china paper1

							Jason Nazar 11/12/98 Politics of China Paper For the past few weeks in this class we have been studying the effects of the Communist Party on China as a whole. While reading Throwing the Emperor from His Horse I got the chance to see how individuals in the rural level of Chinese society were effected by leadership decisions. I was deeply impacted by the conditions of rural life in China over the past 50 years. The villagers lived in absolute poverty and the Communist Party’s wasteful policies did little to help these people. Wang Fucheng stood out among the villagers for many reasons. Besides his Party leadership position, he was very intelligent although he did not know how to read and write. His greatest asset was his ability to understand the village and people he lived with, and his capacity to help his community through compromise and patience. Wang Fucheng was devoted to his Party and their platform, but on the same hand he was never a blind follower of the party’s practices. On many occasions he explained the deficiency’s of his own Party and how people have been better served under different systems. Nevertheless, he stayed loyal to the Communist Party his whole life and never challenged the validity of its authority, even when he disagreed with their ideas or methods. I believe that Wang stayed devoted to the party at all costs because he viewed the party as his savior from the unbearable poverty of his youth, and attributed it as the means by which he gained power and respect. I, on the other hand, have struggled for a long time trying to understand why people would buy into the Communist system. Growing up in a capitalist society and living in one of the most affluent communities in the country I’ve always recognized the opportunities of capitalism and the necessity for freedom. It baffled my mind as to why

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intelligent people would subscribe to system that striped them of their identity, all their personal liberties, and their ability to succeed. While reading the account of Wang Fucheng’s life I came to a very disturbing realization; When people live in dire poverty and have little hope, they are willing to exchange their personal freedom for some mechanism of control, even if that vehicle (Communism) is abusive and corrupt. When Wang was at perhaps the lowest point of his life, he met a man named Peng who taught him simple Marxist theory. Wang was deeply effected by the notion that wealth could be redistributed to benefit the peasantry of China. From these first meetings, Wang would form the basis of a philosophy that he would carry with him the rest of his life. Bitter poverty and deprivation characterized Wang Fucheng’s youth. As a young boy Wang was born into relatively good fortune. But his father’s addiction to Opium soon led to the demise of his family. His uncle killed his father for stealing and Wang and his mother went to live with his grandfather, who was in no condition to even take care of himself. Their existence consisted of a day to day need to survive, as Wang said, “We had about six mu of poor land, enough to feed us for only about half a year. We had no meat and rarely ate vegetables…I was always hungry. I never went to school… We couldn’t even afford a long overcoat for winter… Even when I was twenty years old my mother and I had to share a single quilt when we slept.” 1 Wang was not only poor but he was very lonely. His wife commented that as a child he was so obscure and insignificant that no one even knew his name.2 This probably played a large part in his decision to join the Communist party. As I learned, the Party preyed on the weaknesses of the villagers, making them promises they could never keep.

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Pg. 21 & 22 Pg. 19

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The land reform campaign was a very important aspect of the Communist strategy. The Party had a two-part plan to collectivize the land. In the first stage farming was cooperative, but land, tools, and animals were still owned privately. In the second stage all of the land was now part of the community. Harvests were distributed equally to all workers no matter how much work they put in, and it was mandatory to join the system. 3 Wang joined up with the People’s Militia in 1947 to drive out bandits, irregulars and secret religious society members in the area. During this time he was not a Party member, but an activist working for the Communist Party. Looking to find his place and escape his bitter hunger he would do anything he was asked to do,
“I shouted slogans and went from house to house to collect people for meetings. I criticized the landlords, telling them to confess that their property cam from us. I led people to their houses and brought their furniture to our office to be distributed to poor peasants. Sometimes we would go to the landlords houses at night and beat them.”4

This consistent theme of violence was perhaps one of the most pervasive aspects of the Communist Party in China. Revolution and violence was toted as a necessity and became the common battle cry in peasant life. In the process, Communism trampled over the individual rights of the people and transformed conscientious adults into uncontainable monsters. The author described Wang Fucheng as generous, kind, hospitable, and patient. Yet while serving the Communist’s he berated, abused, and even tortured his fellow villagers. What is perhaps even more frightening is that in this surreal environment people like Wang didn’t even recognize the contradiction of their actions. Communist dogma had thoroughly taught its members that violence was an integral part of achieving equality for all people. Even if people didn’t believe what they were being taught, what alternative did they really have?
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Pg. 41

