CHINA: Red Progress

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Few names have been more closely linked in Communist propaganda than those of Soviet Russia's Joseph Stalin and Red China's Mao Tse-tung. One of the first questions raised by First Party Secretary Khrushchev's exposure of Stalin as an egomaniac and mass murderer last February was, How does this affect Mao? Last week, gathered for the eighth National Party Congress in their history, the first since 1945, Chinese Communists let it be known that the "cult" of Mao's "personality" was ended, but that Mao was still their august leader.

Missing from the flags and bunting that decorated Peking's vast, Red-built Magnanimity Hall were the customary huge portraits of the party leader. Only four Western newsmen were permitted to report on the proceedings, and they were briefed in a clubroom 2½-miles distant. Communist journals avoided lavish praise of Mao, emphasized instead his record as a "collective leader." No actual down grading of Mao was involved, however, nor did this represent any contraction of his real power. The Chinese leaders were merely deferring to the pattern suggested by their Soviet brethren, a pattern explained in person to the Chinese Reds by the most distinguished visitor to their conclave, First Deputy Premier Anastas Mikoyan. Mikoyan explained how the Soviet Party had made itself "more united and strong" by overcoming the "cult of the individual." In his 6,700-word address, he heaped praise on the Chinese Communists for their "transformation of China into a mighty industrial power," made only one reference to Mao—but it was a robust one. Mao, he said, is a "distinguished Marxist-Leninist" who has made a "major contribution to Marxist-Leninist theory." Mao appeared content. In the congress' opening speech, he told the 1,122 party stalwarts: "We must never become arrogant and complacent . . . Humility helps one make progress, whereas conceit makes one blind."

Confidence Unbounded. For all that, the Chinese Reds were feeling a little boastful after their seven years in power. If there was a dominating characteristic, it was confidence. "We have achieved great successes in every field," said Mao. Added Presidium Member Liu Shao-chi, the party's No. 2 man and reigning theorist: "Our party, under the leadership of the Central Committee headed by Comrade Mao Tse-tung, has not made any mistake in its line during the past 25 years." Public Security Minister Lo Jui-ching, who between 1950 and 1955 had directed the greatest mass liquidation in history (TIME, March 5), confidently announced that it was now "totally impossible for counter-revolutionaries to stage a comeback in China."

The apparent firmness of their control was enabling the Reds to introduce important leniencies. Liu Shao-chi enumerated a few of the reasons why the Communists can afford to treat their few remaining capitalists magnanimously:

¶ Most capitalist industry is now in "partnership" with the state.

¶ Middle-class peasants have stopped "wavering" because they have seen the "futility" of resistance, with the result that 91.7% of peasant households have joined cooperative farms.