Deng Xiaoping-A Visionary Reformer

By Ipsita Baishya

“Reform is China’s second revolution”,those potent words by a man long gone but whose ideas and ideology refuse to fade away ushered in the winds of change and paved the way for modern China.Deng Xiaoping had always been at the helm of leading his country ahead, keeping economic development as the core.Though in his lifetime he never held office as the head of state or government he was a leading player in Chinese politics and policy-making so much so that today there is the Deng Xiaoping theory gilded in the canon of Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong thought. Traditional Maoist theory put China's development focus on the building of socialism and class struggle, while Deng's Theory emphasized economic construction and stability.Like a true leader ahead of his time Deng told his countrymen “Poverty is not socialism,to be rich is glorious” and transfigured a Communist China into one of the world's robust economies.

The Revolutionary
The foundation of Deng Xiaoping’s infinite contribution to China’s progress could be seen right from the activism of his early days.A part of an entire generation of revolutionary intellectuals,he began with a worker-student stint in France where Deng was initiated into Marxism and joined the Chinese Communist Party.In early 1926 he left France to study in Moscow and a year later he returned to China as a part of Nationalist Party-Communist Party co-operation and turned into a staunch revolutionary with a basic understanding of Marxism-Leninism and some experience of practical struggle.By 1931 he came into close association of Mao Zedong and became instrumental in shaping the course of history as a top-level Communist political operator and military commander. Deng Xiaoping served in the military from 1938 until 1952 . He joined the CCP Central Committee in 1945 and rose rapidly, joining the Politburo Standing Committee in 1956. The Trial years But Deng’s revolutionary career had been full of ups and downs.He had to face severe persecution and ignominy during the “Cultural Revolution”(a comprehensive reform movement in China initiated by Mao Zedong in 1965 to eliminate counter-revolutionary elements in the country's institutions and leadership) twice was stripped of his posts and termed a “capitalist roader” though he had been reinstated each time.There had been known to have been several assassination attempts on Deng by his enemies but each time Providence saved him. Mao and Deng fell out in the 1960s as they disagreed over the strategy of economic development and other policies. Deng made a firm political comeback after Mao’s death and arrest of the Gang of Four and devoted his energies in steering China on the road for economic modernisation after the Cultural Revolution. The Reformer Though often termed as Mao Zedong’s lieutenant and deputy,Deng was a pragmatist. Deng's pragmatism, embodied in his famous remark, "It does not matter whether they are black cats or white cats; so long as they catch mice, they are good cats," was not what Mao subscribed to. According to Deng “Planning and market forces are not the essential difference between socialism and capitalism.A planned economy is not the definition of socialism,because there is planning under capitalism;themarket economy happens under socialism too.Planning and market forces are both ways of controlling economic activity”. Almost a century ago thus Deng attracted foreign companies to a series of Special Economic Zones, where foreign investment and market liberalization were encouraged. He proclaimed,“We have criticized, on both a theoretical and a practical level, the phoney, ultra-Left socialism pushed by the Gang of Four, which boils down to universal poverty. We have always followed the principles of socialist public ownership and distribution according to work. We have always followed the policy of developing socialist economic construction mainly through self-reliance-supplemented by foreign aid-and through the study and acquisition of advanced technology from abroad. We have tried to act in accordance with objective economic laws. In other words, we have adhered to scientific socialism.” Also called China's "patriarch", Deng resolved issues like the separation of Hong Kong, Macau and later Taiwan from the mainland - with the constructive pragmatism that characterised his political endeavours.The famous "one-country, two systems" formulation under which Hong Kong was returned after 155 years of British colonial rule and embarked upon the experiment of the 21st century -- capitalism under the world's biggest Communist regime. Deng was committed to reinforce China’s economic and political might in international terms. He emphasized upon”socialism with Chinese characteristics” . In his words,”We welcome foreign investment and advanced techniques. Management is also a technique. Will they undermine our socialism? Not likely, because the socialist sector is the mainstay of our economy. Our socialist economic base is so huge that it can absorb tens and hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of foreign funds without being shaken. Foreign investment will doubtless serve as a major supplement in the building of socialism in our country. And as things stand now, that supplement is indispensable. Naturally, some problems will arise in the wake of foreign investment. But its negative impact will be far less significant than the positive use we can make of it to accelerate our development. It may entail a slight risk, but not much.Well, those are our plans. We shall accumulate new experience and try new solutions as new problems arise. In general, we believe that the course we have chosen, which we call building socialism with Chinese characteristics, is the right one”. True to his dynamic approach In 1979 Deng was even nominated as Time magazine's 'Man of the Year', a rare honour for a Communist. The Autocrat On the underside, however Deng was a harsh leader who believed in crushing any sort of opposition with an iron fist. In the spring of1989,the CCP under Deng's leadership suppressed the Tianemen Square popular demonstration in Beijing when students called for democracy and an end to corruption by sending in units of the People's Liberation Army resulting in huge loss of life. An unflappable Deng had only this to say, 'This was the storm that was bound to happen... it was just a matter of time and scale. It has turned out in our favour.” He is also known to have persecuted thousands of intellectuals during Mao's Anti-Rightist Campaign of 1957. Again,Deng’s economic policies were not without its loopholes and excesses.As one observer has noted: "It is symbolic of the nature of Chinese capitalism in the post-Mao era that the most prominent early members of the new 'bourgeoisie' were the sons and daughters of high Communist officials, soon to be known as the 'crown princes and princesses' (Maurice Meisner, The Deng Xiaoping Era).Despite this Deng Xiaoping solely holds credit for putting China in the larger international picture and advocating his vision of a modern, prosperous,unified nation. End of an era

Deng completed a long innings (born 1904, died 1997) and spanned an entire era influencing events right up to the century's end.During his famous inspection visit to Southern China in his last years he proclaimed, “kaifang” literally “open up” which was indeed a keyword of China’s development.Today China has been globalised beyond recognition.But the foundations of it were laid by one man way back-Deng Xiaoping who in his visionary thinking already foresaw and envisaged the inevitable changes to come.Clearly China and the Chinese owe a lot to Deng Xiaoping’s rich legacy….