On July 23, the Chinese Communist Party celebrates the first centennial
of its creation. Large celebrations will mark this important milestone in
China’s history, present and future.
اضافة اعلان
Since its inception, the
Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has
distinguished itself from the
Marxist/Leninist version of communism, which later
came to be known as Marxist Maoist communism. It neither excludes history, nor totally
abandons the deep traditions of China. The Chinese people are inventive,
entrepreneurial, and have a long history of agricultural, industrial, and commercial
knowledge.
The CCP did not shy away from that tradition. It managed to infiltrate
Chinese society, assemble supporters who were mentally and emotionally conditioned
to do their best for China, along the tenets set by the party. Those who were
apposed to the ideology were routed out, and the skills of the faithful were
put into plough-shares.
China learnt from the hard and tragic lessons of the Lenin era in Russia.
They allowed farmers to use their skills, and the government bought their surplus
produce at encouraging prices. Such policies enabled the CCP to ensure that
hunger and famine were controlled. All Chinese were given rations to enable
them to survive. Gray suites were worn by all Chinese, including the leaders
who set the example.
Both trade and agriculture produced surpluses which were ploughed back
into industrial pursuits. Thus industry was developed without debt and the
economy was inflation-free.
When this policy of seclusion and minimum consumption was over,
China needed to reform itself and open-up gradually to the rest of the world. President
Nixon and his secretary of state Kissinger paid visits to China and met with chairman
Mao. Yet, by 1979, the cultural revolution ended, and the reformists emerged
victorious. The villainous “gang of four” were no more.
The era of opening-up witnessed a strong affinity with the Chinese
in diaspora in Asia, Europe, and North America. Moreover, China opened up for
investment, limited birth to one child per family and sent millions of selected
students abroad on scholarships to learn modern systems of banking, finance,
IT, construction, trade, factory management, etc. The students returned but
brought with them ideas about human rights, democracy which found expression in
Tiananmen Square in 1988. Unpalatable to Chinese leaders who saw in them
disrupting trends, they accordingly put these attempts down without compromise.
Now China is changing its approach. The annual CCP conferences,
which are the trend-setters, decided to shift gears toward local consumption
and less dependence on trade to create international alliances through
investments. They created the “Belt and Road Initiative” and established the
Asia Development Bank.
China dropped the policy of modesty; they flex their muscles once
in a while. They are not hesitant to assert their military, technological, and economic
weight.
Now they are strong competitors in trade, currency, fintech
platforms, space, alternative energy etc. China is now a great power to reckon with.
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