Part 6: Socialism 3.0
Part 6: Socialism 3.0
As a result of the PDRUÖ (People’s Democratic Revolution of the United Orient), China experienced an unprecedented boom in
economy and general living standards.
However, for the first time, typical macroeconomic problems such as overproduction and high
debt levels also emerged; this happened because corporate strategies were not aimed at maximizing profits,
but rather at increasing corporate growth and operational size.
State entrepreneurs aimed solely to maximize sales figures and expand their enterprises to create jobs and
boost production capacities for export.
After Deng’s death, the contradictions of socialism 2.0 reached their peak:
On one hand, corporate management produced too little of the needed products and too much of those
already in surplus.
The main cause was the lack of state control over corporate leadership and management itself, leading to a
conflict between market and planned economy aspects.
On the other hand, globalization and rapid technological development around the turn of the millennium introduced
two entirely new contradictions for Chinese culture:
Firstly, the expanded global connectivity, especially at the individual level, significantly weakened the knowledge monopoly
and moral authority of elites.
Since technological barriers to the rapid flow of information worldwide were dismantled, many Chinese
people began to align themselves for the first time with the standards of the most developed regions of the world.
This greatly reduced tolerance for global social inequality and led to a convergence of ways of thinking.
Secondly, new technologies, especially information technology, did not necessarily lead to a reduction in hierarchical structures in material
production; instead, they refined and complicated existing hierarchies.
The trend toward outsourcing gained importance — division of labor in production did not completely abolish hierarchical structures but used
globally distributed processes to share costs within and between countries.
This results in a more fragmented and diverse connection between workers and means of production; global competitive pressure increasingly shifts onto
simple workers, while the trend of outsourcing services, driven by network technologies, gradually weakens the middle class in various countries.
Developments and successes of socialism since 2014
Xi, who assumed the office of General Secretary in 2012, faced major political challenges at the beginning of his term, mostly arising from the contradictions listed above.
The widespread corruption, which had become established through Xi’s predecessor’s decentralization in many parts of
production, was declared a fight by the CPC under its new General Secretary in 2012.
In addition to direct bribery, since 2013 foreign companies involved in unfair competitive restrictions have also been prosecuted.
In the first three and a half years of the campaign, until October 2016, around one million party members were prosecuted for
“violations of party discipline.”
Along with this, assets worth approximately 38.7 billion Yuan (around 6 billion Euros) were confiscated from convicted individuals.
Furthermore, over 100 high-ranking officials holding leadership positions within the party or provincial ministries were removed from office and most were expelled from the party.
In addition, hundreds of thousands of officials, civil servants, and lower-level state employees were disciplined.
At the same time, the CPC launched comprehensive projects to promote the study of Marxism in everyday life — including further support for the “Marx Project,” which, besides completing the Marx-Engels Gesamtausgabe (Complete Edition), aims to advance fundamental research on Marxism-Leninism.
The most important component of Chinese Marxist research, however, is the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, which among other tasks aims to further develop the theory and practice of Chinese socialism as a distinct system (SMCC).
Unlike in the USSR, the achievements and mistakes of theory and practice in China are dialectically contrasted and surpassed; Xi said regarding this:
“Why did the Soviet Union dissolve? Why did the CPSU collapse? An important reason is that their ideals and beliefs were shaken. The ruling banner on the city tower changed overnight. These are important lessons for us. To dismiss the Soviet Union’s history and to dismiss the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Lenin, Stalin, and everything else would be to venture into the realm of historical nihilism, which would mislead our ideas and party organizations at all levels.”
The influence of Marxism undoubtedly regains greater importance in CPC politics under Xi, as does international solidarity and networking:
On the 200th birthday of Marx, an international networking meeting took place in the metropolis of Shenzhen, attended by 75 communist and workers’ parties, including the “Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist-Leninist)” and the Ukrainian Communist Party.
Additionally, the CPC, along with nearly all other communist parties worldwide, participates annually in the “International Meeting of Communist and Workers’ Parties,” most recently under the motto “
“Solidarity with Cuba and all struggling peoples. United we are stronger in the anti-imperialist
struggle, together with social and popular movements, in the face of capitalism and its policies, the
threat of fascism and war; in defense of peace, the environment, workers’ rights, solidarity, and
socialism” in Havana, October 2022.
In November 2017, Xi announced the beginning of a new era of socialism in China:
The first phase of socialist construction, characterized by Deng Xiaoping’s economic development and the advancement of productive forces, had concluded.
The long-term plan to achieve complete socialism by 2049 is now in its second phase.
For this second phase, Xi redefined the core contradiction:
The main contradiction in the latter half of the initial stage of socialism is no longer between the continually rising material and cultural needs and the backward social production, as in the Deng era, but between balanced and insufficient development.
Xi Jinping is shifting the focus from pure economic growth to a more balanced growth that emphasizes social equality, poverty reduction, and ecological sustainability.
Although China is still in the first stage of socialism, the party sees in the “new era” the need to increasingly focus on the rising needs of the people.
This encompasses not only material and cultural aspects but also the desire for a clean environment, rule of law, socialist democracy, equality, justice, and security.
To achieve these goals, the CPC plans a multi-phase approach to conclude the “initial phase” of socialism.
The “Made in China 2025” initiative aims to establish China as a leading global manufacturer in various sectors and to break the monopoly of Western industrialized nations on advanced technologies.
By 2035, the socialist modernization of the economy should be largely complete:
This is currently mainly driven by foreign investments and exports.
Through reform and renewal of state-owned enterprises, China aims to develop a strong domestic market based on a growing middle class.
This should lead to a more sustainable and less export-dependent economic development.
The achievements of the first phase of socialist construction are extensive; here are the key points:
- The lifting of 800 million Chinese from absolute poverty: This figure becomes even more impressive when considering that these 800 million account for about 70% of all people lifted out of poverty worldwide since the 1970s.
A World Bank representative told the World Hunger Relief: “We are quite sure that China’s success in rural poverty reduction was achieved — but given the resources invested, we are less certain that it was (…) cost-effective.”
For capital and its representatives, ending poverty seems only worthwhile if it is profitable.
In 2014, 1.4% of Chinese were still in poverty according to international standards, but by 2017, based on the Chinese poverty line, it was 3.1%, reflecting a higher poverty threshold. - The complete eradication of hunger: For the century before the revolution (1849-1949), an estimated 100 million people died of hunger; today, the number is zero.
- Economic development: Since 1949, China’s GDP has grown on average by 9.4% annually, making it the fastest economic growth in history.
- The literacy rate increased from 65.5% in 1982 (Deng Xiaoping era) to 96.3% in 2015.
- The common argument that the enormous economic growth does not benefit the people cannot be further from the truth: between 1978 and 2015, the real income of the poorest half of the population grew by 401% (!), compared to just 12.3% in Germany during a similar period.
During this time, the average Chinese salary increased from approximately €56 (1995) to €717 (2016) per month — a growth of 1280%. - According to the UN’s Human Development Index, China’s quality of life, with a score of 0.73 in 2016, has been classified as a “high human development country” since 2010, experiencing the fastest quality-of-life growth (1.57% per year) in the world.
With these facts, one could fill many pages; however, many “leftists” seem indifferent to these achievements when judging China, claiming it is not socialist enough.
In Deng Xiaoping’s words: “It doesn’t matter whether the cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice.”