Is class struggle back on agenda? Mere mention of Mao-era slogan stirs fears
In separate commentaries, party mouthpieces say class struggle will always exist, stoking fears among observers of shift to the far left
A state newspaper has sought to downplay the significance of a claim by the head of a leading research organisation that "class struggle" would always be a feature of Chinese society.
The term is redolent of the Cultural Revolution era and its re-emergence fanned concern the far left is making a comeback.
Red Flag Manuscript, a biweekly run by the Communist Party's Qiushi journal, carried an article this week by Wang Weiguang , the director of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. In his commentary, aimed at defending the party's rule, Wang argued "class struggle can never be extinguished in China".
The article drew criticism on social media, where it circulated widely. The state-run Global Times yesterday said Wang's idea should not be seen as the direction of the party. But it agreed class struggle had not been overcome although the tensions were now being resolved through the framework of law and the courts.
Professor Jean-Philippe Beja, a senior researcher at the French Centre for Studies on Contemporary China, said "class struggle" was a symbol of the violence of the Cultural Revolution.
"Class struggle had been abandoned by the Communist Party since China started opening up in 1978 … It's such an old and notorious ideological theory," Beja said.
It was unusual for authorities to allow the term to appear in state media, he said. He doubted Wang's article fell under the ambit of academic research.