With Zhu Houze's death passes the last hope for reform within the CCP

Recently Zhu Houze died; he had been head of the Central Propaganda Department from 1985-1987 and a progressive who fell from power after the June 4th massacre. Trends magazine - which is banned in China - described his memorial service as a memorial to lost hopes for political reform:

Zhu Houze has taken with him the last hope of the Communist Party.

Zhu Houze's memorial service on the 11th of May was a rare and grand occasion with a style all of its own. The attendees lost no time in spreading the news from mouth to mouth, and everybody who should have been present turned up. Some described it as the largest meeting of democrats, including both system insiders and outsiders, in the 21 years since the June 4th massacre. Sadness at the departure of Zhu Houze mingled oddly with happiness as old friends renewed acquaintances, giving the occasion a special flavour. More importantly, they were saying goodbye to an era, to hopes which they had once held: Zhu Houze was a leading democratic thinker within the Chinese Communist Party; while Li Rui, Hu Zewei and others were also important democratic leaders within the Communist Party, Zhu's thinking on the existing system, on changing society, on China's future as well as on constitutional democracy within human civilisation was the most advanced. In an anti-intellectual, a reactionary one-party dictatorship, his theoretical training, strategic vision and maintenance of personal integrity despite the forces of the political whirlpool were beyond what most people can hope to achieve. He was considered to have combined the best qualities of both Hu Yaobang and Zhao Zeyang; he had Hu's selflessness, innovativeness and courage and Zhao's sharp wits，adaptability and prudence, so naturally he was seen as hope for the democratic faction within the Communist Party.
Before he died, Hu Yaobang said: "I don't care about my on resignation, I just feel that I have let down two people, that's Zhu Houze and Bai Jinian. Because Zhu Houze is someone who could have been General Secretary." Zhu Houze and Hu Yaobang were very close; in a manuscript commemorating the 20th anniversary of the death of Hu Yaobang, Zhu Houze wrote: " Comrade Hu Yaobang always complied with Communist Party organisational discipline but in his later years, his ideas were always ahead of other people, he truly and sincerely strove for reform, and adopted every possible method and even compromise to promose a transition, you could say he really spared no efforts...Hu Yaobang was the last person who tried to attempt a breakthrough within the traditional system without turning his back on the rules." The same could be said of Zhu Houze himself.
In the 20 years following the June 4 massacre, Zhu Houze and the ideas which he advocated were frozen; although Zhu Houze had already refocused his energy on to the (problems of) the lower levels of society, to constantly changing new technology and to the environment, the unstinting interest group in Zhongnanhai ( ie Chinas top leaders) complained that he was a nuisance and so he was hated, put under surveillance and prevented from travelling abroad; even after he died they insisted on covering his coffin with a Communist Party flag; Zhu Houze's whole spirit and body was unfailingly castigated and consumed by them. It's unfortunate that somebody so talented was shoved aside and those with far less ability took command.
Zhu Houze once said, " I'm somebody who grew up with revolutionary work, practically my entire life has been spent in the struggle, but the cruellest struggle did not come from the KMT, it came from within the Communist Party. The Communist Party's struggle against its own members is the most harsh, Chinese people's struggle against Chinese people is the harshest". Shortly before his death he raised his grave doubts about the cruel struggle and sacrifice of human rights of the so-called " Chinese Model" and forecast that this would become a great controversy in the 21st-century.
What made Zhu Houze different to others is that he had a very clear knowledge about himself and the Communist party's democratic faction and he warned " the survival of us old folks (meaning those inclined towards political reform) gives young people hope, but in fact there is no hope". He emphasised this saying: " There is no hope. The hope which you see is because you see us old folks are still alive so you have these fantasies. But we ourselves no longer have such fantasies." Some people describe this as Zhu's last political testament.
With the departure of Zhu Houze, all hope for political reform in China and all hope of internal democratisation within the Communist party is irrevocably destroyed. Hope that this system can improve itself and can transform itself is completely destroyed. Hopes that people like Hu Yaobang, Zhao Zhiyang and Zhu Houze can turn the tide with their herculean efforts is also lost. This is not just the tragedy of Zhu Houze, it is the tragedy of China and the whole world which has been kidnapped by the Communist Party. It is not surprising that someone was heard to sigh at the hemorial service: "I I fear this is the last meeting of its kind".

This is a translation of an editorial from this month's Trends Magazine.