Wake up（347）

 

Chapter 60 Student Movement

 

347

 

In July 1977, the Third Plenary Session of the Tenth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China was held. The meeting passed the reinstatement of Deng Xiaoping as Vice Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Vice Premier of the State Council, Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission, and Chief of Staff of the PLA. Deng Xiaoping officially returned. After the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China was held in December 1978, Deng Xiaoping, who gained supreme power, listed reform and opening up as an important policy to accelerate the development of the national economy.

At the same time, Deng Xiaoping promoted reformists to serve as important government officials. Among them, Hu Yaobang, secretary-general of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, was appointed as the general secretary of the Central Secretariat in February 1980, splitting the power of then-premier Hua Guofeng. Guofeng served as Premier of the State Council.

After Hua Guofeng stepped down in 1981, Hu Yaobang took over as chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and since then reformists have entered the top leadership of the Central Committee. While market-oriented economic policies are generally welcomed by the people, concerns about official corruption and nepotism are also growing.

Liu Xiaosheng said: But there was also an economic crisis at that time, mainly due to price breakthroughs and Chinese inflation in the late 1980s.

Since the 1950s, China has long used the planned pricing mechanism formulated by the central government to keep commodity prices stable at a low level, but it also reduces the incentives for manufacturers to increase production. After the reform and opening up, and in the early stage of economic reform, the Chinese government adopted a dual-track pricing method in which the prices of some products were fixed and the prices of some commodities were allowed to fluctuate. However, due to the long-term shortage of products in the market, the prices are relatively high. Some people can use their power to buy products at low prices and then sell them at market prices, which is sometimes called "official downfall".

In addition, the government increased the money supply too much and too fast, causing at least one-third of the factories to fail to make profits; but after reducing the money supply in 1988, many financial loans could not be cashed normally.

In 1988, Deng Xiaoping agreed at the Beidaihe Conference to restore the price system to normal based on a market economy.

However, after the news that the price control will be relaxed spread, it immediately caused panic among the people. People all over China withdrew cash in large numbers and bought goods to hoard. In less than two weeks, the government immediately revoked the price reform policy, but the impact of the price breakthrough obviously lasted for a while, and the civil society faced the problem of rapid inflation.

In the official consumer price index report, it was pointed out that prices in Beijing increased by 30% between 1987 and 1988, and many wage earners panicked because they could not buy mass goods.

Under the new market economic system, many state-owned enterprises that cannot benefit are also forced to cut costs, and the iron rice bowl that used to have job security and social welfare began to face the pressure of life.

Liu Xiaosheng said: At the same time, social problems in China became prominent and complicated.

After the reform and opening up, problems such as downfall of officials, power-for-money transactions, corruption, privileges, and the expansion of the gap between the rich and the poor have emerged in Chinese society.

In addition, reformist leaders envisage that intellectuals will play a leading role in the future, leading the country to implement more economic reform policies. Although the government has successively established new universities and increased the number of students enrolled in each school, the situation has not actually happened as planned. On the one hand, the education system guided by the state is not fully integrated with the growing market demand in fields such as agriculture, light industry, service industry and foreign investment; on the other hand, students who specialize in social sciences and humanities must Access to a limited job market.

New private businesses do not accept state-assigned graduates, while high-paying jobs are taken by cronies. Among them, after the jobs with good conditions are taken by the children of the powerful and powerful, the remaining jobs are often in departments with poor performance. In fact, those who hold real power have no expertise in this field.

Faced with a bleak job market and limited opportunities to go abroad, intellectuals and students believe that by tackling political issues, these problems can be solved. This has led to the emergence of small-scale “democracy salons” on the campuses of various universities in Beijing that mainly study politics. These organizations have gradually stimulated students’ interest in participating in politics.

Affected by China's economy and society gradually moving towards capitalism, China's nominally retained socialism is also facing a crisis of confidence in ideology.

The review system for private enterprises has allowed many unscrupulous businessmen to get rich with loose legal advantages, and even often showed off their wealth in a society that emphasized "there are no poor people" in the past.

