Who can solve the dilemma in today's China?

Who is Wu Jinglian and why has he become an object of scorn and derision amongst Chinese Maoists?

The following entry from Wikipedia attests to the influence of and controversy surrounding his economic policies:

Wu Jinglian (吴敬琏; born January 24, 1930) is one of the preeminent economists of the People's Republic of China (PRC), primarily specializing in economic policy as it applies to China's ongoing series of economic reforms. Renowned for his resolute conviction that socialism is compatible with a market system, he is affectionately referred to in the media as Wu Shichang (吴市场; "Market Wu"). Wu currently (as of 2006) holds multiple positions, the most important of which are: Professor of Economics at both the China Europe International Business School and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; Senior Research Fellow for the Developmental Research Centre of the State Council of the PRC; and Member of the Standing Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. Wu graduated from Fudan University with a degree in economics in 1954. Through his long career, he has, in addition to his professorships at Chinese universities, been visiting researcher and professor at a number of international universities, including Yale, MIT, Duke, Stanford, and Oxford. A prominent target of political persecution during the Cultural Revolution, Wu was criticized for advocating the doctrine of "bourgeois right," more simply understood as the principle of "compensation according to work." He was forced to make public denunciations of his revered teacher Sun Yefang, for which he later expressed deep regret. He has honoured the memory of another victim of political persecution, Gu Zhun, whose unyielding character and pioneering attempts to revise Marxian economics in a market-oriented direction were for Wu a source of enlightenment. Having called for China's opening up and celebrated its entry to the WTO, Wu was distressed by the side-effects of rapid growth: corruption, inequitable distribution, and crony capitalism. In the last ten years he has joined Qin Hui, He Qinglian and other public intellectuals in raising social justice to prominence on the policy agenda. Wu is also the author of a number of books on China's economic reform. In 2008, state-owned media in China started calling Wu a spy for the U.S. The fact that the state-owned newspaper People Daily was authorized to call him such indicates that his economic and political ideas are great annoyances for the current leadership. Wu pointed out that “old-style Maoists” have been gaining influence in the government since 2004. These groups, he said, are pressing for a return to central planning and placing blame for corruption and social inequality on the very market reforms he championed. Wu also pointed out that corrupt bureaucrats are pushing for the state to take a larger economic role so they can cash in on their positions through payoffs and bribes, as well as by steering business to allies. Because of these developments, Wu is not optimistic about the future of China, because “[t]he Maoists want to go back to central planning and the cronies want to get richer.”

As the following article shows Chinese Maoists strongly disagree with Wu's assessments. The article has circulated widely on the Maoist web in China. One of it's most salient points is that today's China is at a crucial juncture, continue on the capitalist road, which will inevitably lead to the complete restoration of capitalism, the demise of the Chinese Communist Party and the vilification of Mao, or return to the socialist road and the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. 

The author accepts the fact that China is a socialist country and the CPC is a M-L-M revolutionary party but with the caveat that it is in the midst of a titanic class struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie and a two line struggle within the Party between the capitalist road and the socialist road. The article is hence a salvo in this struggle.

Who can solve the dilemma in today's China

On the issue of Wu Jinglian's "Top-level Design"　　

Yunfan　

In a recent public lecture Wu Jinglian  aka "Market Wu" threw out the high sounding phrase - “comprehensive reform requires top-level design.” "Market Wu" first outlined a number of problems encountered  by reforms in today's China, recognizing that China's development had fallen into a dilemma and there needed to be a change in the mode of development, it must go through a series of all-around reforms, “in order to promote comprehensive reform in all sectors, the reform must be carried out by 'top-level design.'" Since this term has come into fashion I wanted to find out just what “top-level design” actually means, but upon investigation I couldn't find out it's true meaning. I wasn't sure whether this was an intentional attempt to keep people in the dark, an attempt to whet one's appetite, or out of a sense of embarrassment. Whenever I mentioned the term “top-level design” the conversation stopped as if people were reluctant to speak about it.  Thus it was impossible to get a direct answer as to what “top-level design” actually meant.

