The institution of the CPC monopoly on power in the first years of resistance to 'Westernization' (late 1970s)

The article examines the monopoly of the CPC on power as a system-forming political institution of the PRC, which showed its ineffectiveness in the active phase of the C ultural Revolution, was then restored in the fight against its proponents, and met competition from supporters of the democratization of the system of government in the late 1970s. Part of the political leadership of the PRC, represented mainly by relatively young party and state officials, considered the democratization of the system of government as a condition for transforming the system of domination into a system of democratic politics that would ensure the country's comprehensive development. This position was welcomed and support ed by the intelligentsia, urban educated youth and some of the cadres of the party and state apparatus, but met powerful res istance from the “veterans” of the Communist Party, concerned about the threat of losing control over the political activity of the masses. On March 30, 1979, Deng Xiaoping proclaimed the “four basic principles,” which became a factor in the consolidation of the CPC leadership on a “protective” position and defined a “corridor of opportunity” for pursuing a course of “reform and opening-up” for decades to come. At the same time, one of the four principles – “upholding the leadership of the Communist Party” – turned into the ideological basis of the institution of the CPC monopoly on power, which to this day plays a key role in the institutional political design of the PRC.