Socialism in China: Has it Been Achieved - Coursework Example

Student Name: Tutor Name: Unit: Date: Socialism in China: Has it been Achieved? introduction There is a paradox in Chinese society as illustrated by the economic and social change that has taken place in the post-Maoist era. According to Zhang (2002) the communism of Mao Ze Dong might have been replaced by ‘Chinese socialism’ however it still retained many facets of that way of life. Mao Ze Dong’s communist ideologies officially still guide the policies of modern China according to Goodman (nd). However, this represents only the surface of the real situation in China where while the government keeps a tight rein on the political situation and largely functions as a socialist dictatorship, the economic space has opened up, meaning more Chinese are free to operate as they please, within reason. Social democracy can be defined as the political ideology that supports transcendence of capitalism through democracy. This concept has gained traction in China in recent years. This is due to the slow development of political reform and the necessity of minimising socio-economic inequalities produced by market-oriented reform. The current socio-economic policy of China is based upon social democracy and includes the ‘theory of Three Represents’ and the right to protection of private property. This signified the start of democratic socialism in China. Many by-words touted by the Hu-Wen government including ‘people-centred approach’ are inspired by the West to a large extent. Many concepts that were part and parcel of social democracy are now part of ‘socialism with Chinese characteristics’. The CCP adapts the lessons learned from the experiences of other nations and crises when necessary leading to adoption of various aspects of democratic socialism. These have been segued into social and economic policies without loss of identity or denial of its socialist roots. (Li, 2011) In the wake of the recent global financial crisis that came with some negative costs, China still managed to outperform Japan to emerge as the world’s second largest economy in 2010 with a steadily decreasing gap between it and the United States. This increases the attractiveness of democratic socialism with stress on state-led development. The prospects for implementation of democratic socialism by the Chinese leadership are low because of the challenge this would present to the party-state. At the present time, there is no sign that the CCP will switch to a democratic socialist party or introduce multi-partyism (Li, 2011). BACKGROUND The People’s Republic of China was born on 1st October, 1949. The country’s economy was based in agriculture with an almost non-existent industrial sector. Emerging from a period of Japanese occupation that lasted eleven years, the new republic yet faced menace from external forces viz the United States and France through Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and India for the former and Vietnam for the latter. Furthermore, it was necessary to rebuild the Chinese economy in order to become self reliant, create heavy industry in order to be able to defend the country, light industry for the benefit of the populace, and enable increased production of food in the rural areas both for consumption and sale. These goals had to be achieved against a background of low level technology, and less than 0.4ha per labourer of cultivated land. Therefore, increasing production of land meant reorganisation of labour rather than mechanisation; which in any case would have increased rural unemployment. This scenario was responsible for the shaping of economic policies, strategies for industrialisation and rural production in China (Rojas, 1997). In the eight years after 1950, when reorganisation of labour and land ownership had been undertaken through land reform and cooperativization, the CCP incepted two units of production that would be their basis for socialism: The industrial sector divided into ‘small and complete, large and complete’ units which indicated that each industry was self-sufficient for everything they required for production. In addition, each industry was required to provide social facilities for workers such as nurseries, schools, hospitals, shops and houses. This stemmed from the philosophy that the production units are to be utilised as social tools to provide a secure environment for the development of the individual. Thus the Chinese incepted a political solution to an economic problem. The rural sector which was the rural version of small but complete, large but complete’ model of production. The people were organised into communes in order to utilise labour-intensive activities aimed at overcoming bottlenecks in rural infrastructure such as irrigation works, roads etc. they were also aimed at facilitating a smooth segueing from collective ownership to socialist land ownership. It also avoided creating labour redundancy in the countryside. The peoples’ communes were a political solution to an economic problem (Rojas, 1997) social and economic inequalities Marxist discussion on equality has two features: Any type of social equality is a factor of certain economic relations. The nature of social equality dictates that it has a class nature (Li, 2008). The Marxists also state that the rights of a society cannot exceed its economic structure, and the cultural development that results there from (Marx & Engels, 1962a). thus the elements that most lead to social inequality are economic relations and labour division. This state of affairs is inevitable in the initial phase of socialist society. When the People’s Republic of China was established, the principle of Marxism was a dominating philosophy in the revolution and reconstruction of China. While the fall of the Soviet Union has added weight to the western argument that there is only one road to prosperity, the truth of the matter is that there is no one size fits all model given the diversity in political, social, historical and cultural conditions. It remains with each nation to chart its own way forward and this is what the People’s Republic of China has achieved by embarking on the audacious, drastic yet pragmatic