Word: mao
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...sociological study. Ideology may no longer provide the vital clue to understanding China. "It's the political system at the national level that is less stable. But the family system, the communes in the countryside, the state-owned factories in the cities really run without much ideology, so Mao's thought will become an overarching ethic. The key to the stability of the commune and the factory level is organizational brilliance rather than Mao's thought." Chinese communism, Terrill explains, functions more as a "social morality" while German Marxism serves as a "social science...
From Terrill's point of view, the revolution has definitely been accomplished and Mao is no longer essential, so any attempt at replacement would be superfluous. "They do not need nor would they tolerate an individual with the bold originality of Mao." Terrill singles out ideology as the dynamic aspect of Mao's rule, rather than charisma, and when you're dealing with such a factor, an individual just isn't crucial...
Schwartz hews to a sharply different analysis of Mao's role. In his opinion, Mao the man has steadily merged with Maoist ideology, especially in the past few years. Even if he was ill and relatively inactive towards the end of his life, Schwartz says Mao's presence was influential. "I don't think he was ever a leader interested in the details or mechanics of government. Yet all he had to do was say something and it would come down with a crash, he says. Schwartz foresees some hardship in establishing the Chinese Communist Party as an institutional entity...
Foreign analysts have been intrigued by the selection of Mao's successor almost since the Republic's founding, and many who seemed primed for the position--like Teng Hsiaoping--have abruptly fallen by the wayside. Hofheinz thinks Mao was also highly concerned with succession in his last year. Nonetheless, he says, Mao tried to undermine any institutionalized process of succession. He stood out above everyone else and tended to create anonymity at the level below him. Hofheinz hazards that "there are those who will try to preserve this anonymity using collective leadership in the name of Chairman Mao to justify...
Hofheinz shares Schwartz's impression that the country has become accustomed to Mao's "spirit" or "guidance" and he posits that the society will depend on something akin to this "guiding light" to continue functioning as it has been. This doesn't mean all-out struggles must continue, Hofheinz says: "The spiritual factor doesn't have to do-with politics; it's a psychological factor." He believes that worries over China's precarious economic situation will impose a temporary lull on spiritual exhortation. But even in the later ranges of history he says, "swings will probably not be so violent...