New Purges

Deng strengthens his authority "We do not wish to hide our errors and defects," declared the latest issue of Red Flag, the theoretical journal of China's Communist Party. "If the party's style of work is not rectified, the people's belief in the superiority of socialism and the final victory of Communism will be shaken."

After a year of preparations, the party had embarked on what was officially called an "overall rectification of party style and consolidation of party organizations." In everything but name, however, it will be a purge, an attempt by China's Deng Xiaoping, 79, to secure his own authority and that of his chosen successors. For China's 40 million party members, it will be the biggest political event since the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s.

To justify the campaign, party leaders have indulged in some frank selfcriticism. "Serious problems" exist, admitted the release that announced the purge. "Some party members have a vague and confused idea about the basic principles and superiority of the socialist system and about the bright Communist future . . . some turn a blind eye to anti-Marxist and antisocialist ideas." Even today, continued the anonymous critic, "some party members . .. openly violate regulations and discipline, sabotage state plans, vio late state economic policies and illegally retain taxes and profits."

Under the new procedures, all party members will have to deliver a self-criticism before their comrades. Only if this is adequate and their dossiers show no signs of unresolved crimes will membership be confirmed. The presumed purpose is to remove Maoists who still oppose Deng's policies. Thus the campaign is being linked in an indirect way to two other Chinese trends: a move to burnish Deng's prestige and a drive against crime. Each, in its own way, is aimed at increasing Deng's popularity and power--and ensuring the survival of his policies beyond the grave.

No personality cult has developed, but it is clear that Deng is being placed on a pedestal almost as high as the one once reserved for Mao Tse-tung. Just as the publication of Mao's Little Red Book heralded the beginning of his near deification, the release in July of Deng's Selected Works drew well-publicized congratulatory messages from across the country. Two million copies were sold on the first day, and the press later revealed that the print run had been increased to 40 million copies.

The anticrime campaign is a more subtle reflection of the maneuvering to shore up Deng. Genuinely popular, the drive has as its official purpose simply eradicating a growing number of violent crimes. Every day, public bulletin boards are plastered with new execution notices, while grim truckloads of prisoners are driven back and forth to draw attention to the severity of their sentences. The campaign is said to have been directly inspired by the need to protect Deng, physically and politically. A rumor has it that an attack upon Deng's motorcade occurred in August near the seaside resort of Beidaihe. Though he was not harmed, the incident apparently prompted the crackdown.

Yet Deng is also vulnerable to charges that China's open-door policies toward the West have given birth to "bourgeois rottenness." In standing foursquare for law-and-order, Deng is seeking to shield himself from criticism.

Given the lack of fight on his left, Deng's preoccupation seems excessive. But he continues to face opposition from the military, particularly since his policies have so improved the lot of China's peasants that army recruiting and re-enlistment have fallen sharply. The purges look increasingly like gambits to prop up Deng to such a degree that his chosen successors will be able to continue his good works. The new Helmsman, it seems, does not want to suffer the same posthumous treatment that he doled out to Mao. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.