions for the sake of social justice.
From the 19th century on socialism as an ideal model of society has been largely misused. As early as in 1845 Engel complained that socialism in the mind of many Germans was "unclear and indistinct illusions" [2]. Lenin and Mao Zedong started to explore the possibility of carrying out socialism in non-industrialized countries and both had seized political power through violent revolution. We may say this is a kind of "social precocity". Such precocious socialism would have difficulties to integrate economic conditions, social control, and ideology at the right level. It has a tendency of putting "economic condition" entirely under social control and integrating it with communist ideology, causing the contradictions between economic base and superstructure. To a variety of degrees the communist countries in the 20th century all had such problems. At the time when economy was underdeveloped, these countries put economy almost entirely under political control and turned communist ideology into the guideline for economy. As a result, the economy was confined in the "planning" that may not be rationalized and it eventual hampered these countries economic development. In this regard, China was no exception.
Deng Xiaoping once said, the "primary stage of socialism" meant "socialism at an underdeveloped stage". He also pointed out that we were in fact not yet qualified for carrying out socialism [3]. These comments reflected the rethinking of Chinese leaders on socialism in China. China must break the confinement that has given too much weight on political control and ideology and China must find a new way of development.
Deng's assessment that China is still at the primary stage of socialism released China's ideological confinement and in recent twenty-plus years has brought forth
three major transformations in China. First, it has shifted China's strategic goal from the "Great Egalitarianism" (datong) to the "Moderate Well-off" (xiaokang). Second, it has gradually transferred China's wartime based social and economic system to a more peacetime, civilian oriented system. Finally, socialism in China has been changed from the "State Socialism" to the "Collective Socialism". I suggest that by analysing these three transformations we would have a better understanding of China's socialist system and its development in the future.
From the Idealistic "Great Egalitarianism" to the Realistic "Moderate Well-off"
Deng first gave his idea of setting the "moderate well-off society" as China's development goal in a conversation with the Japanese primer Ohira Masayoshi at the end of 1979. From then on up to 1992 Deng mentioned 28 times in his speeches about the concept of "moderate well-off". Here are a few noticeable peculiarities of his speeches.
1. In 1979 when Deng first mention the idea of "moderately well-off" he meant to indicate that China's modernization would differ from Japan's. It will be a medium developed.
2. In 1984 when the reforms in China's rural areas had been successful, Deng started to use the term, xiaokang shehui or "moderately well-off society". By adding the social dimension to "moderate we-off", the meaning of the term was enriched. Deng also said, "These are all our new concepts: doubling our GNP, modernization with Chinese characteristics, and moderately well-off society". Since then Deng had used the term "moderately well-off society" eight times on specific occasions. Not only the term is used to refer to the standard of living and economic development, but also it is applied to China's unification, educating the youth, Hong Kong and the "One Country, Two Systems" policy, the authorities of the central government, management with visions, and so on [3, p. 64, 206, 216, 278].
3. Deng usually mentioned the idea of "moderate well-off" to foreign visitors, which reveals that moderate well-off society is the Chinese version of modernization. It is particularly noticeable that Deng used the term on an occasion in 1986 when he received members of the Rong family who came to Beijing from all over the world1. Deng applied the term to call for "national unification". In that speech, the implication of "moderate well-off" was the Chinese culture, family, and lineage.
In general, the term "xiaokang" has two meanings. It usually refers to economically well-off and a moderately comfortable life, which is also what most of the common people understand the term [4, p. 3147]2. But xiaokang also has an academic meaning. In Chinese classics, the idea of "moderate well-off" is given in contrast to the idealistic "Great Egalitarian Society". Unlike the great egalitarian society, in
1 The Rong Family was China's textile tycoon. Most of the Rong family members left China after 1949. One of its heirs apparent, Rong Yiren, however, chose to stay in China and he is now the Vice President of the PRC.
2 Indeed, the common people use the expression of "moderate well-off family" in contrast to the "affluent and influential family" (dahu renjia).
the moderate well-off society the basic social unit is family and individuals can own properties. Such a society permits social inequality and also a government run by elite. It also needs a variety of rules and laws, including institutionalised hierarchy, to regulate people's behaviours. Deng wanted to get rid of the unrealistic "Great Egali-tarianism" and replace it with the pragmatic goal for a moderately well-off society.
This is a critical point in our analysis. Historically, in pursue of modernization, the Chinese, from Kang Youwei, Sun Yat-sen, to Mao Zedong, were more or less driven by the idea of establishing the great egalitarian society. We may say that the success of the communist revolution could be credited in part to the inspiration of the Chinese egalitarianism that had found an echo in Marxism. In Chinese history, the "Great Egalitarianism" as an ideal model of society often served as the ideology for the revolutionaries, while the "Moderate Well-off" represented ordinary people's hope for a better life and was often seen as a reformist view. After the Communist takeover, Mao integrated Marxism with traditional Chinese "great egalitarian" ideals. As a result, the state exceedingly controlled economic and ideology.
