A Study Of The Evolution Of The CPC's Policies About The Intelligentsia

The issue of the intelligentsia is of paramount importance in the course of the revolution and construction in China, and the policy towards the intelligentsia is one of the most important components of the CPC' s (short for the Communist Party of China) policies system. More and more progress has been made in the study on the policy towards the intelligentsia, many problems settled or commonly understood, nonetheless the study is still unsatisfactory. In this thesis, with the help of the study on the scholars and intellectuals in modern times in the science of history, the author attempts to deepen the understanding of the policy towards the intelligentsia by taking into account the evolution of the ideology and society in modern times.The social evolution in modern China was influenced internally and externally. The intelligentsia came into being after the traditional scholars turned into modern ones. Because of their special historical status, it took long for the Marxist view to be accepted in China that the proletariate is the most revolutionary in the communist movement. In the early days after the foundation of CPC, such issues were greatly concerned as whether the intelligentsia was the vanguard in the revolution and whether it could be classified into a unique class. CPC s opinion on the intelligentsia was affected by such various factors as the ideology, the politics and the society home and abroad. After theMay 4lh Movement, the students came into stage as a unique force and CPC s great attention was paid to their role in the politics. Meanwhile, CPC s opinion on the intelligentsia was affected by the Communist International, Soviet Union and the national situations. In the first years after the foundation of CPC, these opinions were agreed that the Chinese revolution was part of the world revolution and that the national situations in China were quite different from those in the western countries. The intelligentsia, regardless of its classification, was more inclined to the revolution than the imperialists. Therefore, the issue of the intelligentsia was especially concerned in CPC s ideological sphere because of its understanding the relation between the world revolution and the revolution in China.Inside CPC, different opinions arose as to the intelligentsia' s status, but unanimity was reached on the issue of the intelligentsia' s responsibility. With CPC s theoretical thinking about the intelligentsia, it was gradually accepted in 1923 that the intelligentsia did not belong to a unique class for Its lack of economic basis and that the workers and peasants were the main force of the revolution. Correspondingly, the intelligentsia changed from the forerunner to the servitor. The May 30th Movement saw the proletariate come into stage as a unique power, and the status of the intelligentsia was fundamentally upturned in the revolution. The vanguard status of part of the intelligentsia no longer came into collision with the proletariate, the latter the leading class in the revolution.Roughly speaking, CPC s opinion of the intelligentsia kept changeable with the worldwide circumstances and the domestic situations. On the other hand, the intelligentsia was developing itself as a unique group. Hence, both steady and arguable aspects could be found in CPC s policies towards the intelligentsia, but such policies kept changing with the time.After the Grand Revolution failed, there were deviances In the pol icytoward the intelligentsia because of the influence from the Communist International and the domestic situations. The intelligentsia was considered the main cause resulting in the failure, and it became CPC s principle to push aside the intelligentsia in the course of the re-organization and reconstruction. Specifically, after the Fourth Plenary Session of the sixth Central committee, many of the intellectuals and cadres were persecuted during the large-scale reconstruction. Even though the Left deviation could not be fundamentally adjusted, some of the intellectuals made unremitting efforts to put right the deviant policies. Such efforts provided useful references for CPC s adjusting and perfecting the policy toward the intelligentsia. During the period of the Anti-Japanese War, CPC s cognition of the intelligentsia was further deepened with the acceleration of making Marxism Chinese. As a result, many new ideas sprung as to the winning over, the self-improvement, the cultivation and the employment of the intelligentsia. In the course of the Liberation War, CPC s great efforts were made to recruit and train the intelligentsia, to treat right the cadres born of the landlords and rich peasants and also the intelligentsia in the KMT-ruled areas. The co-operation was strengthened between the movement leaders in the KMT-ruled areas and the democratic parties. It was proved a great success to put into practice CPC s policy toward the intelligentsia.In the early days after the foundation of PRC, the intelligentsiawas greatly inspired by CPC s policy----to unite, instruct and reform.But such policy was destroyed since the late 1950s because of the ideological struggle and the intelligentsia was separated from the mass. The intellectuals became the object of the struggle and many of them suffered great calamity during the Culture Revolution. After that, right ideological principles were reset by the second- generation Central Leadership and the policy toward the intelligentsia was put right. The atmosphere of esteeming the knowledge and talents was created in thewhole nation. The study on the issue of the intelligentsia entered upon a new phase since the third- generation Central Leadership. The policy toward the intelligentsia underwent a quite complicated process during the period of Socialist construction as well as in the Democratic Revolution period, which implied the complex and hardship of the revolution and construction.It is illustrated clearly by the historical experience that more and more intellectuals should be expected to devote into the revolution and construction in order for the proletarian party to succeed in both the revolution and construction. Therefore, the proper policy toward the intelligentsia must be based on the judgment that intelligentsia belongs to the working class and that it is one of CPC s important forces to rely upon in politics.