Research About Socialist Civil Society With Chinese Characters

Influenced by the left-leaning ideologies, the academic circle has shaped some negative views towards Civil Society, which is thought to be a capitalist ideology and a myth created by liberalists so that it becomes a tool for the Western anti-China powers to interfere Chinese domestic affairs to undermine the ruling foundation of the CPC and thus go against the construction of a harmonious society. The author regards these views are questionable just because there is a misunderstanding towards the civil society itself that needs to be analyzed and clarified. The dissertation is divided into six chapters as follows. Comrade Deng Xiaoping pointed out that "The essential difference between socialism and capitalism does not depend on whether planned economy accounts for more or market economy does.Practice of a planned economy is not equivalent to socialism because there is planning under capitalism too; Practice of a market economy is not equivalent to capitalism because there are markets under socialism too. Planning and market are economic methods".The People’s Republic of China is not a civil society in the Western sense, therefore it is inappropriate to understand and consider the newly rising Chinese civil society. Since the definition and analysis of the civil society by the majority of Chinese scholars have been deeply influenced by the western context, it is especially significant to review the classic analysis of its occurrence and development trespectively by Locke, Hegel, Marx, Engels, Lenin, Gramsci and Habermas andresearch into the theoretical origins to construct a civil society with Chinese characters. Hegel deemed that a civil society refers to a system of private life as well as its external assurance, whose most important ingredient are independent individuals and self-governing bodies. Civil society is composed of three links indulging the system of need:judicature, the police and trade association, and is determined by the political state.Based on the critical inheritance of the "civil society" theory by Locke and Hegel, Marx defined this concept scientifically, pointing out that a civil society is the "sum of material relations of production" and includes "the whole commercial and industrial life in this stage", whose essential constituents are "social organizations". Civil society determines a political state while the latter reacts upon the former. Marx’s theory proves the principle contradiction in a civil society is that between the capitalists and proletariats which can be only solved in building a civil society into a communist society, namely "the Combo of Freemen", for the development of individual freedom. This theory has promoted the formation of Marx’s historical materialism and the development of the communist movements at that time. Engels’s contribution to this theory lies in the further argument for "civil society determines a political state" and private ownership is the root for all contradictions in such a society. Gramsci’s devotion to the theory is his cultural perspective in analyzing civil society, which stresses not the violent revolution but the non-violent struggling for the cultural leadership. What Habermas contributes to this theory is his trichotomy of economic society, political society and civil society, which divides civil society into public areas and private areas and pay close attention to the legal crisis of contemporary capitalism. Lenin did not make a specific explanation about civil society, but his ideology of socialist construction is internally related to building up a socialist civil society with Chinese characters, which not only becomes one major ideological origin for such a society but also provides methodology for building and developing socialist citizens. He encouraged commodity economy, stuck to the leadership of communist party, stressed the role of the mass, proposed running a country by law,and attached great importance to the development of proletarian culture and the cultivation of citizens’quality.This dissertation has accepted the notion of civil society as the "sum of material relations of production", borrowed Gramsci’s cultural perspective and Habermas’ concepts of public domain and legality for reference, and taken into consideration of Deng Zhanglai and Yu Keping’s definition of domain of socialautonomy.It is believed that socialist civil society with Chinese characters refers to the domain of social autonomy between "government" and "market", which is based on socialist market economy and abides by socialist core values. It involves four key elements: modern citizens, socialist core values, social organizations and public domain. The basic features are as follows:Marxism is the guiding ideology, Chinese Communist Party is the leadership, socialist market economy is the base, the socialist core values is soul guide, and modern citizens and social organizations are carriers. The socialist civil society with Chinese characters is the inevitable product of socialist market economy with Chinese characters, which is not only one goal of a harmonious society with Chinese characters but also the safeguard of socialist democracy politics construction with Chinese characters. The complexity of such a civil society has historically called for the leadership of CPC and expects the latter to solve its inherent limitations. There is no doubt that tremendous challenges deserve our close attention and responses, such as the multi-social values in a socialist civil society with Chinese characters versus the leading socialist ideology, the multiple interest subjects and their multiple interest appeals versus CPC’s governing ability, the openness and mobility of civil society versus CPC’s own construction.For the present, to construct a socialist civil society with Chinese characters is confronted with all kinds of challenges. On the economic level, a reasonable interest allocation mechanism needs improving for the imperfect socialist market economy mechanism. On a political level, governance system has not been established effectively for the lack of mature concept of government governance. On the social level, social organizations are still in development and the concepts and practices of social work have not been universally recognized. On a cultural level, the qualities and abilities of citizens need to be strengthened, a consensus has not been reached on the direction of a civil society, and the leading position of socialist core values are in need of consolidation.Nevertheless, the development path for a socialist civil society with Chinese characters is involved with the efforts in every way. It is necessary for our Party to have historical view of establishing civil society, strengthen the construction of organization and governance, enhance socialist democracy and law, and carry on socialist core values. It is necessary for the governments to improve socialist market economy system, build up public-service-oriented governments, speed up socialist construction to improve people’s living standards and promote modern social work and voluntary services. It is necessary to boost up social organizations, straight out the system of organizations, render full support to train and support such organizations as well as make sure of the surveillance and appraisal. It is still necessary to cultivate civil awareness, cultivate the civil qualities and better the civil capacities. One point should be made clear here, there is no an empirical study to take a civil society as social entity and make specific researches, so a combination of empirical study and normative study is more applicable to better construct the theory of civil society with Chinese characters.