Deng Xiaoping, the architect of what is called market
socialism in the People's Republic of China died on February 19
at the age of 92. Since the 1920s he has been associated with the
struggle of the Communist Party of China (CPC) for China's
liberation and its reconstruction. Heads of imperialist
governments such as Jean Chretien, U.S. imperialist chieftain
Bill Clinton, the president of France and many others in the
"west" have praised him for "opening" China to the "west."
Deng Xiaoping was born in 1904 at the height of the
humiliation and division of the Chiense people by the "western
democracies" which had reduced China to a country of coolies
while using various regions of China for their own ends. Deng
began his political activities at the time it had become clear
that the bourgeoisie was no longer revolutionary. He participated
in the activities of the CPC, even as its General Secretary at
certain times but he failed to cope with the main question of the
20th century which is that a country can only secure its national
liberation and become truly independent and its people sovereign
if they carry out a thorough-going socialist revolution. On the
basis of Deng's market socialism the Chinese revolution stopped
half-way.
At this time of Deng's death, the question of which path the
PRC will follow, capitalism or socialism, is not settled. It has
actually become even more acute as the contradictions within the
PRC and internationally seek their resolution. The PRC, like the
rest of the world, has become one of the major areas of
contention between monopolies and the imperialist countries. Who
will control its vast developing market? This struggle for the
capturing of the economies of other countries has once against
begun in all earnest. A dependent economy cannot sustain an
independent political state. The people of the PRC and the world
know it all too well. The subjugation and division of the PRC is
foremost on the agenda of various imperialist powers.
With market socialism in place, the friends of this "opening
to the West" are hoping that the PRC will also, finally, adopt
their political system. For the PRC to accept their political
system, they will have to once again accept the division of the
PRC. They will have to submit to all the "western" institutions
which place individual right, the making of the maximum
capitalist profit, in the first place. This will threaten the
PRC's sovereignty as is the case with all the clamor about
"reform" under the pretext that the PRC is "violating human
rights."
The PRC also has friends who would like to see it march on
to socialism and communism through revolution. This would also
open great prospects for many countries in the world which have
come under the clutches of monopoly capital and the imperialist
countries. These friends of the PRC would like to see the
harmonization of the individual and collective interests with the
general interest of Chinese society. They would like to see a
prosperous and socialist China, a country which would be a factor
for peace and progress in the world.
The death of Deng Xiaoping has, once again, brought the
question of which way forward for China to the fore. The PRC has
experience of market socialism. This socialism, besides other
things which are negative, has opened up the PRC for imperialist
take-over and foreign interference. The PRC also knows what is
socialism, the organization of all social productive forces of
China for the completion of the socialist revolution and
socialist construction. This is the only way the PRC can defend
its sovereignty and contribute to the forward march of entire
humankind.
The "leaders" of the "west" have concluded in their
self-serving enthusiasm for China's market socialism that the
great question , "which way forward for China" has already been
settled. Not only has this question not been settled for the PRC
but it has not been settled for any country in the world either.
Far from having been settled for China, it has actually become
acute with the death of Deng Xioping. Every political force
within the PRC and internationally will have to reckon with it.
Shawgi Tell
University at Buffalo
Graduate School of Education
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
