FE/1597 B2/3
ability to confirm and realize values and they also almost completely lost their sense and ability to confirm and safeguard human nature and dignity.
In that "inhuman" society that "slaughtered people", there were scarcely any concepts and matters of freedom, equality, universal love and justice. If anyone tried to advocate and promote democracy in that society (this is of course an absurd assumption), he must have indulged in the wildest fantasy and would have been killed, because the autocratic imperial court would never allow him to do so and the vast majority of the public would not understand and accept him, either. There were no conditions or possibility for modern democracy to spring up from the soil of the traditional autocratic society of China and, therefore, the rationality and progressiveness of democracy were just out of the question.
In China, democracy arose along with the acute conflicts between the Eastern and Western culture (the culture of survival and the culture of development), with the loss of the traditional values and the seeking of new values, with the collapse of the autocratic imperial power and the emergence of the new political forces, and with the dissolution of the small-scale peasant economy and the emergence of modern industry and market economy.
In more than 100 years, democracy was always linked with major social changes in China: A democratic republic replaced the autocratic imperial power; science and democracy become the two major slogans in the May Fourth Movement; resistance to Japanese aggression and democracy were mentioned at the same time in the national salvation
movement. The revolution in the pre-1949 period was called the "New Democratic Revolution". When the revolution was triumphant, it was pledged that "new democracy” would be a social form for a fairly long time.
[MODERN TIMES]
When the PRC was founded, the new government was called the "Democratic Coalition Government" with all pro- democracy classes jointly holding the ruling power. After the 10-year turmoil, the CCP Central Committee pointed out: “A fundamental task of the socialist revolution is to gradually establish a highly democratic socialist political system. Inadequate attention was paid to this matter after the founding of the PRC and this was one of the major factors contributing to the initiation of the 'Cultural Revolution"". (see "Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party Since the Founding of the PRC.”)
In the last 10-odd years, Deng Xiaoping repeatedly stressed this point: “To launch a socialist modernization drive, we are aiming at economically catching up with the developed capitalist countries and politically creating a higher level of democracy with more substance than that of the capitalist countries. We also aim to foster more and better-trained people with professional competence than they do. It may take us different lengths of time to attain these three objectives. But as a vast socialist country, we certainly can and must attain them. Therefore, the merits of our party and state institutions should be judged on the basis of whether or not they help us advance towards these objectives". (see “Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping")
27 Jan 93
The undeniable historical facts show that in modern times, democracy has become a concept and a fact standing against backwardness in Chinese society and being linked with social progress. People certainly turned to the appealing and driving force of democracy, took democracy as a slogan for inspiring and uniting the people and made progress in institutionalizing democracy when rising to overthrow the autocratic imperial power, when striving for national independence, when eliminating illnesses in society, when advancing economic prosperity, when terminating the feudal fascist dictatorship of the "Cultural Revolution”, and when abolishing the Stalinist proletarian dictatorship of socialism. What does all this indicate? In the least, it indicates that democracy has become an objective need in seeking further progress and development in modern China.
[DEMOCRACY AS AN EXPEDIENT]
It is a pity that many people are still unaware of such an objective need, or lack a rational knowledge about it. In other words, they still cherish no desire for democracy. If an objective need in society has not been understood by the population and has not become the target of their efforts, then it can hardly materialize or mature and grow strong. In modern times, the Chinese people tend to take democracy as an expedient for solving some pressing problems in a passive and pragmatic manner when calling for advancing and building democracy. Democracy was often taken as a slogan or a means of achieving certain purposes, which, in some cases, completely went against democracy. For example, this happened during the "Cultural Revolution". Mao Zedong once said: "Sometimes, such a thing as democracy looks like an end; but in fact, it is just a means to an end”. This remark was actually representative of a commonly accepted idea. In reality, once an end was achieved, the means of democracy was cast aside until it was picked up again next time to pursue another end.
Few people would seriously consider, discuss and propagate such questions: Is democracy an end, or does there exist something that can be called the concept of democracy, the order of democracy, or the system of democracy? In modern times, when China was undergoing changes, why was democracy advocated and neglected alternately again and again? Is democracy an objective need in China when she is making further progress and development? If it is, what is the ground for its existence? Should democracy be taken as one of the objectives of our country's modernization drive, one of the criteria for testing various systems in our party and state and one of the ends and prerequisites of advancing reform and opening? Is democratic politics a necessary condition for economic prosperity?
If facts eventually show that democracy is not as important and indispensable as people imagine, then we may forget it. However, if democracy is indeed one of the indispensable conditions for the realization of modernization in China and if there will be no progress and prosperity in China without democracy, but people still willingly or unwillingly keep such an indifferent attitude towards democracy and take it as something not essential and not indispensable, then are we not, too, irresponsible to ourselves, to society and to history?
[STUDYING THE ISSUES)
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