Changing guard at the People's

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force concessions Carrillo: "The by Chin Yang LAST MONTH Hua Guofeng was quietly eased out of his chairmanship of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

The sixth plenum of the 1lth| Central Committee has demoted him, endorsed a 20,000 word document giving a comprehensive reassessment of Mau, and promoted party general secretary Hu Yaobang as the new Chairman.

•Deng Deng Xiaoping and his protégés have now achieved apparently undisputed control of China.

But the whole bureaucratic regime is becoming increasingly unstable.

For some time the serious capitalist press has noted with approval the changes promoted in China by Deng: an openly pro-Western • foreign policy, encouragement for multinationals and western governments to invest in China, and, most recently, serious moves to break down collectivised agriculture.

'China rediscovers the family farm" , headlines an article in the Far East Economic Review, reporting that "big increases in output are claimed, together with reductions in administrative expenditure and an • upsurge of peasant enthusiasm for this virtual disbanding of the commune system"

China's collectivised farms have never risen decisively above individual family farming. Modern machines, fertilisers, THE TWO-MONTH strike by black shopfloor workers in British Leyland's South African subsidiary was reported ended last week, on the basis of a compromise deal.

Two weeks ago a mass meeting threw out a management offer to reinstate 350 strikers in the first week of August, and the remainder "as vacancies arose" • After the rejection, management promptly denied that they had made any and democratic decision-making have been lacking, and there has been pilfering and corruption by managers and cadres.

The Mao experiment in substituting human willpower for these shortcomings failed, and 20 years of entorced collectivisation and low output have now fuelled the spontaneous individualism of the peasants.

China's foreign policy has moved steadily towards appeasing the West since the early '70s..

In June premier Zhao toured Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and India. promoting China's antiRussian stance and playing on the Afghanistan issue. Record trade expansion with Brazil, Chile and Argentina follows years of courting the most repressive governments in Latin Most recently, there has been an effort to win support from overseas Chinese, former capitalists, and intellectuals. Deng Xiaoping: master of China? pledge to reinstate the 350.

But now it appears that a new offer has been accepted, under which 170 were to be re-employed by the end of July, another 200 by August 3, and management agreed to re-employ up to 30 further workers per week until all 511 workers still on strike were reinstated. ..The deal is far from an outright victory for the National Union of Motor Assembly and Rubber Workers (NUMARW): origMeanwhile the USA has lifted restrictions on the sale of defence-related technology to China.

The economy remains Deng's major problem.

Steelworks

Several large contracts have been cancelled, including a massive steelworks at Baoshan, because of China's lack of infrastructure to support such heavy industrial projects (lack of docks, railway and servicing industries), as well as balance-of-payments problems. The economic reforms, carried out bureaucratically and distorted by competing regional interests, have led to factory closures, unviable projects, and widespread corruption.

Inflation and unemployment have aroused peasant protests, workers' strikes, and demands for Polishstylé trade unions.

Deng's faction does not have the will and confidence to carry out a thorough purge of corrupt, incompetent or dissident officials for fear of further loss of "the 'CCP's credibility.

myth Once the Mao myth topples, the CCP's hold weakens, and the prospect of its overthrow by China's working masses increases.

Deng's faction used their influence and reformist promises to mobilise the masses against the 'Gang of Four' and its supporters in the apparatus. Now Deng has to turn on those masses before they succeed in toppling him. inally 2,000 workers walked out against poverty wages, and none of their pay demands have been met in the settlement.

But the growing tenacity of black workers in their struggle against the apartheid capitalist rulers has been confirmed by the 9-week strike, and the fact that Leyland management after sacking the whole workforce, has been forced to allow the union back into its plants.

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