This study of the theory and practice of New Democracy, the Chinese Communist Party's programme for revolution, offers a new explanation for the success enjoyed by the Communists in forging the broad social alliance in urban China that laid the basis for the relatively peaceful regime transition in 1949. Central to this urban alliance was the relationship between the CCP and the "middle forces," those who initially stood between the warring Communists and Nationalists. The middle forces included intellectuals and businesspeople--social groups who were represented politically by the democratic parties. The study finds that the alliance between the CCP and the middle forces did not grow simply because of the Nationalists' repression, corruption, and ineptitude; rather, New Democracy's moderate call for coalition government and a mixed capitalist/socialist economy sufficiently incorporated the demands of the middle forces that they came to embrace the programme as their own. The study thus suggests a reevaluation of the "third force" in the revolution, acknowledging its ability to cause the CCP to closely tailor its programme to their concerns.;Even as New Democracy concentrated many of the demands of the middle forces, however, the programme was from the outset organically linked to socialism. New Democracy's concessions to liberalism and capitalism were circumscribed, and the clear intent of the programme was ever to increase the factors advancing socialism. Immanent in New Democracy, therefore, was a dynamic tension between unity and leadership.;The dissertation explores the theory of New Democracy, both as an expression of principles derived from the Marxist tradition and as a summation of China's revolutionary experience. It also evaluates New Democracy in practice, detailing two instances: (l) the last urban social movement prior to the Communists seizure of power, the "Movement to Oppose US Support of Japan"; and (2) the movement to restore production in 1949 according to the policy "serving both labor and capital.".;The epilogue notes the significance of these findings to later developments in China, suggesting how the dynamic tension within New Democracy lay at the heart of numerous political struggles in subsequent years, both inside and outside the Party.
展开▼
