Xi Jinping bans grumbling inside the Communist Party
Party factions were annoying for China’s past rulers, but offered a safe outlet for dissent
To grasp the dire state of political debate in modern China, consider this: there are reformist speeches by Deng Xiaoping, the late paramount leader, that could easily be banned by censors today. A good example is Deng’s speech on the benefits of collective leadership of the Communist Party and Chinese state, delivered in August 1980 as he moved against veterans of the recently ended Mao era and replaced them with modernisers.
Deng was a party man, not a dissident. A ruthless, battle-hardened revolutionary and nationalist, he backed those reforms that promised to make one-party rule and the economy work better, and thus strengthen China. Still, when re-read in 2022, his speech on the reform of party and state leadership sounds like a cry of dissent. For it is a cogent argument about why it is folly, given China’s history, to hand too much power to one person.
This article appeared in the China section of the print edition under the headline "Xi bans grumbling by party elders"
From the June 4th 2022 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the editionMore from China
The Chinese scientist who sequenced covid is barred from his lab
The Communist Party is still hounding experts whose work might expose its pandemic missteps
Why China’s companies are recruiting their own militias
Officials want to keep things calm in an era of slowing growth
China mulls a bold test of taxation without representation
With revenue declining, its leaders must figure out how to collect more money