In fact, "Market Wu" is in a predicament of his own making as not so long ago, during the 4th meeting of the 12th National People's Congress, Chairman Wu Bangguo's formal proclamation of the “five dont's” (don't engage in multi-party elections, don't engage in diversification of the guiding ideology, don't engage in 'separation of powers' and the bicameral system, don't engage in federalism, don't engage in privatization) was still ringing in our ears. Therefore, it is quite understandable that in these times, "Market Wu ," despite having a lot to say, at present cannot but be afraid to go beyond a certain point. But the hidden meaning of  "top-level design" is still not too difficult to reveal despite all the beating around the bush. In  discussing resistance to "top-level design" "Market Wu" made particular reference to ideological resistance: "ideological resistance is due to the long-term ideological influence of the Soviet Union on our country, this type of ideological influence was necessarily a hindrance to market-oriented reforms.”  But what was this ideological influence that we received from the Soviet Union? There is no doubt, it was the influence of socialist ideology. Under the actual national conditions that China found itself in, this socialist ideology was politically based on the People's Democratic Dictatorship (i.e., the dictatorship of the proletariat), to achieve and protect the power of the people to be masters of their own political destiny; economically the foundation was adherence to socialist public ownership of production, based on distribution according to work; ideologically and culturally it was based on taking Marxism-Leninism- Mao Zedong Thought as the guide for action. All of this is clearly and unequivocally stated in the Constitution of the PRC. Accordingly, the socialist system, including it's socialist ideology, is not only fundamental to China's political system but also fundamental to the establishment of the Communist Party of China. But to “Market Wu” these form major obstacles to “top-level design.” Moreover they have to be quickly removed. It can be seen what the true colors of so-called “top-level design” actually are.

It is unarguable that concomitant to the more than 30 years of development based on reform and opening up and the rapid expansion of GDP that there has also been an almost daily growth in all kinds of social contradictions, especially deep-seated contradictions that are like a coiled and tangled rope that is becoming more and more dense, more and more tightly wrapped, and has finally formed a string of endless knots one after another, so that China is increasingly faced with a dilemma, development has caused intractable problems and we Chinese seem to have once again come to a crossroads of history. Which way to go? China must make a choice. At this time, right-wing capitalist reformers such as "Market Wu" have come up with an answer “top-level design's” “long-term targets,” and  “comprehensive reform”  At first glance, this "top-level design" really seems mysterious, if not a bit scary,  but a careful analysis shows that it is nothing new, but still the same old stuff of Western neo-liberal residues and leftovers, nothing more than clichés such as "the market creates a level playing field that can promote the vigorous development of all walks of life ", "to have the market play the basic role in allocating resources", "there is a backsliding phenomenon, not in the direction of the market, but going in the opposite direction towards strengthening the domination of government resources"and and so on and so forth. What's different from the past is that they are no longer satisfied with market-oriented economic reforms, but want the imposition of  "top-level design" as a big system, "in this big system each subsystem should have such a design, including the economic system, legal system, cultural system, education system, etc. Obviously, "top-level design" is a kind of superstructure design directed towards political reform, it is an attempt to implement fundamental changes all at once. It is in fact a reaction against the “Five Don'ts” of Wu Bangguo, its essence is to transform the “Five Don'ts” into the “Five Dos” with the object of changing socialist ideology and the fundamental system of socialism. And finally, the text especially emphasizes: "All of these reforms are not only a top-level design and detailed implementation plan, but there must also be the determination to remove all obstacles and barriers to its implementation with strict obedience so that the reforms can be successful." Under the present conditions in which we face all kinds of difficulties and crises, and there is a growing awareness and a rising clamor among the masses of people for a return to socialism, the bourgeois reformists probably feel that time is growing short and they must protect "the fruits of reform and opening up." They must not only stake out a "program" but also show "commitment" and "resolve" in doing so. The urgency they show to force through their plans is palpable, vivid and colorful.

