By Heiko Khoo

China.org.cn

March 6, 2014 – The leaders of the Communist Party of China (CPC) view the battle against corruption as a struggle of life and death that will determine China’s fate. The Party’s capacity to control the abuse of power is the defining issue that will shape future relations between the Party and the masses. To avoid the type of collapse that brought down Communist Party rule in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, the CPC must stamp out corruption and empower the working masses to create a socialist future.

Last year, Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, vowed that the "color of red China will never change." Strict measures to clean up the behavior of officials were released and enforced, and many displays of official extravagance eradicated. Xi explained, "The Party cadres should be firm followers of Communist ideals, true believers of Marxism and devoted fighters for the socialism with Chinese characteristics." State and Party leaders initiated the campaign by self-criticism and pledged their support for the "mass-line:" to connect as closely as possible with the masses and promote a frugal, honest, hardworking and clean government.

Xi explained that an understanding of revolutionary history is the "best nutrient" for Party members. In Mao Zedong’s time, China’s revolutionaries and state functionaries were known worldwide for their Spartanic lifestyles and their closeness to the masses. Wage inequality was minimal and a collectivist spirit pervaded society. This anchored communist ethics deep in the minds of workers and peasants. So, even when catastrophic policy errors occurred, the Party could draw on deep wells of social support. The people and Party believed they were transforming China, and that the world was moving towards a communist future.

Deng Xiaoping’s policies permitted markets, foreign investment and indigenous private ownership. This provided access to foreign capital and technology and actually developed indigenous capital: generating the most rapid modernization — as well as economic growth and reduction in poverty — of any major economy in world history. This happened because the CPC retained its control over the macro economy by means of the public ownership of the banks and the commanding heights of the economy.

However, the accompanying rise in inequality produced grotesque disparities in life styles and opportunities. Urban life in China appeared to become similar to that of many developing capitalist countries: beggars and billionaires pass each other in the country’s great cities; capitalists in Ferraris race past migrant workers who build five star hotels on poverty wages. However, in the minds of broad layers of the working classes, capitalism is associated with technical advance and dynamic development. The working class has become China’s largest social class. Workers with urban registration have adjusted to new forms of global, private and state capital investment, as well as to new types of employment. Migrant workers have been drawn into the global chain of production and consumption.

Capitalists invest capital to make profits, so they are a necessary part of the capitalist enterprise. State officials, however, invest public funds. They are supposed to serve the people without personal gain. As the Party controls the state and administration, the behavior of these officials directly reflects on the public image of the Party. Encounters with the state, even with petty officials, are often riddled with bureaucratic obstructions which can only be overcome by the grease of corruption. Often, corruption appears to be systemically anchored into the very functioning of power.

While the immense progress of China’s economy and society is easily measured in statistics and is felt by the masses in their rising living standards, progress is a relative phenomenon. If a poor peasant becomes a migrant worker and can send 500 yuan home each month, then what is this compared to an official who takes a 5 million yuan bribe for a permit to build luxury apartments? In conditions of extraordinary economic growth and private accumulation, intercourse between private capital and state officialdom has become a normal and daily routine. The temptations on offer by the globally connected capitalist class could corrupt a saint.

Even some of those who have strong revolutionary traditions in their families have succumbed to its lure. The desire to gain access to inner decision-making networks — that determine the allocation of China’s colossal state resources and influence decisions about access to state banking and investment capital — means that the relatives and friends of top officials become prime targets for cultivation. Such networks of personal associations are approached from all directions: by Chinese and foreign business interests; by legitimate and criminal groups; and even by gold digging lovers and foreign secret services. The global terrain within which these processes operate makes identifying and acting on these corrosive influences extremely difficult.

CPC membership surpassed 85 million in 2013, of which college graduates made up 40 percent. This provides the Party with a cadre equipped with high proficiency and skills in scientific and technical fields, as well as competent government administrators. Yet the class composition of the Party has still failed to adequately reflect the growth of the manual and service sectors, as well as of the number of migrant workers. However, membership of the All China Federation of Trade Unions reached over 280 million in 2013.

Article 2 of the Communist Party constitution states that, "Members of the Communist Party of China are vanguard fighters of the Chinese working class, imbued with communist consciousness." The mass line in the struggle against corruption is a form of class struggle against the threat of capitalist restoration. The core of Communist Party power remains the public sector of the economy. If workers can be drawn into the battle against corruption — as conscious agents of supervision and control — through democratic trade unions and staff and workers’ representative councils, then the success of the present drive against corruption can act as a springboard to reinvigorate the socialist consciousness of the masses.

The author is a columnist with China.org.cn.