What Has NOT Changed in China?
An Analysis of the Chinese One-Party Dictatorship
The Epoch Times
October 12, 2009
By Professor Li Dong Oct 12, 2009
Exactly 60 years ago, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) came to power after a bloody civil war and established the "People's Republic" of China. The CCP was able to win the civil war because most Chinese people were disappointed with the legitimate Guomindang government, a corrupt and undemocratic regime, and the CCP made wonderful promises. Two of them were especially appealing: The first is the promise of land reform, made to the peasantry who made up 0ver 80% of the population. The second is the promise of democracy, made particularly to the better educated urban people.
What happened to both of these promises?
Land Reform and Famine
Immediately after the CCP gained control of the mainland, it introduced a nation-wide land reform. This was a violent campaign which killed millions of country gentry and annihilated the entire landowning class. Anyway, peasants got their land, right? Wrong. Hardly had the land reform been concluded, when the CCP launched its Soviet-styled agricultural collectivization drive.
Peasants were forced to give up their newly-acquired land to agricultural co-operatives and people's communes, and thus began their 30-year socialist ordeal; during 1959-1962 at least 36 million peasants died of starvation in a nation-wide famine. This worst famine in human history was caused entirely by Mao Zedong's lunatic economic adventurism called the Great Leap Forward. It is therefore quite legitimate to contend that the promise of "Land to the tiller" was a big lie and the CCP had betrayed Chinese peasantry.
Then, what of the promise of democracy?
Promise of Democracy a Lie
A study of China's history after 1949 shows it was another big lie, with the CCP betraying the Chinese people, who had believed and backed the Party in its drawn-out bid for power. It was interesting to note that when the Government of the People's Republic of China was first formed in 1949, it did include some nominal figureheads who were not CCP members. Three out of the country's six vice premiers were non-CCP members. All were middle-of-roaders and fellow travelers. But each of them vanished without fanfare, until 1956 when every vice premier was CCP members; even nominal figureheads were no longer tolerated.
Today a superficial scan of China's Governance arrangements would show that China has what we call the super structure of a modern state – it has a legislature, an executive branch and even a judiciary system, similar to the United States. Let us, however, look a little more closely at each of these. more ...
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