The greatness of Deng Xiaoping is that he broke the confinement of the great egalitarianism and brought China to a realistic way of development. Therefore, shifting from the Great Egalitarianism to Moderate Well-off is an important breakthrough [5, p. 124-144]. It has ingeniously put modernization and its social and humanitarian meanings into Chinese context. The masses quickly understood and supported the goal of Moderate Well-off. Inspired by this realist goal for a better life, the common people in China have seized the opportunity and worked diligently and ingeniously, making the recent two decades the fastest development age in Chinese history.
In China, the so-called a moderately well-off family means having a content and law-abiding middle-class lifestyle. It has been a synonym for social stability. In a global perspective, China makes positive contribution to the world by pursing a moderate goal of development. Since China has the world's 22 % population and to this day only about 17 % of the world population are living in developed countries. The increase of the standard of living for 22 % of the world's population will inevitably bring great impact onto the world. In other words, China's growth could be a "statistical concern" for many people in the world. China keeping a moderate living standard will therefore be an important condition to the global development and stability.
From the "Wartime System" to the "Peacetime System"
The reform in China was promoted by the open door policy. China in recent twenty-plus years had experienced a transformation from wartime military system to peacetime civilian system. Such a change was brought forth first of all by market economy. The general relaxation of ideological conflicts worldwide also helped such transformation. Overall, it is the logical result of China's opening to the world.
Following the Stalin model, socialism in China at the beginning was, as Mao put it, "to side with one side"1. The West, headed by the US, adopted a containment
1 Here Mao meant that China should side with the Soviet Union in order to counteract the containment of the West.
policy toward the new-born socialist China. From the Korean War of 1950 to the Taiwan Strait crisis of 1958, China had always been under the shadow of war. Some Maoist political terminologies, which were particularly dominating and popular during the Cultural Revolution, well reflected China's wartime psych: "We should be fully aware of the possible revenge of the landlords, rich peasants, anti-revolutionaries, bad elements, and the rightists", "The American Imperialists and the Soviet Revisionists are attempting to wipe out our country", "We must prepare for wars and famines for the sake of our people", "The entire nation should learn from the People's Liberation Army". A socialist system built on such a psych must have heavily burdened with wartime characteristics.
Moreover, the Communists seized the power through armed revolution. The first generation leaders were essentially military leaders. The communist cadres above the middle ranking of CCP's hierarchy were mostly military men being transferred to a government post. Up to 1956, many cadres had lived on the military need-based supply system. These people were familiar with military administration and management, which is an important reason for the wartime nature of China's planning economy. There are just too many examples in the Chinese political and socio-economic system to indicate its wartime culture. Here let's give a few. The State Council has a "Ministry of Civil Affairs", which parallels with the "Ministry of Military Affairs" that was set in the wartime1. The term houqing, which originally referred to logistics in the army, is still officially used in China today to refer logistical matters or logistical departments. Any manufacture or production sector in an industry may be called a "forefront" department, which has a clear military implication. A job is known as a "duty post" (gangwei). The widespread expression "step down from one's post" (xiagang, that is, being laid off) is indeed a military term.
The centralized planning, centralized production, and centralized distribution in China were all similar to military management. The well-known expression, the "big pot rice", is in fact derived from the way of catering in the army. The redistribution system in China paid little attention to the role of currency or accounting. It based primarily on administrative (or rather, military) order. The ration system, which included many daily necessities, cast heavy military shadow on people's everyday lives.
More importantly, such a military system was imposed not only on the economic life, it is in the social dimension as well. The People's Commune system initiated in 1958 put all Chinese peasants into a three-layer structure that was similar to the military: Commune, Production Brigade, and Production Team. In the city, all enterprises and businesses were organised into a tightly controlled work-unit system. These organizations had the full functions of a military unit. They were units for production, supply, job security, and social welfare [6]. The people's communes and the work units are the peacetime versions of wartime military system. It may
1 In the early 1950s, the Ministry of Civil Affairs was named the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
not be an exaggeration to say that prior to the reform era Chinese people all lived in a militarised unit. People's thoughts, public opinions, the ways of production, and lifestyles were all unified nationwide.
Any wartime system may emphasize on efficiency and enforcement. It may mobilize all resources and go with great sacrifices only for achieving a designated goal. Such a system may succeed for a wartime battle, but it can hardly prolong during peacetime. Also, wartime system requires things such as life-and-death fighting and mandatory order. These wartime mentalities caused an unprecedented disaster during the Cultural Revolution when the artificial logic of "class struggle" turned into a fatal strike to the entire nation. To this day we can still feel the lingering effects of these "wartime manner" that were inherited from that era.
Deng himself was a victim of such a disaster. After his return to the political scene, he participated in some major decision-makings of China's foreign policies and went abroad several times. He thus had the opportunities to see the changes of the world firsthand. Deng rightly indicated that the world was in the stage of "peace and development". This reassessment of China's international environment initiated the relaxation of the Communist Party's foreign policy. In particular, CCP became more realistic and objective in its outlook of the world powers. Therefore, Deng's economic reform can be generalized as transferring China's wartime system to peacetime system and allow the nation to run its economy on the rules of economy. Deng's thought of "Moderate Well-off" fits well with such transformation. All of the major changes in China since the early 1980s can be seen as the outcomes of a nation changing its wartime-based policies to international norms.
