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| Sunday, 5 September 2004 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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P. Kandiah memorial lecture : Socialism in China by Sitaram Yechury, Politburo Member, Communist Party of India (Marxist) (Continued from last week)
Does this mean the restoration of capitalism? To this Lenin answers quite candidly during the period of the NEP (new economic policy): "It means that, to a certain extent, we are re-creating capitalism. We are doing this quite openly. It is state capitalism. But state capitalism in a society where power belongs to capital, and in a proletarian state, are two different concepts. In a capitalist state, state capitalism means that it is recognised by the state and controlled by it for the benefit of the bourgeoisie, and to the detriment of the proletariat. In the proletarian state, the same thing is done for the benefit of the working class, to withstand the as yet strong bourgeoisie, and of fighting it. It goes without saying that we must grant concessions to the foreign bourgeoisie, to foreign capital. Without the slightest denationalization, we shall lease mines, forests and oilfields to foreign capitalists, and receive in exchange manufactured goods, machinery etc., and restore our own industry." (Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 32, pp.49). Post-Reform Socialist China To some extent, what we find in post-reform socialist China is, a reflection of the theoretical positions Lenin had taken regarding state capitalism during the NEP period. The main question is that of increasing the productive forces in a backward economy to a level that can sustain large-scale socialist construction. Lenin, during his time, on the basis of the concrete international and domestic situation, consistently endeavoured to rapidly bridge the gap between backward productive forces and advanced socialist production relations. The course of this Soviet history of socialist construction, however, took place under different historical circumstances. Encirclement of this Soviet Union, the civil war, the preparations for the Second World War by the fascist forces did not allow the Soviet Union a peaceful period necessary for a protracted period of transition towards the consolidation of socialist productive forces. The pace of socialisation of the means of production had to be hastened for the very survival of socialism itself. That it succeeded in socialising the means of production through 'collectivisation' bore the brunt of fascist assaults during the Second World War and decisively defeated them will go down as one of the most remarkable and liberating experiences of the 20th Century. In China today, what is being sought is to attain the conformity between the levels of productive forces and the relations of production under socialism. The advanced socialist production relations cannot be sustainable at lower levels of productive forces. A prolonged period of low levels of productive forces would give rise to a major contradiction between the daily expanding material and cultural needs of the people under socialism and backward productive forces. The Chinese Communist Party (CPC) has concluded that if this contradiction remains unresolved, then socialism in China would be under threat. Following the political turmoil that took place during the cultural revolution and after the dethroning of the 'Gang of Four', a serious introspection was begun by the CPC on political and economic issues. In 1978, clearing confusion and incorrect understanding on many political issues and practices, the CPC adopted a comprehensive ideological line that culminated in what they call 'one central task and two basic points'. 'One central task' is economic development, the 'two basic points' are adherence to the four cardinal principles (Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong; socialist road; people's democratic dictatorship; and leadership of the Communist Party) and the implementation of reforms and open door policy. Soon after the initiation of the reform process, in a conversation with Kim Il Sung in 1982, Deng Xiaoping says: "In a country as big and as poor as ours, if we don't try to increase production, how can we survive? How is socialism superior, when our people have so many difficulties in their lives? The Gang of Four clamoured for 'poor socialism' and 'poor communism', declaring that communism was mainly a spiritual thing. Sheer nonsense! We say that socialism is the first stage of communism. When a backward country is trying to build socialism, it is natural that during the long initial period, its productive forces will not be up to the level of those in developed capitalist countries and that it will not be able to eliminate poverty completely. Accordingly, in building socialism, we must do all we can to develop the productive forces and gradually eliminate poverty, constantly raising people's living standards. Otherwise, how will socialism be able to triumph over capitalism? In the second or advanced stage of communism, when the economy is highly developed and there is overwhelming material abundance, we shall be able to apply the principle of from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs. If we don't do everything possible to increase production, how can we expand the economy? How can we demonstrate the superiority of socialism and communism? We have been making revolution for several decades and have been building socialism for more than three. Nevertheless, by 1978, the average monthly salary for our workers was still only 45 