Return of the Three Represents

Here’s some nice weekend reading. Friday’s issue of the Central Committee journal Qiu Shi (求是) is all about the Three Represents.

Li Changchun’s “Promotion of the Study of Selected Works of Jiang Zemin and the Implementation of the Important Thought of the Three Represents Continues to Develop in Breadth and Depth” is an edited version of a speech he gave at a symposium on Jiang’s selected works held for provincial-level cadres on 2 February. The contents are pretty much what the title implies – study of Jiang’s selected works is critical in all areas. (link)

Zeng Qinghong’s “Innovation in the Theory and Practice of Carrying on the Past, Opening a Way for the Future, and Keeping Pace with the Times” is a bit more interesting. It too is an edited version of a symposium address; Zeng presented concluding remarks to the symposium on 7 February. He argues that developments since the 16th Party Congress are continuations of Deng Xiaoping Theory and the Three Represents, and that Hu Jintao’s new theories, including the harmonious society and the new concept of socialist morality, inherit directly from Jiang’s theories. (link)

There are also three essays by less well-placed writers who discuss how best to implement the Three Represents in various fields.

Singapore’s Lianhe Zaobao cites a Beijing-based political analyst who speculates that publishing in a single issue the works of two Politburo Standing Committee members on the same topic demonstrates the influence that Jiang Zemin continues to wield in his retirement and forecasts the major role that Jiang’s clique will play at the 17th Party Congress this fall. However, the analyst also notes that in the face of Hu Jintao’s “harmonious society” and the “scientific development perspective,” the Three Represents are unlikely to return to their former position as the brightest guiding light of national development.

This issue of Qiu Shi also reprints an essay by Zhao Yao of the Central Party School’s Deng Xiaoping Theory and “Three Represents” Important Thought Research Center that appeared in Contemporary World & Socialism last year. “The Current State and Future Trends of the World Socialist Movement” is a wonderful cheerleading piece that concludes with a grand prediction that “the renaissance of Chinese socialism will accelerate the rejuvenation of world socialism!” (link)