The issue of unfair wealth distribution has aroused strong dissatisfaction among the people, and there is also general disillusionment with the future of the country.

Liu Xiaosheng said: Issues worthy of attention also include factional struggles among the CCP veterans.

At that time, when people hoped that the Chinese government could make other changes, the government departments have delayed further actions. After the formulation and implementation of the policy of reform and opening up, in the face of various problems that emerged, there were differences among the top leaders on how to deal with them. But despite internal factional clashes over ideology, both sides need the support of paramount leader Deng Xiaoping to implement key decisions.

The reformers, headed by Hu Yaobang, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and Zhao Ziyang, Premier of the State Council, advocate the policy of further political liberalization. By creating channels that allow for a variety of ideas, the populace can express dissatisfaction and further support reform. Reformist members also include: Hu Qili, Wan Li, Peng Chong, Xi Zhongxun, Tian Jiyun, Bao Tong, Yan Mingfu, Li Rui, etc.

On the other hand, the radical anti-reformists, led by Chen Yun, the first secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China, and Li Xiannian, the Chinese President, believe that too many policies have been implemented in reform and opening up. Therefore, it is believed that the re-tightening of control is to ensure social stability and is consistent with China's official written socialist ideas. Conservative members also include: Wang Zhen, Li Peng, Bo Yibo, Yao Yilin, Deng Liqun, etc.

Liu Xiaosheng said: The factional struggle among the CCP veterans involves the most sensitive issue of political system reform.

On August 18, 1980, Deng Xiaoping delivered a speech on "Reform of the Party and State Leadership System" at the enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, commonly known as the "August 18 speech." Deng Xiaoping pointed out that excessive concentration of power is the "general root cause" of China's current bureaucracy. Deng Xiaoping proposed the reform of the political system, suggested abolishing the life tenure of cadres and leading positions, advocating democratic centralism, and proposed a comprehensive constitutional amendment to the National People's Congress.

On December 4, 1982, the Fifth Session of the Fifth National People's Congress deliberated and passed the historic "82 Constitution", which also became the fourth constitution of the People's Republic of China, incorporating many constitutional policies The content and terms of the doctrine laid the foundation for reform and opening up.

With the support of Deng Xiaoping, Zhao Ziyang presided over the reform of the later political system.

With the acceleration of reform and opening up, problems such as downfall of officials, power-for-money transactions, corruption, and privileges have emerged in Chinese society, and economic reform has also been hindered by the original political system. In the first half of 1986, Deng Xiaoping once again proposed "political reform" and started the discussion and formulation of "political system reform". In September of the same year, the "Central Political System Reform Research Group" was established. , Peng Chong. In October, the office of the Central Political Reform Group proposed by Zhao Ziyang was established, with specific leaders including Bao Tong, Yan Jiaqi, He Guanghui, and Zhou Jie.

The starting point of Deng Xiaoping’s political reform is to separate the party from the government, improve administrative efficiency, get rid of bureaucratic abuses, and promote further reform of the economic system under the premise of the one-party dictatorship of the Communist Party of China. However, the Western constitutional system cannot be copied. He emphasized: “ Dictatorship cannot be abandoned, and sentiments for democratization cannot be accommodated.... To build a system that enhances administrative efficiency, the organization must be streamlined....Democracy must be linked with the legal system. Only by establishing the legal system can we have a stable social environment .Our administration should be very efficient.”

At the same time, other people also publicly proposed the framework of Western constitutionalism such as "multi-party system", "separation of powers", "parliamentary democracy", and "independence of the judiciary". Although these views may be different from those of Deng Xiaoping and others in China's official reform, they were not suppressed or suppressed too much in the relatively relaxed political atmosphere at that time.

In October 1987, the Thirteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China was held in Beijing. Deng Xiaoping presided over the opening ceremony. Zhao Ziyang made a report entitled "Advancing along the Road of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics". The report was written by Bao Tong Responsible for drafting, proposing and discussing the plans and assumptions for the reform of the political system, expounding the theory of the primary stage of socialism, and proposing the concept of one center and two basic points. The fifth part of the report discusses the reform of the political system in detail, using Deng Xiaoping's "August 18 Speech" in 1980 as the guiding document for the reform, expounding many contents in line with constitutionalism, including further implementing the separation of the party and the government, decentralization of power, advocating The rule of law and supervision, improving the electoral system, etc.

