Suchergebnisse

The collapse first of communist rule of the USSR and then of the USSR itself was without question one of the pivotal events of the era. The author inquires whether the top leaders of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) had a deliberate policy towards the decline of Soviet communism, and if so, what was the nature of that policy and if the CCP attempted to assist their comrades in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) as the latter battled for survival during 1990 and 1991. (DÜI-Sen)

The collapse first of Communist rule of the USSR and then of the USSR itself was without question one of the pivotal events of the era. Since China's 20th-century history has been so deeply influenced by Soviet developments, it is important to examine the impact of these events on China. This article asks, first, whether the top leaders of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), had a deliberate policy towards the decline of Soviet Communism, and if so, what was the nature of that policy? Did the CCP attempt to assist their comrades in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) as the latter battled for survival during 1990 and 1991?

A momentous debate has been unfolding in China over the last fifteen years, only intermittently in public view, concerning the merits of socialism as a philosophy of social justice and as a program for national development. Just as Deng Xiaoping's better advertised experiment with market- based reforms has challenged Marxist-Leninist dogma on economic policy, the years since the death of Mao Zedong have seen a profound reexamination of a more basic question: to what extent are the root problems of the system due to Chinese socialism and Marxism generally? Here Yan Sun gathers a remarkable group of primary materials, drawn from an unusual range of sources, to present the most systematic and comprehensive study of post-Mao reappraisal of China's socialist theory and practice. Rejecting an assumption often made in the West, that Chinese socialist thought has little bearing on politics and policymaking, Sun takes the arguments of the post-Mao era seriously on their own terms. She identifies the major factions in the debate, reveals the interplay among official and unofficial forces, and charts the development of the debate from an initially parochial concern with problems raised by Chinese practice to a grand critique of the theory of socialism itself. She concludes with an enlightening comparison of the reassessments undertaken by Deng Xiaoping with those of Gorbachev, linking them to the divergent outcomes of reform and revolution in their respective countries.

THE NATIONAL CONGRESS OF THE CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY (CCP) MARKED A FORMAL STEP TOWARDS MORE DRASTIC REFORMS OF THE POLITICAL SYSTEM AND THE ECONOMY. THE FACT THAT THE CCP RALLIED BEHIND DENG'S RADICAL REFORMS WAS OF GREAT SIGNIFICANCE. THIS ARTICLE ARGUES THAT THE CHINESE APPROACH TO REFORM IS DEFINITELY DIFFERENT FROM THE ONE ADOPED IN OTHER SOCIALIST COUNTRIES. THE RULE OF THE PARTY REMAINS STRONG WHILE THE EOCONOMY IS LIBERALIZED. THE REFORMERS ARE IDEOLOGICALLY BOUND UP IN THE THEORY OF THE PRIMARY STAGE OF SOCIALISM WHICH CLAIMS THAT THE CONTRADICTION BETWEEN THE LIVELIHOOD OF THE PEOPLE AND THE LACK OF MATERIAL SPIRITUAL CIVILIZATION IS THE MAIN CONTRADICTION, AND SO HAS TO BE SOLVED FIRST.

Review essay on eight books (Burying Mao: Chinese politics in the age of Deng Xiaoping by R. Baum; China in transition edited by F. Ching; The decline of communism in China: Legitimacy crisis, 1977-1989 by X. Ding among others). According to L. Pye, finding the right theme to characterize Deng Xiaoping's era as paramont leader is like describing the views in a kaleidoscope.China is so huge and has so many dimensions that different authors can focus on quite different aspects of the Deng era with little overlap in their analyses. (DÜI-Sen)

A momentous debate has been unfolding in China over the last fifteen years, only intermittently in public view, concerning the merits of socialism as a philosophy of social justice and as a program for national development. Just as Deng Xiaoping's better advertised experiment with market- based reforms has challenged Marxist-Leninist dogma on economic policy, the years since the death of Mao Zedong have seen a profound reexamination of a more basic question: to what extent are the root problems of the system due to Chinese socialism and Marxism generally? Here Yan Sun gathers a remarkable gro

Christina Kelley Gilmartin rewrites the history of gender politics in the 1920s with this compelling assessment of the impact of feminist ideals on the Chinese Communist Party during its formative years. For the first time, Gilmartin reveals the extent to which revolutionaries in the 1920s were committed to women's emancipation and the radical political efforts that were made to overcome women's subordination and to transform gender relations. Women activists whose experiences and achievements have been previously ignored are brought to life in this study, which illustrates how the Party functioned not only as a political organization but as a subculture for women as well. We learn about the intersection of the personal and political lives of male communists and how this affected their beliefs about women's emancipation. Gilmartin depicts with thorough and incisive scholarship how the Party formulated an ideological challenge to traditional gender relations while it also preserved aspects of those relationships in its organization.