As this book goes to print, we are watching the dust settle from Hu
Yaobang's forced resignation as Party General Secretary, allegedly for
promoting "bourgeois liberalization." A number of the intellectuals
associated with him and also under attack are covered in this volume.
Clearly, this is round two of the unfinished 1983 Campaign Against
Spiritual Pollution. Regardless of the immediate outcome, this episode is the most serious in a series ~f counter-reform episodes since
the late 1970s, and it underscores our themes: the continuation of the
osc:illating treatment of intellectuals between periods of relative relaxation and repression, and the continued dependence of intellectuals on patronage of the top leadership.
China's latest Anti-Rightist Campaign may yet be turned off before
too many intellectuals lose their Party cards and jobs, but damage has
already been done to the reform program. The Party inner core has
suffered a failure of nerve in its self-stated aim of sharing power and
influence with a wider range of the elite. Efforts to improve the
Party's image and recruit young intellectuals have been undermined.
Students overseas will worry about their futures-if they return