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THE ART IN POLITICS: CCP, THE PARTY HIJACKED
The revolution started in earnest in the early 1900's, culminating in the
victory of the communist Party (CCP) in 1949. To commemorate this historic
victory,
the images and portraits of the leaders of the revolution were reproduced
and distributed, the most famous of these being the portrait of Chairman
Mao Zedong, the leader and Chairman of the CCP, hanging on the gate entrance
of the Forbidden City, Beijing, over looking Tiananmen square.
Revolutionary fervour peaked in the early sixties with the begining of
the Cultural Revolution. Its aim was the complete mobilisation of the "Just
Societies" behind the revolution and specifically the CCP. Posters depicting
the achievements of the working class since 1949, and especially Chairman Mao
Zedong were ubiquitous. His image conveyed not only his power, but more importantly
his ideology. The objective was not to create a personality cult around a man,
but an idea, an ideology and philosophy of government, economics, and morality,
know as Marxism - Leninism - Maoism (Maoism for short). His stern, yet optimistic
face overlooked every classroom, social hall, restaurants, meeting place, square
and den in China ; A constant remembrance of the need to continue the revolution,
too be selfless, and upright, loyal, and honourable, and to keep the ideology
of Maoism / Communism in the people's hearts and in their minds.
He indeed created a following, a cult of personality dedicated whole heartedly
and loyally to Chairman Mao and the ideas he put forth. The unique cadre,
fiercely loyal presented itself as the backbone of the revolution, serving
in the army,
in the factories and the fields of China. This loyalty was however a
hallmark of the Chinese people, and for the vast majority Chairman Mao
was seen
as a quasi Messianic figure, who liberated his people from the dredges
of feudal
life and 'false consciousness', the victory of the CCP in 1949 was a
rebirth for the Chinese nation and its people. The loyalty extended to
Chairman
Mao and his loyal officials, was however a grass roots phenomena. The
Chinese people
were arguably far more united behind their leader, the the Communist
Party itself. Within the CCP, different factions existed and daily competed
for
power. While the Chairman lived, he was untouchable and the party followed
his line
and direction, without question or doubt.
Chairman Mao died in 1976, and following his state funeral, apparently
the largest ever attended in Chinese history, the power vacuum left
needed to
be filled, and quickly. The struggle was between the extreme leftist/Maoist
group,
the so called Gang of Four, led by the late Chairman's wife Jiang Qiang,
against the rightest reactionary movement, know as the "Capitalist Roaders" by
their enemies, or the Dengists, for they were led by a junior party official
known as Deng Xiao Ping, by their allies. The struggle ended with the defeat
of the Gang of four and the victory of Dengists. Their agenda had been the
slow promulgation of Capitalism in China, through the periodic introduction
of market forces and private and foreign investment. With the Hard Line Maoists
(the Gang of Four) out of the way, the path seemed clear. The party was under
their controls but not the people. Most of the Chinese who were in bureaucratic
positions, in the army, and industry had grown upturn the Cultural Revolution,
and had remained loyal to precepts with which they had been brought up. What
Deng Xiao Ping needed was the slow and steady destruction of not only the cult
of personality behind Chairman Mao, but more importantly, to replace the ideology
of the people.
Over the next 30 years successive Chinese Governments (first that of
Deng Xiao Ping, and than Jiang Ze Min), would seek to supplant the
position of Chairman
Mao through a subversive campaign against not only his legacy, but
the ideology which placed him in power. The effects of an immediate
denunciation
of Chairman
Mao after his death would have been catastrophic and probably ushered
in
rebellion from the people and the various factions of the armed forces
which remained
loyal to the memory of their leader. Deng Xiao Ping had learned from
the mistakes of Nikita Khrushev of the dangers in denouncing former
leaders. Deng Xiao Ping
played both hands, with his left he waved the banner of revolution
and of Maoism, keeping all the symbols and icons to placate the people,
and
with
his right,
he did away with the Chinese welfare system, and slowly introduced
market forces into China, under the guise of "social redevelopment". Chairman Mao's
efforts to create a classless society were done away with in a matter of years,
and his successor Deng Xiao Ping, actively promoted the emergence of a Chinese
Middle Class. Deng Xiao Ping promoted loyal members of his own Cadre into party
positions. With the emergence of the new Chinese middle class, Deng Xiao Ping
was able to create new loyalties, He blinded the middle classes with consumerism,
and destroyed the peasantry by doing away with the welfare systems. However,
the most effective method of replacing Maoism, with Materialism, was one much
more subtle, the subversive destruction of the remaining cult of personality
behind Chairman Mao, through the degradation of his image.
Chairman Mao was attacked on all fronts, and perhaps the most subversive
would be his image on Tiananmen Square. For most westerners the recent "facial
make over" on Mao’s Tiananmen Square portrait is imperceptible.
Two measures were clearly taken after his death: the first was to enact and
allowed as much as possible laws that were contrary to Mao’s ideals especially
the open door policy. The second was to undermine and minimise Mao’s
image. The followers of Mr Deng have now attacked his "Image Portrait" at
Tiananmen Square, maybe one of the most visible open air paintings in the modern
world. It is rather shocking to look into the just painted "new Mao" at
Tiananmen Square in the "new China" … Mao was known and seen
as an optimistic, the great father, always with a great generous smile on his
face. The new regime, always with Mao’s ghost hovering over them, have
now deliberately made the most important image of China, degraded, repainted
with a clear expression of sadness, taciturn, unhealthy, and negative, in sharp
contrast to the previous one; positive, energetic, brave from the still revered
in China as the Dear Eternal Leader.
This middle Class has become the 'New' Old Guard, the backbone of
the new Chinese Revolution, a capitalist revolution. The defenders
of Chairman
Mao's legacy
have, by now been killed in the party purges of the 1980's, or
are too old to wield their weapons against this new brutal regime. This
appears
to be
a socialist nation in all but action in deed, we see a sickle and
hammer and
automatically assume we understand their political agenda, but
this
is precisely what they want us to think. The desecration of the
image of
Chairman
Mao
in Tiananmen Square can be seen as a metaphor for modern day China.
A country which claims to be Communist, yet gives larger corporate
tax
breaks than
most
Western European countries, has barely any form of social welfare
intact and virtually no safeguards or rights for workers in private
companies,
as collectivised
unions do not exist in China. One is forced to ask themselves about
the true intentions of such a government. Socialism is simply a
disguise the government
wears to mask their true intentions, a way of maintaining social
cohesion and suppressing rebellion. To all intense and purpose
the Chinese Communist
Party
has been hijacked, and its leaders pursue a new capitalist agenda,
regardless
of what colour badge they wear.
AK and its independent approach have now launched a "Mao’s Image" art
contest in China in the XXI st century with some lower schools. The winners
will be given a life time grant for the education from High school to University.
Participants will include children from 3-7 and 8-13.
Click here to view the livewire archive 1, archive 2, archive 3
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