Posted: November 12th, 2022

Chinese Communism and Cultural Revolution

Chinese Communism and Cultural Revolution
(Saboteur by Ha Jin)

Chinese Communism and Cultural Revolution.
Saboteur by meaning refers to a person who engages in sabotage, that is, a person who messes up a situation with a motive. The book saboteur by Ha Jin is all about a man who through revenge, destroys the social order of the communist China by infecting the people with an illness. The story is based on a period when China was experiencing difficulties due to Cultural Revolution and its impacts on the lives of the citizens.
The writer identifies the Statue of Chairman Mao in the middle of the square. He was the founder of communism in the country. China has always been a communist society characterized by public ownership of property and common control of the means of production and the natural resources. The man behind the state of communism in China was Mao Zedong who by nature was very intelligent but has very little education in his childhood. His influences were from the Marxism theories of communism. During this time, he was in the Nationalist army at the onset of the revolution. In 1900, China had experienced the Boxer Rebellion which saw the citizens go through massive poverty, hunger, and grief since many lives had been lost. The rebellion resulted in Mao and communist philosophies being accepted and adopted by the society. The rule by warlords resulted in revolutionary movements where many Chinese people joined in with hopes of bringing about changes in the country’s leadership. The revolutionary movements paved the way for communism, and amidst the unrest, Mao was accepted by the largest percentage of the population comprised of poor farmers. He was responsible for leading the communists after his army had conquered the nationalist who saw him earn the love and support of the citizens as a leader who would improve their peasant lives (Shapiro, 1).
Ideological Conflicts.
According to the Marxist-Leninist philosophies adapted by China during the reign of Mao, a conflict has to exist and that all significant developments in history have been as a result of class struggles within a nation. They believe that conflict does not have to military based but ideological. The railroad police kept throwing glances at Mr.Chiu and his bride who was having lunch in the square before Muji Train Station. The writer describes a state of conflict between Mr. Chiu who was a protagonist and the Police who were at the same place, which was a representation of the existing conflicts between the elites and the political system in China. The couple owns a colored TV which only a minority of the population could afford. This puts Mr. Chiu and his bride in the category of the intellectual elite who are on the wrong side of the government which is against the educated flock who are well-informed. The government prefers the uneducated flock who will not raise questions about the nature of leadership. During the revolution in China, terror had been inflicted in the lives of the citizens who were seen to be more learned and have western influence in their way of life (Baehr, Peter, 274).
Power and Totalitarianism.
The classic totalitarianism brought about by communism in China made efforts to control every aspect of life among the citizens. It tried to ensure that everyone was engaged in common struggles and that everyone was focused on fighting the same enemies. The enemies were both domestic and foreign who consisted of capitalists, the wealthy peasants, landlords and all foreigners who through forceful means were made to adopt the communist ideologies. The classic totalitarian regimes took over the national economies and ensured total monopoly over every nature of public expression. China was characteristically different from other authoritarian regimes in that it made efforts in mobilizing its entire population in the struggle against their target enemies (Kaiser, 1).
One of the two railroad policemen pours a drink over Mr. Chiu’s expensive leather shoes which angers him and he ends up confronting the officer. Mr. Chiu was unlawfully arrested, but due to his strong belief in communism that has seen the rise of Cultural Revolution, he believed that he would be fairly treated. He believed that justice would prevail since the idea of equality to all had begun its assimilation into the system. The case, however, turns sour when he is taken to jail for disrupting social order yet according to him it is the policeman who disrupted the order by disturbing his peace at the square. When he is taken before the magistrate who is as educated as him, nobody listens to him. The police who are of less intellect than Mr. Chiu wins the case over him which shows the existence of Ideological conflicts in the country between the elite and the government. The magistrate though educated had to be mean towards the intelligent Chiu since he was on the side of the government. The jailers give a deaf year to Mr. Chiu for they too decline to help him out. As a result of the ongoing ideological conflict, Mr. Chiu’s wife sends him an amateur lawyer while she could send an intelligent lawyer for to her husband. It is clear that all forces were up against Mr. Chiu and he is forced to admit to crimes that he did not do to save the lawyer and himself (Jin, 273).
Towards the end of the story, the writer manages to portray Mr. Chiu as the saboteur skillfully. Mr. Chiu had initially accused the police of sabotaging the social order when they had unlawfully arrested him while he was coming from a peaceful honeymoon with his bride. His arrest and outsmarting by the less witty policemen lead to his anger building up into a spirit of revenge against the government. Mr. Chiu promises to himself to find means through which he could destroy the police station and everyone involved after he is set free. The formally law abiding Mr. Chiu, whose health condition is completely deteriorated and highly contagious turns into a vengeful being. He moves about restaurants ordering meals that he barely eats with the intent of spreading the disease. His ill thought out plan to destroy those involved in this case turns out in the infection of thousands of innocent people with the disease, where six dies and among them are two children. The society is no longer in order since it has to deal with the contagious disease spread by Mr. Chiu in his act of vengeance. From my point of view, miscommunication is the cause of the sabotage by Mr. Chiu. The police delivered false evidence against him to the magistrate causing him to be jailed. Neither the police, the magistrate nor the jail attendants are willing to listen to him hence anger and revenge fill him up resulting in the sabotage (Jin, 284).

Bibliographies.
Baehr, Peter. “China the Anomaly: Hannah Arendt, Totalitarianism, and the Maoist Regime.” European Journal of Political Theory 9.3 (2010): 267-286.
Jin, Ha. “Saboteur.” The Antioch Review 74.4-1 (2017): 952-961.
Kaiser, D. The Cultural Revolution and the History of Totalitarianism. Time, 2016.
Shapiro Jacob. Power and Ideology: China’s Cultural Revolution. Geopolitical Futures, 2016.

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Tags: Chinese Communism and Cultural Revolution