As we all know, although the reform and opening up of Chinese society has led to a tremendous growth in wealth, the attendant serious social crises have almost exhausted and offset it. Domestically there is bureaucratic corruption, polarization, inflation, environmental degradation, resource depletion, credit crises, cultural decadence and moral degeneracy; internationally U.S. imperialism has completed a military containment strategy, the South China Sea is being nibbled away, the Diaoyu Islands have been forcibly occupied, the accumulation of huge foreign exchange reserves, and foreign investment in U.S. junk bonds suffers from daily depreciation and loss, entry into the WTO has become a trap that has imposed unequal world trade regulations on us. China is like a tube with all its blood being sucked out day by day... In short, China while seeing its GDP rise to the world's 2nd  highest level, at the same time at home and abroad has fallen into an unprecedented predicament. The more deeply embedded the deeper we sink. At this point, one cannot help but wonder, if someone came back from the time of Mao Zedong, when the people were of one mind, when they held their heads up high, were high-spirited, when there was no domestic nor foreign debt, with a complete national economic system, about to confidently realize the four modernizations of a socialist country, how come we are in the type of predicament we are now in?  Why? Who can solve China's current predicament? 　　

Over the last 30 years, China has indeed developed, but the result has been to place economic and social development in serious opposition to the people's livelihood, and as this opposition is intensifying and growing there is the danger of economic and social collapse. All this shows that development itself has produced a certain problem. At present the official mainstream view is that the problem is the pattern of development. In fact, the problem is the direction of development, the problem is the political line of development. Bourgeois reformists talk as if "development is the last word," today's situation proves that the principle direction and political line of development is more important than the principle of development in and of itself. For a long time, bourgeois reformists have embraced selfishness, they talk about development only in the abstract. But they choose to ignore the question of along which route should development proceed and for whom is development meant. Once they started under the signboard  of "practice is the sole criterion for testing truth" they began shouting that "trampling on the red flag" and "breaking through to the forbidden zone", should become the guiding ideology of the Communist Party - with Mao Zedong Thought discarded to the side, thinking that they are more brilliant than Mao Zedong. They threw around  the "cat" theory (it doesn't matter what color the cat is as long as it catches mice), the "touch" theory (walking across the river by feeling the stones) until they finally came up with the "no debate" theory. During this period they were wantonly fed by the Rockefeller Foundation, the Ford Foundation and other hostile forces These brainwashed right-wing scholars, vigorously accepted Western neo-liberal ideas, such as marketization and privatization, boring holes into the socialist public economy based on public ownership. causing the public owned economy to shrink  to less than 30% of the total national economy; forcing workers to be laid off, farmers to be dispossessed, causing the working class to go from being the leading class to being a disadvantaged class, and making the worker-peasant alliance a thing of the past. When this type of reform brought about a series of serious social and economic problems, they should have learned a bitter lesson and engaged in self-criticism, but instead the right-wing reformists, were self-congratulatory and refused to reflect on the reforms. They totally ignored any mention of "practice being the sole criterion for testing truth," instead they came up with "nonsense," such as addressing the problems of reform depends on deepening the reform. In this fashion we go further along the "the wrong path” so that today the problems are even more intractable. Today's predicament demonstrates that China must go no further! China must get to the root of things and make a fresh start! Otherwise, China is faced with evil, a disaster, an abyss! 　　