From State Socialism to Collective Socialism
Socialism in China, like in most of the communist countries in the world, was state socialism, in which the state uses political power to control economic distribution and ideology. State socialism in China has its Marxist origin, but it is also rooted in China's history and geography. For example, irrigation has always been an important factor in Chinese politics due to the agrarian nature of Chinese economy. In Chinese history the vast irrigation system that was vital to the nation could only be controlled and regulated by a centralized state.
After the founding of the PRC, China adapted the Soviet model of development, using the redistribution of political power to control economy directly. The redistribution of political and administrative power overlapped with economic and business administration and caused a lot of confusions. Also, such "state socialism" bore the same burdens of cost and administration as those in the welfare states in the West. As technological divisions of an enterprise were controlled by a governmental administration, economic efficiency deteriorated. The reform therefore can be understood as a process of power decentralization and redistribution. Naturally, in the process different interest groups emerged.
In the Western culture, the base of the society is individual. The society is a kind of "companion" relationship that is established through human communications1.
1 The original meaning of "society" in Latin is "companion".
Hence a society is a "group". But in Chinese culture, the society has a priority over individuals. The existence of individual is generally ignored and the group is regarded as the base of the society. The human relations within the group are maintained by kinship ties and the levels of closeness. Much of the relations outside the group are politics. So there is an overlap of society and politics in Chinese culture, which to a great extent has contributed to the heavy politicisation of Chinese socialism. In term of the concept of "group", the Chinese see the family as the basic group and the state the largest and the most complicated group. The principle tone of Chinese society has been the relation between the family and the state. This inclination of Chinese culture dovetailed well with the socialistic concept that was introduced to the Chinese in the modern time. The socialistic concept of sharing social wealth equally does not contradict with traditional Chinese concept of the group. In fact, the Chinese tend to accept such concept and, once the conditions allow, turn the country into a system of state socialism. The first three decades of Chinese socialism was in part based on these social and culture foundations.
Socialism in the West was developed through material civilization, market economy, and capitalism [7]. Material civilization shall be based on science, technology, and production forces, and market economy is based on individual rational thinking and calculations. All changes in the market are done through individual conducts. Based on the experience in the West, market economy and socialism are two conflicting concepts. Without reaching a certain level of material civilization China may not be able to build up socialism. Deng admitted that "poverty is not socialism" and market economy is the norm. However, should the "socialistic" market economy be based on individual interests? Deng's points on "letting some people get rich first" and "moderate well-being" have touched upon this critical question but have not elaborated on it. But now the development in China is indeed giving an answer to that question. Four centuries of economic development in the West started from the Enlightenment Movement that aimed to revive the values of individualism. After rational market system being introduced to China, the Chinese, who have always lived in a group-oriented system, could either take it as a rational system for group interest, or as a system that primarily focuses on individual interests.
The recent two decades of socialist market economy has revealed China's group-oriented, collective socialism. There are numerous economic forms in China that we may label as the "family economy", "group economy", "bureaucratic departmental economy", "local economy", "work-unit sideline economy", and so on. These economic entities are known to the outside world as "market economy" and to the insiders, "socialism". Whatever being called, they are all group-oriented.
China entered into a socialist society without having its prerequisite, that is, capitalism. Therefore, the characteristics of socialism in China are as the following. It lacks the cultural of individualism. Instead, the Chinese inside the group act like in a family, doing their best to be on the same line with each other on economic and ideological terms. Outside the group, they competed with other groups based on the rules of market economy [8]. On one hand, the market is still an important factor
and it can function among different social groups. Here the state power in adjusting market economy has been descended to adjusting the interests of different social groups - a phenomenon we may call the "Collective Socialism" [9]. On the other hand, the theory that we are still at the preliminary stage of socialism implies that China needs more individual based initiatives. In other words, we are also at the "primary stage" of individualism.
In the early twentieth century China had a great enlightenment movement that aimed to liberate individuality. This movement stimulated the growth of capitalism in China and at the same time brought communist and socialist thoughts to the nation. After the 1911 revolution, China might have a good opportunity for modernization, but the Nationalists lacked sufficient administrative power to purse the "human based" socialism that has been outlined in Sun Yat-sen's Three Principles of the People. Mao Zedong used a powerful state power to penetrate into the grassroots level society. Unfortunately, such a state socialism under communist ideology did not work. The economic reform in the last two decades of the twentieth century has woken up individual awareness in China and a quiet consume revolution has started. The modernization process in China has proved Deng's theory on preliminary stage of socialism. China, after going through the baptism of market economy, will revisit and readjust the traditional state-society relation and build up a new one.
References
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Date accepted: 18.10.2015.
