National Principlism
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| Ideology | Nationalism Republicanism Legalism Neosocialism Authoritarianism Palingenesis |
National Principlism (Shangean: 国家主体主义; Guójiā zhǔtǐ zhǔyì) is a Shangean republican political ideology that has been prescribed as the state ideology of Shangea since the declaration of the Auspicious Republic in 1940. Primarily formulated by Lu Keqian and Wu Jinmo drawing on legalism as its main ideological forebearer, National Principlism is a nationalist ideology that calls for an "enlightened" authoritarian and modernised state that utilises a form of neosocialism. In particular, National Principlism emphasises Shangea as an independent nation that must be based around a strong state based on the teachings of legalism, embrace industrialisation and a collectivist culture, condemning liberalism, individualism and private property in all forms. National Principlism also denounces both reformist and revolutionary forms of socialism, instead calling for a third way that would see the state introduce a technocratic planned economy through corrective means.
National Principlism has been officially followed by Shangean governments since the Corrective Revolution in 1936 being the state ideology of the country. During the 1970s and early 1980s Neo-National Principlism was espoused by Shangean leaders incorporating more left-wing elements.
History
Creation
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National Principlism was formulated as a reaction to the failure of the Shangean government to deal with Shangea’s social collapse, political disunity, economic implosion and national humiliation in the aftermath of the Senrian-Shangean War and signing of the Treaty of Keishi. Many Shangean intellectuals began to reject the foundations of the Heavenly Shangean Empire which had been founded on Ruism and nationalist principles, and later embraced Euclean ideals of scientific racism and constitutional government. Shangean professor Wu Jinmo looked to Shangean history to create a new ideology that would strengthen the Shangean state. Wu drew on legalist concepts that had been influential under the first Tao dynasty in the 1100 under which Shangea won a war against Senria. Wu saw this period of legalism as the golden age of Shangea and that Ruism, capitalism and Euclean ideals had weakened Shangea and a return to strict order under a modernised legalist system - a rejuvenation of the nation - was required. Wu complied this in his 1935 book Reflections on the Senrian-Shangean War and his 1938 revision Doctrine of the New Shangea.
These ideas were quickly adopted by general Lu Keqian who founded the Shangea Regeneration Society which prescribed these ideas as its ideology, calling them National Principlism. Under Lu and other ideologues the ideology became more radical, calling for a totalitarian, ultra-nationalist state with a socialist economy.
Guided Democracy period
Rejuvenation period
Hundred Flowers period
Normalisation period
Concepts
Rejuvenation
A key concept within National Principlism is that of zàishēng (再生), which translates to regenerate, or to rejuvenate. In a speech in 1935, Lu Keqian emphasised that Shangea needed to "rejuvenate" itself as a nation stating that the Shangean people had under the semi-feudal Heavenly Shangean Empire been subjected to traditionalism and reactionaryism that had to moral decay, decadence and exposure to foreign ideals that had disrupted the natural harmony of Shangea. Thus, Shangea needed to sweep away reactionary practice and halt the decline of the Shangean nation by creating a new powerful state that would restore Shangea's social harmony.
According to National Principlist thought this regeneration must be progressive in nature, destroying outdated practice and reactionaryism and create a "new state" that would be industrial and modern in nature. National Principlist theorist Wu Jinmo emphasised that "Shangea is behind the industrial nations in terms of socio-economic development...either we fall into ruin, are forced into adopting their barbaric practices or regenerate ourselves according to Shangean customs."
Wu also stated that this regeneration would be the "final mandate from heaven". For centuries, Shangea had been guided under the belief that the heavens granted a king or emperor the right to rule but withdrew that right if the Sovereign was oppressive, incompetent, neglectful or failed to govern responsibly. Pen stated that following this rejuvenation of the Shangean nation "a perfect equilibrium, a perfect harmony, between the heavens, the sovereign (defined by Wu as the state) and the people will be reached...there would be no need for the mandate to be passed on after this rejuvenation".
