CONFIDENTIAL
054333
MDHIAN 2
IT
4. FOR THE WORK REPORT OF AN OUTGOING PARTY CENTRAL COMMITTEE, WAS A SURPRISINGLY UNPOLITICAL DOCUMENT. NO EXPLANATION WAS ATTEMPTED OF THE HU YUOBANG AFFAIR. THE MORE DIFFICULT QUESTIONS IN GENERAL TENDED EITHER TO BE AVOIDED OR GLOSSED OVER. NONETHELESS, THE STRICUTRES AGAINST THE MORE UTOPIAN INTERPREATIONS OF MARXISM, AND THE WAY ZHAO NEATLY TURNED THE TABLES ON HIS CRITICS BY SUGGESTING THAT THOSE WHO AIRED IDEOLOGICAL MISGIVINGS ABOUT REFORM WERE ACTUALLY GIVING-AMMUNITION TO THE ADVOCATES OF BOURGEOIS LIBERALISM BY CASTING DOUBT ON THE SUPERIORITY OF SOCIALISM, SUGGEST
GROWING CONFIDENCE ON HIS PART AND THAT OF HIS SUPPORTERS THAT THEY HAVE WEATHERED THE STORMS OF THE EARLIER PART OF THE YEAR.
A
5. THREE MAIN FIELDS WERE ADDRESSED: IDEOLOGY, ECONOMIC STRATEGY AND REFORM OF THE POLITICAL STRUCTURE. IN ONE OF THEM WERE ANY MAJOR INNOVATIONS PROPOSED. THE GROUND HAD BEEN CAREFULLY PREPARED BEFOREHAND, SO BIG SURPRISES WERE NOT TO BE EXPECTED. POLICY WAS HARDLY MENTIONED OTHER THAN IN TERMS OF ECONOMIC
RELATIONS WITH THE OUTSIDE WORLD.
IDEOLOGY
6.
AS EXPECTED, ZHAO EXPANDED ON THE CURRENT CHINESE THESIS OF THE PRIMARY STAGE OF SOCIALISM AS AN IDEOLOGICAL JUSTIFICATION FOR THE REFORM PROGRAMME. THIS STAGE, ARISING OUT OF CHINA'S PECULIAR CONDITIONS, IS ENVISAGED AS LASTING AT LEAST 100 YEARS, DATING FROM THE SOCIALIST TRANSFORMATION IN THE MID-1950S, AND COVERS THE WHOLE PERIOD OF ECONOMIC MODERNISATION WHICH MANY OTHER COUNTRIES EXPERIENCED UNDER CAPITALISM. AS AN INITIAL STAGE, MANY DIVERSE
FORMS OF ECONOMIC ORGANISATIONS ARE ACCEPTABLE IN SO FAR AS THEY BENEFIT ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. THUS ZHAO HOPES TO DISARM IDEOLOGICALLY BASED CRITICISMS OF REFORM POLICY AND TO PROVIDE IT WITH A FIRM THEORETICAL BACKING. HE IS FILLING A LONG FELT NEED. BUT THE THEORY IS TILL PRETTY RUDIMENTARY AND AMOUNTS TO LITTLE MORE THAN PROLONGED SPECIAL PLEADING FOR REFORM BASED ON AN EX POST FACTO JUSTIFICATION OF WHAT HAS BEEN DONE. THE THEORY OF REFORM HAS NOT ADVANCED VERY FAR FROM SIMPLE PRAGMATISM. BUT IT IS EQUALLY CLEAR THAT MARXISM/LENINISM/MAO ZEDONG THOUGH IS IN VIRTUAL ABEYANCE. RITUAL LIP SERVICE MAY CONTINUE TO PAID TO IT, BUT IT IS DENG'S PRACTICAL ORIENTATION THAT RULES FOR THE MOMENT IN CHINA.
ECONOMIC STRATEGY
7. THIS SECTION OF ZHAO'S SPEECH WAS CURIOUSLY VAGUE. ON ONE VIEW THIS COULD BE SEEN AS A REFLECTION IN ITSELF OF THE PRINCIPLE OF SEPARATION OF PARTY AND GOVERNMENT, WITH THE PARTY LIMITING ITSELF
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