I’ve said it before, and I’ll keep on saying it until such a time as communism finally falls for good: In practice, communism has only ever been about the wealthy and well-positioned maintaining their power and privilege over the meticulously brainwashed masses. Communism is not and never has been about ensuring the happiness of equality, preventing the misery of suppression, and socio-economic justice for all mankind, or whatever baloney it is the regime force-feeds the masses from all sides — the state runs or regulates the media, the schools, the Internet, just about everything over there. Ain’t no income disparity like communist income disparity, and while the city-dwelling members of China’s billion-strong population generally appear fairly materially well-off, the other hundreds of millions of rural peasants living in back-breaking, dirt-scraping poverty are largely kept out of sight.
As I say, the Chinese communist party is all about preserving their cozy little plutocracy — and the only trouble is, people are starting to take notice. Ergo, reports the Telegraph:
Party leaders will no longer be greeted wherever they go with cheering crowds, banners, red carpets and elaborate flower displays, said a statement on Chinese state media after a meeting of the new 25-man Politburo.
The updated rules also ban dull, long speeches and fawning write-ups in the state newspapers, as the party tries to reshape its image.
In recent years, even the lowliest Communist party officials have enjoyed a fin-de-siècle lifestyle, being chauffeured around in luxury cars and greeted by crowds of well-marshalled schoolchildren.
Officials have seemed to compete with each other for who could build the biggest local government offices, offer the grandest banquets – often with specially imported delicacies or food from exclusive farms – and accumulate the most wealth.
Now, after growing criticism at the decadence and arrogance of the party, its new leaders appear determined to make a change.
In the past, Chinese party officials have been all too pleased to take advantage of their prestigious positions to pursue their own wealth and wholeheartedly participate in whatever extravagant displays of self-glorifying jingoism the party had planned that week, but most inconveniently for them, the charade is getting ever more difficult to continue in the growing digital age — and the move to simply eliminate any too-visible signs of excess shows just how desperate the situation is becoming for them. Even their speech-restricting Great Firewall, big-brothering media controls, and many avenues of indoctrination just can’t seem to keep pace with the number of citizens noticing that something’s amiss in communist China.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member