yuan, and most of our rural areas were still mired in poverty. Can it still be called the superiority of socialism? That is why I insisted that the focus of our work should be rapidly shifted to economic development. A decision to this effect was made at the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee, (1978. Ed.) and it represented an important turning point. Our practice since then has shown that this line is correct, as the whole country has taken on an entirely new look." (Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, Vol. 3, pp. 21-22) Such an understanding led to a theoretical conceptualisation of the primary stage of socialism. This in fact conforms to what Marx and Engels themselves had stated and what is accepted by all subsequent Marxists: that socialism is the transitory stage between capitalism and communism and constitutes the first stage of a communist society. The CPC however has gone a step further to formulate that within this transitory stage, there will be stages depending on the levels of productive forces at the time of the revolution. This was systematically elucidated in the 13th Congress of the CPC. What it meant was that China, a backward semi-feudal, semi-colonial country at the time of the revolution, was at a stage where the socialist transformation of its economy will have to be conducted from very low levels. The World Bank, in 1980 sent an investigation team to China which estimated that the per capita GNP in 1952 was US$ 50, even lower than that in India and only slightly more than one-fifth of that in the Soviet Union in 1928. In a country with the largest population in the world, the effort for a transformation into a modern socialist economy is, indeed, a stupendous task. The CPC estimated that this process would take at least a hundred years from the time of the revolution to reach the stage of a modern socialist economy. This process is called the building of socialism with Chinese characteristics'. To achieve such a transformation, the CPC put forward another theoretical formulation, that of building a socialist market economy. By now, it is clear that as long as commodity production exists, there would be a need for a market to exchange these commodities. The CP(M) as its 14th Congress noted in its Ideological Resolution: "It would be erroneous to conclude that under socialism the market will cease to exist. So long as commodities are produced, the market exists. The crucial question is not planning versus market but which dominates. Under socialism, market is one of the means for the distribution of the social product. Centralised planning, utilising the market forces and market indicators will be able to efficiently develop the productive forces and meet welfare demands of the people. Therefore, ignoring market indicators leads to greater irrational use of resources which will adversely affect the plan process itself." What is sought to be created in China is a commodity market economy under the control of the socialist state where public ownership of the means of production will remain the mainstay; by which the CPC means "firstly that public capital predominates in total social capital, secondly, the state economy controls the economic lifeline and plays a dominant role in the national economy". Through this, they seek to prevent the economic polarisation and growing inequalities created by private market economy and ensure the common prosperity of the working people. As a result of these reforms, China over the last two decades has achieved tremendous successes. Material standards of living have grown by leaps and bounds. Poverty levels have come down sharply. In health, higher education, scientific research and technology development, China has moved ahead at a commendable rate. All these have been possible not because China 'broke from the Maoist past' but because it developed on the solid foundations laid by the People's Republic of China during the first three decades of centralised planning. However, new problems are cropping up as a result of these developments. They are mainly the growing inequalities, unemployment and corruption. The CPC, cognizant of these dangers, is taking measures to tackle them. But the fact remains that with the current transformation of the State-owned enterprises, there is a net accretion to the unemployed every year. While the State maintains a minimum subsistence allowance and offers re-training programmes for retrenched workers, unemployment is a serious problem. The main question that emerges is whether these growing inequalities will take the form of the formation of an incipient capitalist class? Lenin, while talking of State capitalism and emphasising the need to rapidly expand the productive forces, also warned of the risks to the socialist State that such a period of transition will bring about. Characterising the process of building state capitalism as a war, Lenin says: "The issue in the present war is who will win, who will first take advantage of the situation: the capitalist, whom we are allowing to come in by the door, and even by several doors (and by many doors we are not aware of, and which open without us, and in spite of us) or proletarian State power?" (Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 33, pp 65) He proceeds further to state: "We must face this issue squarely, who will come out on top? Either the capitalists succeed in organising first - in which case they will drive out the Communists and that will be the end of it. Or the proletarian state power, with the support of the peasantry, will prove capable of keeping a proper rein on those gentlemen, the