The post of Chairman was abolished in 1982. Previously, the General Secretary served more of a bureaucratic role subordinate to the chairman. With the abolition of the post of Chairman, the General Secretary has become the most powerful position within the party.
Criticism and support
There are a variety of opinions about the Communist Party of China, and opinions about the CPC often create unexpected political alliances and divisions. For example, many chief executive officers of Western companies tend to have favorable impressions of the CPC, while many revolutionary Maoists have strongly negative opinions. Opinions about the CPC also create very strong
divisions among groups normally ideologically united such
as conservatives in the United States.
Many of the unexpected opinions about the CPC result from its rare combination of attributes as a party formally based on Marxism which has overseen a dynamic market economy, yet maintains an authoritarian political system.
Western human rights activists tend to see Chinese events as examples of state oppression, whereas most Chinese (including many of those who are anti-government or anti-CPC) tend to see China's troubles as stemming from anarchy and the lack of social institutions that would defend China from outsiders or prevent one person from forming a cult of personality.
Supporters of Tibetan nationalism and Taiwan independence, neoconservativess in the United States and Japan, along with left wing anti-trade and protectionist forces there, are among the groups which have perceived the CPC government as a totalitarian regime. They refer to the events of the Cultural Revolution, Chinese famine of 1958-1961, and Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 as examples. They note that millions of people died in the Cultural Revolution and Great Leap Forward under Communist rule and see the current Chinese government as a continuation of the Chinese governments of the 1950's and 1960's. This issue is dealt with in more detail in the article History of the People's Republic of China. In addition, some within this group, especially American neoconservatives, argue that the Chinese Communist Party is a grave threat to peace because what they see as its totalitarian nature.
Among Chinese, opponents of the Party within the Chinese democracy movement have tended not to argue that a strong Chinese state is inherently bad, but rather that the Communist leadership is corrupt.
Another school of thought argues that the worst of the abuses took place decades ago, and that the current leadership is not only unconnected with them, but were actually victims of that era. They have also argued that while the Communist Party may be flawed, it is comparatively better, with respect to improving the general standard of living, than any other government that has governed China in the past century and can be put in more favorable light against most governments of the developing nations. Finally, it has been argued that despite its flaws, the Communist Party is better than its alternatives, and that a sudden forced transition to democracy would result in the economic and political collapse that occurred in Russia in the 1990s, and that by focusing on economic growth, China is setting the stage for a more gradual but more sustainable transition to a more liberal system. This group sees Mainland China as being similar to South Korea and Taiwan during the 1970's.
As with the first group, this school of thought brings together some unlikely political allies. Not only are most members of the Chinese government members of this school of thinking, but it also include business conservatives in the United States and pro-free trade liberals. Ironically some of the ideological justifications for this school of thought comes from the Kirkpatrick doctrine which makes a strong distinction between authoritarian regimes and totalitarian ones.
See also
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