economic restructuring nineteen years ago. The Chinese model does not fit into a typical socialist model nor does it completely discount it. It has instead formulated its own prototype dubbed ‘socialism with Chinese characteristics’. This has been a slowly evolving concept that has faced obstacles and opposition from within the Party. This perspective is distorted by the division of China into Mao and Post-Mao eras, yet behind the concept is a steady evolution that is a continuous ‘seeking of truth from facts’. All the concepts of Marxism as relates to China, that is adherence to the proletarian dictatorship and primacy of socialism as well as the supremacy of the leadership of the communist party indicate that China is in the initial phase of socialism. All of which are part of the Maoist heritage (Zhanyang, 1993). While Deng Xiaoping (1983) did contribute a new train of thought viz the achievement of universal prosperity by first allowing a few to get rich, the reform and open door policy and socialist market economy, these were grown out of Mao Zedong roots and not completely new. As a result, China has made remarkable economic progress however this has been accompanied by an accumulation of serious social problems along the way (Adlakha, 1998). chinese policy China recently released a white paper detailing the country’s ethnic policy with emphasis on inter-ethnic harmony and equality. The focus on the paper was on every aspect of development to do with minority groups. It stated categorically that China endorsed the ethnic autonomy of the regions that these groups occupy, making regional ethnic autonomy a basic policy and political system of China. The past six decades have seen the growth of ethnic minority populations from 6-8.4 percent in the period ranging from 1953 to 2000, which was the year of the last census. By the end of 2008, China boasted 155 ethnic autonomous areas. Of the population living in poverty within these minorities, the numbers had shrunk from 40 million in 1985 to 7.7 million in 2008. The number of Tibetan Buddhist temples numbers over 1700 and there are over 20,000 mosques in Xinjiang. Ethnic culture is protected via publication of books in these ethnic languages as well as schools which are bilingual. China also pledges to spend a significant amount of its GDP in boosting the economies of these areas (China Daily September 28, 2009). China aims to have a basic health care system in place by the year 2020 which will be capable of providing safe, effective, convenient and affordable health services to the population of both urban and rural China. The State Council announced expenditure of 124 billion dollars to implement the reform in the three years from 2009-2011. The basic healthcare is to be provided as a public service therefore, government funding and supervision is a prerequisite. To ensure fairness and equity once the service becomes available, the formulation of plans and policies, fundraising, service provision and supervision needs to be strengthened. This is the first occasion at which basic medical services which is a basic right of citizens has been defined as a public service. The problems that currently plague the health care system including lack of access, and affordability can be blamed on various factors. The massive development gap between rural and urban areas, negligible government funding, ineffectual facilities at the grassroots, and the growth of disease burden (Xinhua News Agency April 6, 2009). conclusion The question that we sought to answer within this essay is whether China has achieved socialism. An examination of its policies and way of life has led to the discovery that the country does retain aspects of socialism including the tradition of integration of all aspects of the individual’s well being within the environment at which he works. This includes provision of schools, hospitals and homes within the vicinity. However, there has been a diversion from conventional socialism in that the state does not officially own many industries anymore but has created space for the private sector to take over at least partially. The growth of a nation as has been seen naturally results in socio-economic inequalities that are being addressed by the Chinese government at least at the policy level for the time being. Therefore perhaps China has not quite achieved socialism, but it is set upon that course, ‘with Chinese characteristics.’ bibliography Adlakha, Hemant. (1998). Towards an Understanding of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics. Gyan Publishing House. 5, Ansari Road, Darya Ganj, New Delhi - 110 002. China Daily. (2009). Gov't to uphold ethnic minority policies. Retrieved 07 May 2018 from: http://www.china.org.cn/government/central_government/2009-09/28/content_18615972.htm Goodman, David, S.G. ‘Why China has no New Middle Class: Cadres, Managers and Entrepreneurs’ Excerpt Li, He. (2011). The Third Way: China’s Intellectual Discourse on Democratic Socialism. EAI Background Brief No. 648 Li, K. (2008). Contemporary Interpretation of Marxism Equity Theory. Journal of Inner Mongolia Agricultural University (Social Science Edition), 10(2), 267. Marx, K., & Engels, F. (1962a). Karl Marx and Frederick Engels: selected works in Two volumes (Vol. 2). Moscow: Foreign Languages Pub. House. Rojas, Robinson. (1997). The Chinese Attempt To Build A Socialist Society (Notes). The Robinson Rojas Archive. The Political Economy of Development Deng Xiaoping Wenxuan. (1983). Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping 1976-1982 People's Publishing House, Beijing, p. 261. Xinhua News Agency. (2009). China unveils health-care reform guidelines. Retrieved 07 May 2018 from http://www.china.org.cn/government/central_government/2009-04/06/content_17559519.htm Zhanyang, Wang. (1993). Mao Zedongdp jianguo fanglue Y'J dangdai Zhongguo de gaige kaifang, (The State building policies of Mao Zedong and the current reform and opening up of China), Guilin People's Publishing House, p. 643. Zhang, Li. (2002). ‘Popular China: Unofficial Culture in a Globalising Society’. Ed. Perry Link, Richard P. Madsen, and Paul G. Pickowicz. Lanham, Rowman and Littlefield Publishers Inc Read More

