Legal Study On Mao Zedong’s Theory Of Social Contradictions

Today’s social comprehension of the Chinese Legal System is really influenced by thetraditional law system in the era of Mao. Due to its huge difference from western traditionallaw system, whether the contemporary legal person admits or not,"the rule of law" cannotguide the legal practice in its proper meaning definitely. For the sake of gasping the legaltradition of the era of Mao, the priority is to interpret the temporal political thoughts. TheTheory of Mao’s Social Contradiction has the most interpretative force in the determination ofthe guiding ideology of the legal construction of the People’s Republic of China.What can be capable of reflecting the overall ideas in the Theory of Mao’s SocialContradiction is the book written in1957called On the correct handling of contradictionsamong the people (hereinafter referred to as "The Correct"). The Correct has the greatresearch value whatever in the comprehension of the legal tradition in the era of Mao, in theexploration of the fundamental reasons for the change of legal system in the era of Mao or inthe seize of the inconsistent element with the rule of the law in Mao’s Theory of SocialContradiction.As the means of social control, the Theory of Social Contradiction in "The Correct" iscompletely different from the rule of law. Their relationship could be seen from theinteraction between them, that is to say, the Theory of Social Contradiction guides andinfluences the legal system construction. In a sense, there is a rejection of the legal systemwithin the theory of social contradiction. Because of the fundamental discrepancy between thetwo social contradictory solutions, thereafter1957social contradiction theory became themain solution to social contradictions, and even the only way. In that case, laws purelybecame the tool of ruling classes. Since the legal system gradually shifted from norm systemto punishment system during the period between1957and1966, the function of law itselfgradually declined and eventually became ineffective means of social control. Accordingly,China’s legal system turned to "lawless" situation after1966.From the beginning of new legal system established by the People’s Republic of China in1949to the "lawless" state of Chinese legal system after1966, all these developments andchanges are related with the theory of social contradictions. Specifically, these effectsreflected in three aspects. First, under the guidance of Mao Zedong’s theory of social contradictions, legalconstruction emphasizes transforming the ideological style of the staff of national institutionsthrough the law, the state system, making their ideology and thought adapted to the economicbase, and in the second place it can promote the development of productivity. Therefore, thecontent of the law emphasizes political rather than legal principal; the function of law is totransform ideology, rather than play a direct role in the economic construction. In this case,when transforming the relations of production is the principal contradiction before1956, thelaw can also work. However, the function of law is negligible after the completion of socialisttransformation in1956.Second, two different types of contradictions are formed by distinguishing and screening.And the relationship between the two contradictions theory is always "life and death"; theyare developing in the process of constantly dividing class and the struggle against the classenemy. Therefore, when the class antagonisms is erased and the social contradictions entirelybecomes contradictions among the people, the contradictions among people still remains aclass concept rather than a legal concept because of the existence of distinguishing andscreening. Furthermore, it is impossible to form a real equal relationship between variousgroups. And two types of contradictions embodied in the legal field of construction as law ofideological dogmatism. According to the theory of two kinds of contradictions, the law has aclass nature. Therefore, it denies the succession of law, making the socialist legal system to bea new legal tradition that is dearly different from the "old legal system". In this guidingideology, the new Chinese law cannot learn from western legal theory, since it was regardedas" decadent bourgeois legal thought"; and it could not draw too many "nutrient" from legalpractice because of the extremely insufficient of new China’s legal experience. So theseobjective circumstances not only led to the low enactment of law, but also led the legal systemto the state as "water without a source, and a tree without roots", and eventually turned to"lawless" situation.Third, Mao’s social contradictions solution is based on the mass movement,characterized by fight, combined with a series of tested mature "means of struggle", thusbecoming the main means to solve social conflicts in "the era of Mao". Under the judicialdispute resolution of Mao’s social contradictions solution, a series of Marxism-Leninism,Mao Zedong Thought were established as the guiding view of the new law based oncriticizing and denying the viewpoint on the old law. It formed a new judicial style and trial methods, namely "people’s justice". The advantage of people’s justice is that all rely on themasses, all for the masses, so that socialist justice can be effectively served the interests of thepeople, gave full play to the initiative of the masses, and enhanced people’s sense of identityon justice. But the people’s justice also has obvious shortcoming. By the way of the massmovement, its own collectivism tendency can easily make the method of resolvingcontradictions get rid of the control of legal proceedings.During the rectification period in1957, intellectuals put forward a lot of usefulsuggestions for Chinese legal system building. However, after the shift to anti-rightmovement in rectification, most intellectuals were divided into right-wing, and the relevantlegal system suggestion which regarded as a right-wing view was completely denied. Due tothe tendency of excluding legal system resulted from social contradiction theory after theanti-right movement, it regarded those cognitions which are different from Communism,Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong thought as the heresy, they eliminated them all. So MaoZedong chose mass movement which was adapted from revolutionary times and led by thecommunist party as the core of social governance model in1957. After1957, this governancemodel continued to guide China’s political practice, continued to undermine the rule of law,and ultimately brought China into a state of "continuing revolution under the dictatorship ofthe proletariat" and "lawlessness" without expectation.The situation of "continuing revolution" and "lawlessness" resulted from the theory ofsocial contradictions, which was already a curse long before1957. When we carefully observethe legal theory and the theory of social contradictions to those specific context of the"collision" and "friction" in the first28years of the People’s Republic of China, you will findout that a kind of inevitability is brought by the enlargement of class struggle and the coming"lawless" situation in1966.In fact, Mao Zedong choice of social contradiction theory in1957,means the negation of the rule of law.