Framingham State College84.955 History and Literature – A World ViewDr. Abby Wolf (awolf@post.harvard.edu)Dr. John Mackey (jmackey@fas.harvard.edu)

Giovanni Nanni (gnannibr@hotmail.com)

Societal Class Division: First Hand Experiences

The world changed dramatically during the period between the end of the

eighteenth century and beginning of the twentieth. In the Eastern and Western

hemispheres the nations grew in cultural, technological, intellectual, and social

knowledge. Commercial and cultural interchanges were taking place between

Christians, Muslins, Hindus, Taoists, and Buddhists, among other cultures and nations.

Each trades ship, caravan, convoy, and expedition brought a little bit of its culture to the

nations visited, while being drenched with the intellectual, cultural, technological and

social examples of the people that they contacted.

Ancient nations, such as China and Japan, were being bombarded with the

influence brought in by the different visitors and their unfamiliar customs and practices.

The citizens of the Asian nations were learning, seeing, and talking about the

differences between their society and the foreigners’. Leaderships embedded with new

ideas, were discussing about needed changes and how to implement them. Through

philosophical analysis and comprehension of the populace, those ideas were being

spread among the people, permitting the individuals to see their social condition

differently while providing the necessary boost for the change in the course of the

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society. The people were craving for a new system that could replace the one existent,

while benefiting all citizens in general.

The Cultural Revolution and Industrial Revolution happened in places distant

from China, however, the changes yielded in Europe were reflecting upon Chinese and

Asian thinkers and its new leaders. The monarchy and high bourgeoisie wanted to keep

their status and means, while the lower end of the society were craving for changes.

The differences among the classes were clear and, sometimes, brutal. These

differences were the pumps that provided fuel for the revolution machine to work. After

many years of struggle, finally the Revolution happened and the changes started to take

place. In China, the revolution departs from its imperialistic roots looking for a republic,

but lands in a communist government system, headed by the military. The central idea

of the changes was to produce a better country to everyone, and at the same time ease

the social differences and diminishing the class divisions. While some changes were

achieved, such as the creation of opportunities to all citizens, deconstruction of the

feudal system, land distribution, labor and farming opportunities for all, another kind of

social divisions and classes were being created.

In “Analysis of the Classes in Chinese Society” (1926), Mao Tse-Tung discuss

about the social divisions within the Chinese nation. This discussion is focused in the

revolutionary desire of changes relating to the living status of the people. Another

poignant aspect in his speech is to evaluate and determine the tendency of each class

regarding the revolution. Due to the fact that prior revolutionary tentative did not have

the social structure in mind, Mao wants to determine which class is supportive of their

ideals and which are not. His comments are mainly related to the economic status of

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each class and the position that different classes occupied in the mantle of the Chinese

country. It is clear in his speech that the Chinese are divided in three main classes: the

upper class, the middle and the lower classes. The upper class, also called “landlord

and comprador classes” comprehends the wealthy level of the society. They are the

landowners and/or high-level commissioners from the Emperor. As stated in Mao’s

essay, “these classes represent the most backward and most reactionary relations of

production in China…[and they] always side with imperialism” (1926). The middle class

comprehends a broad array of different classes. This class is divided in the “middle

bourgeoisie and the petty bourgeoisie”. According to Mao, the upper and middle levels

of this section are not sure about the changes, while the lower levels would be

straightforward to the revolution. The lower class, which is formed by all the poor

peasants, laborers, farm workers, industrial workers, and all the other groups of citizens

that have nothing more than their labor to sell, are the main force of the revolution.

Mao Tse-Tung described very well the divisions in the Chinese society and the

tendency of each one regarding the revolution. However after all the changes that

happened in the Chinese society, the change of governmental system did not prevent

the creation of new classes and the rename of societal classes already in place. Instead

of monarchy and landlords, the military and the high level positions in the Communist

Party assumed its position and status in the society. These individuals were the high

ends of the societal bracket as said by Ding Ling (1904-1986) in the Sketches from the

‘Cattle Shed’ (Other Voices, Other Vistas, 2002) “…several people had come from

Beijing under the signboard of the Military Control Commission…” The power changed

hands; the titles changed names, however the class structure did not. The philosophical

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idea of an equal society, in the end did not produce an equal society. Many individuals

were “prisoners of the times…[that] committed no crime” (Ling: OVOV, 2002). Lu Wenfu

(1928 -) in his “The Man from a Peddlers’ Family” (OVOV, 2002), uses many titles do

describe the different classes. Among them are military, intellectuals, factory workers,

and farm workers, etc. Invariably from Ling, Wenfu shows that the class division is as

profound as always, and anyone that happen to be in the way of the revolutionary force,

would be crushed by it. In the same tone, Ling refers to the “dictatorship of the

revolutionary masses” (OVOV, 2002) as the responsible to the fate of the individuals.