At a time when China is sinking deeply into a difficult situation, when we need to make an historic choice, the die-hard bourgeois reformists, with "Market Wu" as representative of the right-wing scholars, are impatiently jumping up and down, once again promoting the discredited theory of neo-liberalism, already long ago made bankrupt by the Western financial crisis, repackaging it as "top-level design" to even further harm China. Since the reform and opening up, Western neo-liberalism has for decades wrecked havoc in China. During this span of time the superstitions of the market economy and privatization have placed the Chinese people of the 21st century in an ideological cage. Bound in this cage, the market and privatization are seen as a panacea to solve all economic and social problems. The current way this superstition is represented in  China is the expression that "the spirit of the market economy is privatization." Under the auspices of this superstition the common people of China have experienced one calamity after another, after the housing reform no one could afford housing, after the education reform no one could afford to go to school, after the health care reform no one could afford to get sick, after the pension reform no one could afford to get old, and the list goes on. Obviously, since the bourgeois reformists gained power, under the din of the long-term trend of Western neo-liberal thinking, by fostering private capitalism without restriction, by infringing on the people's livelihood without restraint, by suppressing mass democracy without any soul-searching, and by indulging in reactionary speech without question, we have long since departed from the original intent that “reform is to consolidate and improve socialism."

Mao Zedong Thought is clearly the most advanced theoretical ideology in the world today. It is  clearly the only way for the Chinese people to move toward common prosperity, and is the powerful thinking behind the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, but it is condemned by right-wing academics and “elite” bourgeois reformists as being on the "extreme left" and rejected to the point of repudiation, even though all day long they are keen to crawl on their bellies through the unbearable stink of a pile of Western neo-liberal bullshit to find the statecraft that they seek. They deserve to be seen as examples of seeking truth in a pile of shit and finding flaws in a gem . Today, at a time when capitalism has been hit with a once in a century financial crisis that has increasingly evolved into a deepening economic and social crisis, when even among bourgeois scholars from the Western capitalist world there is a rising tide criticizing market fundamentalism and neo-liberalism, Chinese such as "Market Wu" who represents the elite bourgeois reformists are still stubbornly and unrepentantly holding to the fundamentalist mentality that the market economy is everything, that privatization is everything which has brought China to the brink of disaster. Even more contemptible is that they have skillfully used the “Devil's Dictionary” to redefine the platitudes of market fundamentalism and neo-libralism and repackage them as “top-level design” to achieve their treacherous design of continuing to suppress the common people of China. But the people pushing "top-level design" cannot hope to see how to overcome the predicament that China finds itself in, but they can clearly delineate the discredited 20 year old “New thinking” of Gorbachev that led to the destruction of the Soviet Union and the collapse  of the CPSU.

If only the basic meaning of “top-level design” is sought out, then under the present circumstances China is in desperate need of it. In order to get China out of its predicament one cannot just treat the symptoms, one must treat the root cause and find the underlying solution which is the “top-level design” that truly represents the interests of the masses and inevitably moves history forward.  Of course this type of "top-level design" and the former type of "top-level design" are intrinsically different, this "top-level design" is the revolutionary line of Mao Zedong Thought, the socialist political orientation. Under the guidance of this  line those in power should look at the overall holistic situation and grasp the strategic development of China, and not just be limited to the technical aspects of tinkering with minutia. This requires real Communists, willing to brave death,  make a determined effort with the resolute spirit of a proletarian revolutionary, with the courage and resourcefulness to make a fresh start, to restring the bow in the political, economic, military, diplomatic, ideological and cultural fields, to launch a series of all-around, thorough actions to set things right by using Mao Zedong Thought, to guide the overall situation, only then can the predicament that today's China finds itself in be addressed.

