Examining Chinese Political Theories Part 2 - Mao Zedong's Thoughts

After the civil war is over in 1949, across the Taiwan Strait in the mainland, the theory that reigned supreme for almost 30 years since the founding the PRC is Mao Zedong's Thoughts. In essence, it is just Communism with Chinese Characteristic. The classic Communist's proletariats, once extended to China, has to include the largest political constituent in that period, namely the peasants working in the vast farmland across China.

Mao's emphasis on incessant class struggles to perpetuate the purist Communist dictatorship cannot be regarded as mere attempt at conceptualising his assertion and retention of his personal political power. He is more likely convinced of the primacy of his theory in a largely rural and semi-feudal country where he continuied to regard class struggle as the way forwards even when his task was to build and construct a nation. The various episodes of anti-rightist campaign, great leap forward and the cultural revolution have certainly tarnished the otherwise unblemished record of pre-1949 Mao's contribution.

Some of Mao's thoughts on class struggles, collectivism, guerilla warfare, which were once regarded as the unquestionable principles, have limited, if not, indeed any relevance today. Even what Mao's consider as the inalienable right to rebel against the reactionaries has gone down to the pages of history.

Instead of delivering a good governance after founding the PRC, CPC under Mao was busy instituting one revolutionarycampaign after the other creating massive loss of lifes and massive destruction of cultural fabric as well as economic stagnation when other societies who lost the WW II and Civil War have achieved remarkable economic growth.

Despite this, there is no question that there are peoples today who are nostagic of Mao's era where emploment were secured, education and healthcare were state funded. They recalled fondly of the equality in the Mao's era when everyone is poor and grumbling bitterly over the widenning social gap of present day. These views are legitimate not so much that Mao's thought was right or better, rather it was the failure of the successive administration to give the sense of equality of opportunity and the absence of safety net for those who are unable, for one reason or the other, to make it on his own. In another word, in spite of better peoples livelihood generally in the last 30 years, the call for social justice and social security are dearest to many hearts and there is no wonder that Hu Jintao is emphatic on this issue.

Assessing Mao's thoughts, in historical perspective, it was a revolutionary ideology. It was successful when CPC was a revolutionary party and Mao failed to make the necessary revision when the CPC became the ruling party. For example, the land reform was very popular with the peasants but the large number of landowners, whose land were confiscated, were also made to pay for their life. Never mind that the land confiscation was crude or maybe unfair (depending whose side one takes), what worse, was the life extermination that was cruel and unjust (no matter whose side one takes). The policy was populist but it was also a policy of the tyranny by the majority which didn't make it right.