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If at any point Wang did have to struggle with his conscious, the benefits of the Party soon won him over. The process that was transforming the social, economic, and political life of the village had dramatically improved his own life in the process too. The boy that was once so obscure that no one even knew his name, now had power prestige, and enough to eat for the first time in his entire life. It was this assent that kept Wang Fucheng loyal to the Communist Party for the rest of his life. Wang had won the trust of his fellow village members and was entrusted with the position of village leader, and was in charge of all village farming. He was displaying exemplary service to the Party but he was being blackballed from the Communist Party because of an old vendetta his ex cousin’s wife had for the Wang family. Eventually Wang’s service proved to be too valuable to pass over and he was appointed the highest position available, Party Branch Leader for his village. It was this position that he served at for over 30 years. This was not any easy position to hold. Most members only held the job for three or four years. Wang was successful because unlike past leaders he was able to keep a good temper and didn’t get mad.5 The cadres from the outside knew and trusted Wang. He was an upright individual who had never had any problems in the past, plus he was very reasonable and could settle disputes between people. His activism was well known and he had built up an impressive reputation. But the methods the Party used to recruit its members were not even nearly as respectable as Wang’s reputation. The Party promised a bright future for all that were willing to join. The people that were not won over by fairytales of the future we severely criticized as backward people, and their names were announced in public to shame them. At one point the Houhua village was split in two.

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Pg. 35 Pg. 44

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Two long tables were set up, one for the people that had joined the collective, and the other for those that still had reservations. Party members were able to divide the village and pressure the community to joining their system of farming and government. As the only organized political body, the Communist Party was able to wait out its opponents, and as more people gradually joined the rest of the village was pressured into forming one large cooperative. For the first three years the cooperatives were able to increase the overall production of wheat, corn, and sorghum. But by 1957 much of the harvest was being wasted. As dissatisfaction and problems increased, even the cadres were divided about the value of cooperatives. Part of the problem was that the government took most of the grain as part of taxes. And the little amount of grain that was paid for was not enough to support the entire community. When people worked harder to increase output, the government just took more of the grain, so there was little incentive to work hard. Accordingly people stop working and production began to fail. As Wang said, “The cadres had to go to people houses and ask them to go to the fields. At 8:00 or 9:00 am people were still in their house. Then they would go to work, but they chatted and rested a lot.”6 With production decreasing peasants became more hostile than every before. Party leaders made up for this lack of production by grossly exaggerating their amount of grain production for the year. High Party officials would praise those village leaders who gave them the highest figures, knowing fully well that they were not true. People became far more concerned with avoiding responsibility than with being productive or telling the truth. Those village leaders that did not exaggerate their figures were criticized and ridiculed as incompetent and were often replaced. The Communist Party was setting up a

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self-perpetuating system of lies that pressured people into pleasing their supervisors instead of being productive. Wang commented,

“I was honest – I didn’t exaggerate – so I was severely criticized… Did I ever lie? Yes. I had to tell lies. We all did… When harvest came we reported the real figure… but they kept asking us to give them a higher figure until they were satisfied…Under this pressure we all told lie. Actually, the villages were beginning to run short of grain.”7

The peasants had lost all of their rights and freedom. They were forced to go to work and were told when they could come home. Creativity and ingenuity were completely stagnant. No one looked for better ways to harvest because the excess grain would just go to the government. All people cared about was having enough food to get them through the winter season. Moral was undeniably low and the human spirit was non-existent. Wang Fucheng joined and stayed loyal to the party because it gave him an identity and provided him with an outlet for his ability. Through the party leadership position he was given responsibility and found self-worth by achieving his goals and gaining recognition for his deeds. His self-efficacy, confidence, and desire to work hard were motivated by the fact that he received rewards for his work. The rewards were not always tangible; sometimes it was just the praise of his villagers or the self-realization that he had helped his community. But in essence, Wang stayed loyal to the Communist party because it was the only mechanism that ever gave him an opportunity for advancement, both socially, economically, and personally. Wang found his identity through the Communist Party. Ironically this is exactly what the Party striped away from all the other villagers. They were given no system of rewards for the deeds that they accomplished. The pressure of
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Pg.47

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the cooperative and the need to survive overshadowed all sense of personal identity. Faced with little or no options the peasants of the Houhua Village choose to accept Communism in return for a consistent rations of food and some resemblance of order. Two decades after that decision, there was still no food and the villagers lost all autonomy and personal liberty. According to the author’s account, I really do not believe that Wang Fucheng was a bad man. In fact he did his best to serve the members of his village, keep them from starvation, and provide for his family. Wang was kind, easygoing, and cared for his fellow human being. But he was never aware of the fact that he was preying upon the very lifeline of his villagers. He found all his self-worth through severing the Party and the villagers, and every positive deed he accomplished came from that foundation. Wang was able to be a good man because he was given the chance to succeed and given rewards for his good work. But he also voluntarily choose to be part of an organization that stripped that same chance away from every one in his village. Wang Fucheng was a very practical man, but he was never aware that his role in the Communist Party perpetuated the sadness and hopelessness of the very people he was trying to help. Peter J Seybolt quotes Chairman Mao Zedong as saying, “to put politics in command; that is, to rely on human will and other such subjective factors to overcome all material obstacles.” But as Communism defiled human liberty and freedom, it killed the human will and lost all chance to overcome its material obstacles.

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Pg. 54 & 55

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