capitalists, so as to direct capitalism along state channels and to create a capitalism that will be subordinate to the state and serve the state." (Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 33, pp 66) Similarly, Deng Xiaoping in a talk during his visit to southern China says: "The crux of the matter is whether the road is capitalist or socialist. The chief criterion for making that judgement should be whether it helps promote the growth of the productive forces in a socialist society, helps increase the overall strength of the socialist state and helps raise living standards." (Social Sciences in China Vol. XX, No.2, pp. 29) Further, in 1985, addressing some of the apprehensions of growing inequalities Deng Xiaoping says: "As to the requirement that there must be no polarisation, we have given much thought to this question in the course of formulating and implementing our policies. If there is polarisation, the reform will have been a failure. Is it possible that a new bourgeoisie will emerge? A handful of bourgeois elements may appear, but they will not form a class. "In short, our reform requires that we keep public ownership predominant and guard against polarisation. In the last four years we have been proceeding along these lines. That is, we have been keeping to socialism." (Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, Vol. 3, pp. 142-143). Clearly, the CPC is in the midst of a serious effort of building socialism with Chinese characteristics. The CPC is endeavouring to rapidly expand the productive forces and, thus, consolidate and strengthen socialism in China through these reforms. On the other hand, as noted above, this very process engenders certain tendencies which seek to weaken or even destroy socialism. As a result, ideas and values alien to socialism may also surface. Imperialist finance capital is there in China not to strengthen socialism but to earn profits and to create conditions of adversity to socialism. They would certainly seek the weakening of socialism or its dismantling to earn greater profits. This is the current struggle between imperialism and socialism that is taking place in China. And, in this struggle, the efforts to strengthen and consolidate socialism will receive solidarity from us and the Communists the world over. Future is Socialism As humanity moves into the third millennium, the situation confronting us is one where imperialism is preparing to unleash a renewed offensive against the majority of the world's population. As a result of these efforts of imperialism, all the main world social contradictions - between imperialism and socialism; between imperialism and the third world countries; between imperialist countries themselves; and between labour and capital in the capitalist world - are intensifying. Of these, the contradiction between imperialism and socialism occupies central space, as the only alternative to imperialism and capitalism is socialism. No amount of reform of capitalism can make it an exploitation-free system. The only way of liberation from this exploitation is the establishment of a socialist system. However, in the immediate context, with imperialism bracing itself for a new offensive, the contradiction between imperialism and the third world countries is bound to intensify rapidly and come to the forefront. The recent years have seen growing global protest against globalisation as well as against US military interventions in pursuit of its efforts to strengthen its global hegemony. The global protests ranging from Seattle to Genoa; the international calls by trade union organisations for anti-WTO protests: the increasing participation in the World Social Forum; the struggles and joint resistance in many Third World countries etc have characterised this period. Newer forms of struggles are also emerging. This period has also seen the strengthening of the process of the regrouping of Communist forces in various parts of the world. Various regional groupings of Communist, Left and progressive forces such as the Sao Paulo Forum which brings together the Left forces in the Americas are also being strengthened. This period also saw growing interaction among the Communist parties and a larger number of occasions for international Communist gatherings. Much of this, however, is defensive in nature. Defending the rights that are being rapidly eroded. The struggle against capital's rule has to intensify and develop. This however, is not to suggest that the advance of the Communist forces would be automatic. But the objective conditions open up possibilities which the Communists can utilise in strengthening the popular movement for ending a system based on exploitation of man by man. The responsibility of strengthening the subjective factor - the revolutionary ideological struggle led by the working class, uniting other exploited classes and its decisive intervention under the leadership of a party wedded to Marxism-Leninism - falls on our shoulders. It is imperative to utilise the objective situation and intervene to advance the movement for social emancipation. This advance in the immediate context will have to work for the convergence of the global anti-war protest and worldwide anti-globalisation movements into a mighty anti-imperialist people's movement. This is the only course available to humanity to save itself from being engulfed by the slide to barbarism. To those who argue that there is no alternative to globalisation (the famous TINA factor), our answer is that the alternative to TINA is SITA (socialism is the alternative). (Concluded) |
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