PRC State Ideologies

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PRC State Ideologies

• from Marxism-Leninism to The Chinese Dream

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Political Ideology

• A systematic set of ideas
• explanation of political phenomena
• criteria and standards of evaluation
• social and cultural orientation to define and
  affirm individual and collective identity
• program of political action
• Lenin What is to be done?

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Pillars of Communist Regimes

• Marxist ideology
• Karl Marx (1818 - 1883)
• Communist Party
• Lenin (1870 - 1924)
• command economy
• Stalin (1879 - 1953)

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Marxism

• Dialectics
• contradictions and class struggle
• Materialism
• productive forces, economic structure, and
  superstructure
• in time proletariat will be emancipated from
  capitalist exploitation through an international
  revolution

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Leninism

• Marxist revolution can happen
• in one country
• before industrialization
• before capitalist democracy
• Bolshevik party
• highly disciplined
• hierarchical organization
• of professional revolutionaries

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Mao Zedong Thought

• practical politics and inconsistency
• continuous revolution in a backward agrarian
  society of half a billion peasants
• the red versus expertise debate
• revolutionary change
• smooth administration
• technical expertise
• ultimate goal of making China strong

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Mao Zedong Thought

• attacked traditional Chinese culture
• especially the network of relationships
• replaced with class identity, nationalism, and
  new loyalty
• incorporated traditional elements
• ideological indoctrination
• Maos monopoly on determining what would
  constitute correct ideology for China

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Voluntarism

• properly motivated people could overcome
  virtually any material odds to accomplish their
  goals
• contradicts Marxist materialism
• e.g. the Great Leap Forward
• 1958 - 1960

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Mass Line

• A leadership doctrine developed in 1940s
• vanguard role of the party
• dictatorial leadership
• strong participatory role for the populace
• before decision making
• during implementation of policy initiatives
• from the masses to the masses
• intended to avoid losing touch with masses

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Mass Campaigns

• concentrated attacks on specific issues
• through mass mobilization of the populace
• social or political transformation
• economic development
• e.g. Suppression of Counterrevolutionaries (1951)
• e.g. Great Leap Forward (1958 1960)
• e.g. Cultural Revolution (1966 1976)

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Struggle

• directly contradict Confucian ideal of harmony
• bad class labels
• landlords
• capitalists
• rich farmers
• violence

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Egalitarianism

• frugal living
• Confucius those who head a state do not worry
  about scarcity but about inequality

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Anti-Intellectualism

• In Maos view, intellectuals
• embodied the traditional culture
• lost touch with the masses
• used technical expertise to counter revolutionary
  enthusiasm
• reinforced social inequality
• repression of intellectuals cost China a
  generation of highly trained specialists

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United Front

• unite with all who can be united
• united with Chiang Kai-shek to fight Japanese in
  1930s
• united with democratic parties to fight Chiang
  Kai-shek in late 1940s

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Class Struggle

• Maos unorthodox interpretations of Marxist class
  concepts
• class labels were assigned in 1950s
• carried by every resident until after Mao died
• class status could be determined by political
  attitude
• e.g. capitalist-roaders during the C.R.
• class status could be hereditary

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Self-Reliance

• Mao keep the initiative in ones own hand
• whether a community could sustain itself even in
  adverse circumstances
• the sudden withdrawal of Soviet aid in 1958
• Maoist China strived to minimize its dependence
  on any single foreign country

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Political Hierarchy
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Current PRC Constitution

• Under the leadership of the Communist Party of
  China and the guidance of Marxism-Leninism, Mao
  Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, the
  important thought of Three Represents, the
  Scientific Outlook on Development, and Xi Jinping
  Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics
  in the New Era, the Chinese people ...

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Deng Xiaoping Theory

• emancipate minds
• and seek truth from facts
• It doesnt matter whether the cat is black or
  white as long as it catches mice
• cross the river by groping for stones

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Jiang Zemins 3 Represents

• the Communist Party represents the development
  requirements of China's advanced social
  productive forces

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Hu Jintao Harmonious Society

• China Daily In a harmonious society, the
  political environment is stable, the economy is
  prosperous, people live in peace and work in
  comfort and social welfare improves.

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President Xi Jinping