Socialism in China: a historical overview

Abstract

Socialism in China has a history of almost a century, from its origins in the 1890s to its gradual abandonment by the end of the twentieth century. The Communist Party of China (CCP) still claims to lead a socialist society, but this claim has gradually lost its plausibility since the 1980s. Memories of socialism linger, and the achievements of the socialist revolution are regularly invoked in defence of the Party's legitimacy. But socialism in any meaningful sense has little to do with the everyday lives of the people in a society that has become a workshop of global capitalism, and shows every sign of becoming an integral part of a culture of consumption that characterizes contemporary culture around the world - at least for those who can afford to join in with the relentless urge to consume. The following overview of socialism in China is guided by two premises that need to be spelled out at the beginning. First, the socialist revolution in China was from the start entangled in questions of nationalism and nation-building. This has encouraged some scholars to view socialism merely as one more expression of a national search for 'wealth and power'. This view, while by no means wrong, is one-sided in that it ignores the utopian hopes that played a part in dynamizing the Chinese revolution, not just the socialist revolution but the revolution in general. Socialism, however, provided a vision that promised to transcend the ills of contemporary society. It also offered a means to this end: social and cultural revolution, which from the origins of socialism appeared as two sides of the same coin.