Byung-Joon Ahn

The Political Economy of the People's Commune in China: Changes and Continuities

The establishent of the Chinese rural peoples commune in 1958 as a new political and economic organization has aroused considerable interest among observers. One important question in this regard has been the role the commune has played in Chinas modernization. Since China is committed to both “socialist transformation and construction,” modernization in China involves two tasks: revolution and development. As for Chinas rural problems, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regards the commune as the best organization for achieving these two goals during its transition to communism. Yet the commune has undergone a series of changes as a result of interactions between the Partys revolutionary goals and its development requirements, presenting a microcosm of Chinese communism. This article is an attempt to account for changes and continuities in the political economy of the commune.