With nothing more to do than obey the will of those in charge, the main character in her

story is sent from one place to another without explanation nor reason. This just follow

the same pattern of the reason why she was incarcerated, none. The communistic

revolution tried to bring all citizens at the same level and ended up transforming friends

in foes and allied in enemies.

Another way to observe the changes is by looking the individual roles in the

society. The same way that happen with the classes, the individual role in the society

did not change, just got a new title. Individuals that occupied elevated position in the

Party were in the upper class. Intellectuals maintained their status in the society.

Managers, foramens, chiefs, and all sorts of superior positions in the new system were

kept, even though supposedly they did not have any better status in the commune. The

pattern was repeated in the lower positions. These positions had to be filled with

individuals that had the status according to their line of work. The communist ideal does

not accept that an individual should be more prosperous than another one as well as it

does not take in account the drive and ambition natural to the human being. Even

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though the idea of a commune sounds fair and acceptable to anyone, in practice it does

not work. This is well exposed in Wenfu’s work. The story of the peddler and the

comparison with the narrator’s life shows the difference between them. The point is

made clearer when the narrator relates the happenings with the ill-fated Zhu Yuanda’s

family and the other peddlers living in the same street. The peddlers were caught in the

middle of a rightist movement against all kinds of capitalistic ventures. This movement

was called Cultural Revolution. This new trend came to exterminate all the capitalistic

roots in the society. All individuals with some resemblance of any capitalistic trait were

subject of searches and public humiliations including denouncing posters, destruction of

propriety and beatings. Referring to those searchers and characterizing the differences

between the classes, Wenfu says that “this [search] wasn’t like the search and seizure

of a cadre’s home or an intellectual’s”(Wenfu: OVOV, 2002), they were brutal. No matter

the ideal, humans by nature want to thrive and prosper, and because of this there will

always be classes, struggles, revolution, war, contestation, argumentation and all sorts

of disagreements possible. Unless the individual concedes, there is no power in this

earth that can bend and dominate the human being’s mind.

Due to this mind power, the traits that characterize any civilization in the earth

were and are the same in the Chinese civilization. Individuals were and are looking for

the same thing as we do today: live a life where they can have and provide comfort to

their children and themselves. The search for this comfort is the reason for the changes

and insurrections around the world. There is no place in this world where the injustices

are not part of the life. The necessity of happiness and self-expression makes the

individuals search and fight for better living conditions. Even though Mao Tse-Tung

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were successful in mapping the Chinese society and its classes, his work did not

provide living conditions growth as were attested in the works of Ling and Wenfu.

Maybe the monarchy, the landlords, and the compradors are not there anymore.

Nonetheless, the classes and the different status are.

It is imperative that we accept the pros and cons of our lives; that individuals are

different and prone to different actions and attitudes. It is important as well understand

that no government system can mold a society and make everyone fit in the big picture.

People respond to moral, not force. Individuals respect values not impositions. Without

these concepts being internalized and instilled, social divisions and friction will continue

without end in sight.

References:

Ling, Ding, “Sketches from the ‘Cattle Shed’” in Other Voices, Other Vistas.Signet Classic. New York, NY. 2002

McKay, John P., et al. A History of World Societies - Volume II – Fifth Edition.Houghton Mifflin Co. Boston, MA. 2000.

Tse-Tung, Mao. (1926). Analysis of the Classes in Chinese Society. Feb-26-2003: http://csf.colorado.edu/psn/marx/Other/Mao/2603a.htm

Wenfu, Lu. “The Man from a Peddler’s Family” in Other Voices, Other Vistas.Signet Classic. New York, NY. 2002

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