Chinese New Left

New Leftism in the People's Republic of China is an ideological tendency in opposition to capitalism and the and in favour of the restoration of Maoist-style socialism. The movement first gained steam during the mid-1990s. New Leftism is seen as being more appealing to students in China today than liberalism or neoliberalism — problems faced by China during its modernisation, such as inequality and the widening gap between the rich and the poor, are becoming more serious. It is also known as 'neo-leftism'.

Overview

New Leftists can usually be divided into two main groups: believers in either postmodernism or ; and those who support Chinese nationalism. The Chinese New Left's origins lie mainly in scholarly people who were heavily influenced by the idea of postmodernism in universities in the Western world before coming back to China in the mid-1990s. They tend to think that the social problems faced by China are caused by capitalist loopholes and .

The name

The name was first applied in the late 1990s. Their foremost thinker is , and he explains how they did not choose this term:

The first stirring of a more critical view of official marketization go back to 1993... But it wasn't till 1997-98 that the label New Left became widely used, to indicate positions outside the consensus. Liberals adopted the term, relying on the negative identification of the 'Left' with late Maoism, to imply that these must be a throw-back to the Cultural Revolution. Up till then, they had more frequently attacked anyone who criticised the rush to marketization as a 'conservative' - this is how Cui Zhiyuan was initially described, for example. From 1997 onwards, this altered. The standard accusatory term became 'New Left'...

Actually, people like myself have always been reluctant to accept this label, pinned on us by our adversaries. Partly this is because we have no wish to be associated with the Cultural Revolution, or for that matter with what might be called the 'Old Left' of the reform-era CCP. But it is also because the term New Left is a Western one, with a very distinct set of connotations – generational and political – in Europe and America . Our historical context is Chinese, not Western, and it is doubtful whether a category imported so explicitly from the West could be helpful in today's China. Attacking the current leadership as " ," the leaflets called on lower-level cadre to "change current and to revert to the road." The Zhengzhou incident is one of the first manifestations of public nostalgia for the Mao era to make it to the international press, although it is far from clear whether these feelings are widespread. In any case, it is an example of Marxist Chinese New Leftism in action.

Current disputes

Chinese New Leftists are often criticised by liberal intellectuals, who consider China not to be liberal ''enough'', both economically and politically. These liberals tend to think that inequality and the widening gap between rich and the poor are serious problems, but that these problems exist in every and constitute a necessary stage of development. Liberals also criticise postmodernism, which they argue is inappropriate for China because it is still not developed enough, and at the moment does not yet face some of the particular problems that have occurred in some developed countries that in turn gave rise to postmodernist thought. Democracy and personal freedoms are seen by these liberals to be important for China, although perhaps not attainable in the near future. The liberal critics and Chinese New Leftists have fiercely debated throughout the mid-1990s and early 2000s.

Current plans for a "New Socialist Countryside" could be seen as a concession to New Left ideas. It is significant that the idea of privatising the land has not so far been accepted. Currently it is used privately but cannot be sold, unlike urban property. Britain's Financial Times has been expressing concern at an apparent stagnation in China's economic reforms.

Sources