Politically, comprehensively carry out the dictatorship of the proletariat under Mao Zedong's theory of continuing the revolution. It must be recognized that under socialism the two classes of proletariat and bourgeoisie still continue to exist, there is a two-line struggle between socialism and capitalism, and the revolutionary mass line must be adhered to in order to conduct the class struggle and the two-line struggle. First, we must fully mobilize the masses, preaching to the masses the spiritual concept that "revolution is not a sin” and “it is right to rebel." Do not fear mass movements, do not fear the revolt of the people, moreover create the conditions and environment that supports people to rebel. Of course, such a rebellion is a peaceful rebellion to uphold the dictatorship of the proletariat under the leadership of the Communist Party, unlike that which was instigated by saboteurs during the Cultural Revolution that created disorder among the masses and gave rise to armed conflicts. The object is a serious rebellion of the masses against revisionism, bureaucracy and capitalist roaders, unlike those deluded people with ulterior motives who poisoned the well and struck down everything during the Cultural Revolution. The method of rebellion is to take full advantage of the people's democratic rights to take charge and call the shots, such as the four great freedoms (trans: speaking out freely, airing views fully, holding great debates, and writing big character posters), the freedom to strike, the right to vote, supervise, recall and so on. Second, get rid of the mandarins and restore the political status of the people as the masters of their own destiny and participants in the supervision of national social affairs, to exercise free and effective democratic oversight of the government, particularly the implementation of the people's power of removal, that party members and cadres, irrespective of position, as long as they are separated from the masses, and are no longer serving the people, then the people can exercise the right of recall at any time to end their political life. If this is not done it will not be possible to combat bureaucratic corruption; to maintain the capacity of the all powerful and immune Communist Party for self-renewal and to prevent the Party from turning revisionist and the country from changing it's color, it will not be possible to completely dismantle the barriers between cadres and the masses, to restore the relationship between the party and the people as between the fish and the sea, rather than the relationship of the boat on the water. 

Economically, grow and consolidate the base of socialist public ownership, and control private capital. It is vital that the public ownership system of the economy have absolute dominance and plays the leading role. especially in regard to the people's livelihood, social and economic security, and development strategies in key sectors. If this is not the case, it won't be possible to achieve and protect the people's status as political masters, provide a solid economic base, make fundamental adjustments in the national income distribution in order to completely eliminate polarization; it will not be possible to strengthen science and technology research and development into a formidable force, to achieve autonomous innovation; it will not br possible to counter international monopoly capital, break the monopoly of foreign investors, control our national economy, safeguard national interests, or truly take the road of independence and self-determination. 　　

Diplomatically, utilize Mao Zedong's three worlds strategy, completely abandon the delusion of "peaceful rise." It should be clearly recognized that at present we are still in the era of imperialism, the demise of imperialism should not be mourned. We must unite with the  multitude of third world countries to support their just cause. The survival and development of the Chinese nation must be linked together with the third world's struggle against imperialism and their lackeys, we must take the strategy of "standing our ground and fighting tit for tat” and implement Mao's philosophy of struggle. "to struggle for peace, will keep the peace; to compromise for peace, will  destroy the peace."

Ideologically and culturally, use Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought to occupy the ideological front-lines of public opinion, vigorously promote socialist ideology and values while at the same time focus on criticizing bourgeois ideology and culture. Take full advantage of both the  positive and negative aspects of the experiences and lessons of the two 30 year periods after the establishment of the PRC to educate the people to realize that the rise to power of revisionism and bourgeois reformism will lead not only to the restoration of capitalism, but the very worst of capitalism, the common people will end up eating a double dose of bitterness, and suffer a double crop of crime. In this way the conviction to struggle against revisionism and oppose capitalism will deeply enter the people's hearts and minds and lead the masses to conscious action. Let those who have been bought by hostile international forces, the well-fed traitorous scholars, and reactionary snobs stand before the masses with nowhere to hide, like mice on the streets, that the people scream at and beat .

“Shore up the falling heavens and create order out of the reign of chaos." As the Chinese people are once again faced with a life and death crisis, are once again at a crossroads forced to choose between two historic destinies, Guo Moruo's poem is the best portrayal of Mao Zedong Thought, and the revolutionary line of Mao Zedong Thought, the political direction of socialism can break the deadlock that China finds itself in today, the magic wand leading the Chinese people to a bright future.

Long live invincible Mao Zedong Thought!