A Socialist Harmonious Society

    I have been remiss in reporting on the Sixth Plenary Session of 16th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.  The annual gathering of the Central Committee - about 300 of the top Party leaders - has been going on since Sunday and is closing today.  They issued their official communique, which, in theory, will guide the work of the Politburo and Standing Committee of the Politburo for the next year.  The main task ahead is the construction of a "socialist harmonious society."

    Here are some quick impression of the communique.

    The good news is that, in principle, Party leaders are committing themselves to a more Mencian view of social justice.  I say "in principle" because I think we really need to wait and see how they follow though in reality.  My sense is that the desire to hold on to institutional power will limit and undermine the realization of the Mencian goals.

    How is this Mencian?  Here is one suggestive passage from the communique:

Meanwhile, we must put more attention to developing social services and push forward economic and social development in a coordinated way. Social equity and justice is a basic condition of social harmony, while a sound system provides the fundamental guarantee to social equity and justice. We must accelerate construction of the system that plays an important role in ensuring social equity and justice to guarantee people's rights and interests in political, economic, cultural and social fields and guide our citizens to exercise their rights and fulfill their obligations according to law.

    That bit about "social equality and justice" resonates with this excerpt from Mencius:

"If you want to put my words into practice, why not return to fundamentals?  When every five-acre farm has mulberry trees around the farmhouse, people wear silk at fifty.  And when the proper seasons of chickens and pigs and dogs are not neglected, people eat meat at seventy.  When hundred-acre farms never violate their proper seasons, even large families don't go hungry.  Pay close attention to the teaching in village schools, and extend it to the child's family responsibilities - then, when their silver hair glistens, people won't be out on roads and paths hauling heavy loads.  Our black-haired people free of hunger and cold, wearing silk and eating meat in old age - there have never been such times without a true emperor." (17)

    Although he is writing in an idiom of ancient times, his message is clear: the good society is one in which the poor and the old live comfortable lives.  And that can only happen when a good and just ruler (I could say more here about "justice" but will refrain for now) - or, we might say in our modern idiom: "political system" - can implement policies to protect social equity. 

    So, good. I am all for Mencian social policy - even if I am skeptical that the CPC can pull it off without more fundamental institutional change - that is, a lot less "socialism" (which clearly implies Leninism here) and a lot more "harmonious."

   That said, there is a fairly basic way that the communique is not really Confucian.  Besides the prominence of "socialism," which ensconces the whole project in a Marxist, materialist framework that ill suits a Confucian perspective, the most notable thing about the communique is its avoidance of "family." 

    For Confucius, "harmony" is an effect; it is the thing created when individuals fulfill their social roles, especially in regard to their closest loving relationships, their families.  It is generated, in a social sense, from the bottom-up, from the myriad individual enactments of personal responsibilities happening in innumerable families and close social networks.  Any implementation - in a modern public policy manner - of these sensibilities would have to concern itself with enabling individuals to perform their family and social obligations. 

   No such rhetoric is to be found in the Party Communique.  Rather, it is all about Party leadership and broader social-economic categories.  It does not foreground individual moral agents fulfilling their duties.  And maybe it could never say that because, after all, it is a product of a Marxist-Leninist-Maoist ideology that has, for all of its existence, required the subordination of individuals to the state and party.

     The implication here is that Confucianism might be closer to modern liberalism than to modern socialism - and that might be true.  The difference with liberalism, however, is that the Confucian individual is defined by his or her social context.  He or she is not a "possessive individual" but, we might say, a "socially embedded individual."  But, that being said, the social subordinating of the individual in Confucianism should occur on a more immediate level than the state and party; it can only be ethically enacted in intimate, face-to-face, daily interactions with family members and close acquaintances.  Only when these social obligations are fulfill can a cascading effect of social "harmony" reach the broader level of society as a whole.

     Simply put, "harmony" cannot be imposed upon a society from above by a coercive state apparatus; it can only be created through the the conscientious and routine performance of personal ethical duties at the most local level, from the bottom up.

    That's the difference between Confucian "harmony" and "socialist harmony."

Comments

[Charlie]

This was a fascinating analysis, and hope you don't mind that I've quoted you in my thoughts of Social Harmony in relation to the One Child Policy.

I too was very struck by the contrast between the coldness of the language of the communique and the social warmth they were seeking to benefit with such attractive propositions as harmony when I read it..

(I had to edit some of it, so I had to read it!)

[Arthur Tafero]

Greetings,

You have an informative and interesting site and I am glad to Chad Hansen's page leading the philosophy section; please feel free to add mine for chinastudiesjournal.com

Best Regards
Arthur H Tafero