Yundong: Mass Campaigns in Chinese Communist Leadership PDF
Preview Yundong: Mass Campaigns in Chinese Communist Leadership
Yundong: Mass Movements in Chinese Communist Leadership A publication ofthe Center for Chinese Studies University ofCalifornia, Berkeley, California 94720 Cover Colophon by Shih-hsiang Chen Although the Center for Chinese Studies is responsible for the selection and acceptance ofmonographs in this series, respon sibility for theopinions expressedin them and for the accuracy ofstatements contained in them rests with their authors. @1976 bythe RegentsoftheUniversityofCalifornia ISBN 0-912966-15-7 LibraryofCongress Catalog Number 75-620060 Printed in the United StatesofAmerica $4.50 Center for ChineseStudies • CHINA RESEARCHMONOGRAPHS UNIVERSITYOFCALIFORNIA, BERKELEY NUMBER TWELVE YUNDONG: MASS CAMPAIGNS IN CHINESE COMMUNIST LEADERSHIP GORDON BENNETT 4 Contents List of Abbreviations 8 Foreword 9 Preface 11 Pinyin Romanization of Familiar Names 14 INTRODUCTION 15 I. ORIGINS AND DEVELOPMENT 19 BackgroundFactors 19 Immediate Factors 28 Development after 1949 32 II. HOW TO RUN A MOVEMENT: THE GENERAL PATTERN 38 Organizing aCampaign 39 Running aCompaign in aSingle Unit 41 Summing Up 44 III. YUNDONG IN ACTION: A TYPOLOGY 46 Implementing Existing Policy 47 Emulating Advanced Experience 49 Introducing and Popularizing a New Policy 55 Correcting Deviations from Important Public Norms 58 Rectifying Leadership Malpractices among Responsible Cadres and Organizations 60 Purging from Office Individuals Whose Political Opposition Is Excessive 63 Effecting Enduring Changes in Individual Attitudes and Social Institutions that Will Contribute to the Growth ofa CollectiveSpiritandSupportthe Construction ofSocialism 66 IV. DEBATES OVER THE CONTINUING VALUE OF YUNDONG 75 Rebutting the Critics: Arguments in Support of Campaign Leadership 80 V. RESPONSES BY NONELITES: THE QUESTION OF COMPLIANCE 86 VI. CONCLUSION 92 APPENDIX: The Land Reform Campaign- Manchuria, 1946-47 101 Selected Annotated Bibliography 122 Glossary 125 Index 131 Wave After Wave by Rewi Alley With white foam waves break and dash eagerly up the strand lapping around the children who play and laugh making the long beach a live thing in its changing beauty. Watching these and the sturdy fishermen hauling boats ashore one thinks over the wave after wave of people's movements that have pounded the shores of privilege then after dumping flotsam, have returned gaily to mother sea again. August 20, 1968 Beidaihe (from Ta Kung Pao Weekly Supplement, Hongkong, September 26, 1968) LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS USED IN TEXT AND NOTES CB Current Background, U.S. Consulate General, Hongkong CCP Chinese Communist Party JPRS Joint Publications Research Service NCNA New China News Agency, Beijing PLA People's Liberation Army SCMM Selections from China Mainland Magazines, U.S. Consulate General, Hongkong SCMP Survey of China Mainland Press, U.S. Consulate General, Hongkong Foreword One of the most frequently encountered metaphors in the writings of Mao Zedong likens the course ofrevolution to the movementofwaves. The movementofarevolutionary cause, Mao tellsus,is by no means al ways aforward one; revolutionsmovethroughebbs and flows, advances and retreats. The revolutionary isoften depicted asbattlingwaves in his attempt to make forward progress.Whether this metaphor derives from theexperienceofthe ChineseCommunist Partyinguerrillawarfare dur ing its formative years or from the concepts ofthe dialect itself, it is a particularly important idea that has determined the course of post- LiberationChinese politics,and whichisthus indispensableto an under standing ofthat course. The most important manifestation of this idea in contemporary Chinese political life is the yundong, or mobilizational campaign. So im portant is it, indeed, that the "campaign style" has given a distinctive character to the Chinese political system, ascompared with nonsocialist or even other socialist political systems. Despite its importance, however,neithertheChinesethemselves nor outsideobserversofChina have devoted sustained attention to the idea ofthe campaign or to the history ofits implementation in post-Liberation China. Gordon Bennettis particularly well qualified to correct this omission. Alongwith ahandful ofothers, Professor Bennett combines athorough knowledge of the documentary sources on contemporary Chinese politics with ahighly developed ability to interview former residents of the People's Republic. Using the information and viewpoints garnered from these two disparate sources,he is able to produce asynthetic work of considerably greater reliability than those that derive from a single type of source material. This ability was manifested first in the book, Red Guard: The Political Biography ofDai Siao-ai, the story of a Red Guard, which Professor Bennett wrote in collaboration with Ronald Montaperto. It is clearly manifested as well in the present work. Professor Bennett has written:Yundongwith two audiences in mind, mind. His book synthesizesin anew way primary sourcematerialonthe mobilizational campaign, a subject that has not been separately treated previously except in article form. As aresult, this work will be ofcon siderable interest and importance to the specialist in contemporary Chinese politics. But the book has also been addressed to the student who isjust beginning his or her study ofcontemporary China. Because the campaigns in retrospect provide not only a key to understanding Chinese political style, but also a means of periodizing contemporary Chinese political history, it isclear that this work will find an important place in the classroom as well. Duringseveral periods ofresidence at the Center for ChineseStudies at Berkeley, Professor Bennett has contributed substantially to the Center's intellectual vitality. His longassociation with theCentermakes it particularly fitting that this book be published as one of the China Research Monographs. JohnBryanStarr, Vice-Chairman Centerfor Chinese Studies Berkeley, California May 1975 10
The list of books you might like
