‘Whatever it takes’: the political economy of the Chinese Communist Party

Abstract

For all governments, economic outcomes are crucial to gaining support and legitimacy, but they are even more important in a one-party state, as the lack of growth and economic well-being puts the entire political system at risk. Thus, economic development is essential for the survival of the regime paradigm itself. Since the founding of the People's Republic in 1949, the CCP (Communist Party of China) had to confront the reality of a backward and war-torn economy and the need to build the entire missing industrial base. From the very beginning, Chinese Marxism was plagued by a key problem: the lack of industrialization, which Marx and Engels thought was precisely the starting point of the revolutionary activity. While establishing relations with the Soviet Union, the CCP accepted the Leninist version of Marxism, arguing that an effective industrial sector must be built before making the revolution. How to fabricate the entire missing industrial base and a proletariat of significant size thus became the focus of the CCP's reflections and strategies. The consequences of this have indeed bolstered many of the key divisions within the CCP ranging from roughly its inception to the era of reform.

This article argues that for the CCP, Marxism has always been a means to the ultimate goal of China's economic development. Since Marxism teaches to seek truth in facts, it must be applied to the different circumstances of China. In the Maoist period, since underdevelopment posed an existential threat to the CCP government, the class contradiction had to be addressed. In the Deng era, the identification of what represented the "primary contradiction in Chinese society" was necessary for "loserless" growth. Finally, Xi Jinping is more concerned about the contradiction between unbalanced growth and adequate development, to meet the needs to improve the quality of life of the population.

Indeed, Xi Jinping clearly reveals two starting points of the Party that governs the People's Republic of China: Marxism-Leninism and the historical conditions (and wisdom) of China. In the difference in emphasis on being more "communist" or more "Chinese" we also find evidence of change and continuity in the political economy of the CCP.