This increases the attractiveness of democratic socialism with stress on state-led development. The prospects for implementation of democratic socialism by the Chinese leadership are low because of the challenge this would present to the party-state. At the present time, there is no sign that the CCP will switch to a democratic socialist party or introduce multi-partyism (Li, 2011). BACKGROUND The People’s Republic of China was born on 1st October, 1949. The country’s economy was based in agriculture with an almost non-existent industrial sector.

Emerging from a period of Japanese occupation that lasted eleven years, the new republic yet faced menace from external forces viz the United States and France through Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and India for the former and Vietnam for the latter. Furthermore, it was necessary to rebuild the Chinese economy in order to become self reliant, create heavy industry in order to be able to defend the country, light industry for the benefit of the populace, and enable increased production of food in the rural areas both for consumption and sale.

These goals had to be achieved against a background of low level technology, and less than 0.4ha per labourer of cultivated land. Therefore, increasing production of land meant reorganisation of labour rather than mechanisation; which in any case would have increased rural unemployment. This scenario was responsible for the shaping of economic policies, strategies for industrialisation and rural production in China (Rojas, 1997). In the eight years after 1950, when reorganisation of labour and land ownership had been undertaken through land reform and cooperativization, the CCP incepted two units of production that would be their basis for socialism: The industrial sector divided into ‘small and complete, large and complete’ units which indicated that each industry was self-sufficient for everything they required for production.

In addition, each industry was required to provide social facilities for workers such as nurseries, schools, hospitals, shops and houses. This stemmed from the philosophy that the production units are to be utilised as social tools to provide a secure environment for the development of the individual. Thus the Chinese incepted a political solution to an economic problem. The rural sector which was the rural version of small but complete, large but complete’ model of production. The people were organised into communes in order to utilise labour-intensive activities aimed at overcoming bottlenecks in rural infrastructure such as irrigation works, roads etc.

they were also aimed at facilitating a smooth segueing from collective ownership to socialist land ownership. It also avoided creating labour redundancy in the countryside. The peoples’ communes were a political solution to an economic problem (Rojas, 1997) social and economic inequalities Marxist discussion on equality has two features: Any type of social equality is a factor of certain economic relations. The nature of social equality dictates that it has a class nature (Li, 2008). The Marxists also state that the rights of a society cannot exceed its economic structure, and the cultural development that results there from (Marx & Engels, 1962a).

thus the elements that most lead to social inequality are economic relations and labour division. This state of affairs is inevitable in the initial phase of socialist society. When the People’s Republic of China was established, the principle of Marxism was a dominating philosophy in the revolution and reconstruction of China. While the fall of the Soviet Union has added weight to the western argument that there is only one road to prosperity, the truth of the matter is that there is no one size fits all model given the diversity in political, social, historical and cultural conditions.

It remains with each nation to chart its own way forward and this is what the People’s Republic of China has achieved by embarking on the audacious, drastic yet pragmatic economic restructuring nineteen years ago.

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