The Thirteenth National Congress also implemented competitive elections for the first time. Zhao Ziyang was formally elected as the General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, Bao Tong was elected as a member of the CPC Central Committee, and Bao Tong was appointed as the political secretary of the Central Standing Committee shortly thereafter. At the end of 1987, the Political System Reform Research Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China was established.

Liu Xiaosheng said: What cannot be ignored is that the new trend of thought among the people was also lively at that time.

If the Chinese people want to be modernized, they must first implement democracy and modernize China's social system. Democracy is not exactly the result of social development, as the founder of the Soviet Union, Lenin, fabricated. It is not only the inevitable product of the development of productive forces and production relations to a certain stage, but also the condition for the existence of productive forces and production relations in this developed stage and more developed stages.

After the end of the Cultural Revolution, as early as 1978 during the rectification of chaos, Chinese intellectuals such as Wei Jingsheng began to call for political reform, and posted big-character posters holding different political opinions on the Democracy Wall in Xidan, Beijing. The brief period during which the populace was allowed to preach political freedom and democratization was dubbed the "Beijing Spring." However, Wei Jingsheng was arrested in March 1979, and the Xidan Democracy Wall was forced to close in December of the same year. In 1983, conservatives launched a left-leaning movement to "clean up spiritual pollution".

Liu Xiaosheng talked about his experience of watching the "Star Painting Exhibition".

In the summer of 1986, Fang Lizhi, a professor of astrophysics who had taught at Princeton University, began a personal interview tour in universities across China. He mainly talked about freedom, human rights, and separation of powers. Later, Fang Lizhi became a very popular figure in the society at that time, and his speech records were also widely circulated among students.

In this regard, Deng Xiaoping warned Fang Lizhi that advocating the worship of the Western way of life, capitalism, and multi-party system would mean damaging China's traditional values, socialist ideology, and the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party.

Influenced by Fang Lizhi's speech, the reopening of political reform in China, and mass movements erupting around the world, students staged protests in December 1986 against the slow pace of reform and opening up. Among them, the students who participated in the demonstration made many demands, including demands for economic liberalization, democracy, and the rule of law. Although this protest was initially held near Hefei, the student movement soon spread to Beijing and other major cities. The central leadership panicked and began accusing the protesting students of trying to foment Cultural Revolution-style unrest.

Later, Hu Yaobang, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, was accused internally of being too soft on the protests and of causing social unrest by not properly handling the incident. Hu Yaobang was forced to resign as General Secretary on January 16, 1987 after being strongly condemned by conservatives, but retained his status as a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee.

After Hu Yaobang resigned, the conservatives, with the support of Deng Xiaoping, took advantage of the opportunity to launch a left-leaning movement against bourgeois liberalization, and began to suppress those who supported Hu Yaobang's views, political liberalization, and Western style. This movement also stopped the development of the student movement and made the political environment closed for a while, but Hu Yaobang also won the welcome of reformers, intellectuals and students.

However, the movement was opposed by the then Premier of the State Council Zhao Ziyang. Zhao Ziyang believed that the leftists had used the anti-liberalization movement to oppose and negate the reform and opening up. Zhao Ziyang persuaded Deng Xiaoping in this way, and the movement gradually ended in mid-1987.

Liu Xiaosheng said: It is worth mentioning that we should have some understanding of the international situation at that time. At that time, there were drastic changes in Eastern Europe and the Cold War. At the same time as the 1989 democracy movement took place in China, since the Solidarity trade union in Poland won legal status in the round table conference in February 1989 and promoted political reforms, Hungary, the German Democratic Republic, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and Romania in Eastern and Central Europe, etc. The democratization revolutions have taken place one after another in the countries of the "camp" in an attempt to end the original Communist dictatorship.