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"Grasp revolution, promote production" : struggles over socialist construction in China, 1973-1976

University of British Columbia

The study is an examination of struggles over socialist construction in China between the Tenth National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in 1973 and the arrests of the so-called "gang of four" in 1976. It analyzes the content of debates, the context in which they occurred and policies implemented during the period. The study is based upon materials collected while living in China, observations during participation in various political movements of the period, and on materials from the Chinese print and broadcast media. The dissertation analyzes struggles over industrial development and organization, science and technology policy, rural development, and the role of the education system in socialist society. Issues debated included worker participation in management, cadre participation in labor, labor remuneration policies, the role of scientists and technicians in the production process, the importation of advanced technology, the relationship between scientific theory and Marxism-Leninism, structural and ideological changes in the modernization of agriculture, access to higher education and the role of intellectuals in socialist society. These debates are analyzed from the perspective of Marxian theory. From this analysis the study concludes that in spite of the formal appearance of a debate, genuine and open discussion of policy alternatives and concrete results did not in fact occur. There were a number of conceptions, widely held in China during the mid-seventies, which it is argued were a central factor in thwarting the emergence of real debate. These include the concept of the role of the Communist Party as the "core of leadership" in all spheres of social life, the notion of the "continuation of class struggle" in socialist society, misinterpretation of the relationship between the forces and relations of production in the process of development, misunderstanding of the means by which the division of labor can be transcended and misunderstanding of the nature of Chinese society. The study challenges these conceptions from the point of view of Marxian theory and traces the role they played in the distortion of the debates and the suppression of alternative viewpoints.

Text

2010-03-30

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/23037

Sociology

University of British Columbia

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