Nature of Chinese Communism under Mao (1949-76) and Deng (1978-97)
In reading through Jung Chang's book and her coverage of the Mao years, it must have occurred to you the question of how to understand the different policies and problems of Communist China. Well, some of the problems, such as rural poverty, although stemming from a preexistent condition, was aggravated by consistent state policies. Understanding how the Communist state operated is very useful in identifying its shadow on today's China and the continued problems the Chinese state needs to engage itself in.
1. Definition of totalitarianism:
Nathan defines China as resembling a totalitarian state with some deviations from the prototypical totalitarian regime of Stalin or Hitler. Hence, a definition of totalitarianism is in order:
Compared with traditional authoritarian states, where the state was often run by old power elites (e.g., kings, aristocrats), modern Totalitarianism tends to be based on mass parties and new dictators, with the state practicing "total" control of the people's lives--hence the reference, totalitarianism.
2. Mao's terror: differences and similarities to a totalitarian state:
Mao's terror was created within the work unit, thus instead of a single leader imposing uniform policies, different work units might produce different results. Also, instead of a classless, "flat" society, Chinese society was stratified in many ways, making total, uniform control difficult to achieve. Still, Communist China under Mao resembled a totalitarian state in its attempt to control and mobilize through a monolithic party system. (Nathan, p.50) The characteristics of Mao's state:
Using agriculture to subsidize industrialization (typical policy of most developing, including Socialist countries in the world. That was why the Chinese peasants were so poor.).
Industrialization based on a small number of large state factories led directly by ministries of the central government in a state regulated economy where prices were kept arbitrarily low to encourage development, and economy was centrally planned.
Rural/urban segregation: all households were registered locally and not allowed to move without permission of their work units. And almost every one belonged to a work unit.
Assignment of class backgrounds.
Ideological mobilization to legitimate the government.
Leninist single party dictatorship and the supreme leader, with an autonomous army loyal to him--the party chairman was usually also the chairman of the army.
Maoism differed from Stalinism because it was more decentralized, more local enterprises, creation of the unit and class status systems (p.51)--I must add all these directly affected how much food one could buy per month, since food was rationed, and food coupons were issued according to household registration of people, age and gender.
3. Deng's reform and his state:
After the death of Mao, Deng Xiaoping, the Chinese leader who followed the technocratic approach in the 1950s-60s and was one of the first "capitalist-roader" to be criticized in the Cultural Revolution, along with his boss Liu Shaoqi, the chairman of the People's Republic of China, started a series of economic reforms and resumed a technocratic approach to economy. It has been characterized by:
State relaxation of price control, greater autonomy to state enterprises, and ultimate introduction of market economy.
Encouragement of foreign investments.
Abandoning the class status system and reducing the rural/urban gap.
Gradual abolition of the work unit system.
Continued political campaigns and mass mobilization, although Deng tried to avoid being a dictator.