Legalism
National Principlism rejects the Ruist ideal that the state should exist to instil mortality and serve as an example to the people; rather, it draws heavily on a legalist views on humanity, seeing man as inherently inclined to perform immoral actions. As a result, the state rather than emphasise that if people followed the correct morality there would be little need for a strong state should actively seek to regulate and control the people's lives. Disobedience to the state should be met with harsh punishment and retribution to enforce social order. This legalist approach has been described as totalitarian.
Guided democracy
Although National Principlism rejects the concept of liberal democracy and supports a strong state it is not hostile to the concept of popular sovereignty. Lu Keqian in 1938 wrote that some form of popularly elected assembly that would undertake legislative duties was necessary in order for the government to remain connected to the people and the corrective revolutionary spirit. However he stated such an assembly should be made to represent "all sectors of society" and condemned parliamentarianism as leading to a clique of party politicians controlling state governance.
In 1942 with the creation of the Legislative Council elections were based on the principles of non-partisanism and sectional representation. Of the seats within the Legislative Council half were elected by voters, a quarter representing industrial and economic sectors and a quarter being appointed by the military. Although the Legislative Council could pass laws only the Executive Council and the State Presidium can propose laws, with the State Presidium having final legislating powers. Due to the empowerment of the executive the system relied on consensus between branches of government for laws to be made, with the State Presidium arbitrating the process. This led to Lu to describe Shangea's system as guided democracy (指导式民主). According to Lu, guided democracy was necessary in Shangea as the diversity of the nation is to large for it to be under a totally democratic regime and as the state has the duty to act as the moral arbiter of the nation it must be empowered to prevent corrupt party regimes and demagogues from disrupting stability and the harmony between state institutions.
Socialism
National Principlism is anti-capitalist and supports the creation of a statist economy (经济国家主义; jīngjì guójiā zhǔyì). National Principlist socialism however rejects the Nemtsovite dialectic materialism and ethical socialism. National Principlism casts socialism as a liberating force from foreign colonialism, land lordism and feudalism and extols socialism on the grounds that is alone can create a modern, industrial state. According to National Principlist thought, socialism should be achieved through a "corrective revolution" rather than a "class revolution" which would create an authoritarian and technocratic state that would oversee a command economy, dismantling both parliamentary democracy and aristocratic feudalism. This form of socialism has been referred to as "neosocialism" or "corrective socialism" (纠正社会主义; jiūzhèng shèhuì zhǔyì).
National Principlist Socialism does not aim for worker control of industry, not equality - rather it sees socialism as firstly being the most efficient means to modernise the state and as a means to promote the unity of the Shangean people. Wu Jinmo stated "Shangean socialism describes the process of liberating the Shangean people from decadence and corruption. It does not describe the dictatorship of the proletariat nor class collaboration - rather we call for the eradication of all classes and to re-establish society between the state and its subjects.".
National Principlists officially support a market economy with a socialist orientation (社会主义方向的市场经济; shèhuì zhǔyì fāngxiàng de shìchǎng jīngjì) with the idea of using the state sector to play a controlling role in directing economic development with the long-term goal of developing neosocialism. This has sometimes been referred to as a scientific approach to socialism (社会主义科学方法; shèhuì zhǔyì kēxué fāngfǎ).
Collectivism
National Principlism endorses the centralisation of state power believing that a centralised, authoritarian state is necessary for social order. Drawing on traditional Legalist beliefs Lu stated that the Shangean people when exposed to liberal and individualist ideas they would become corrupt and anarchistic, and that only by the existence of a state with absolute power would societal harmony be achieved.
This form of collectivism under National Principlism saw a radical redefinition between society and the state. Lu rejected traditional social structures such as the family and instead stated that Shangean citizens should submit themselves to the state alone. According to Lu, submission to any other figure than the sovereign would result in social chaos, and so the destruction of all forms of civil society as well as “private society” (i.e the family) was necessary to entrench the state’s power and result in order.
Criticism
Shangean political scientist Jiang Jiqing criticised National Principlism on the grounds that it was "ideologically bankrupt...National Principlism has little to offer outside bland platitudes that are stolen from other ideologies, both Euclean and Coian. It is a outdated, misplaced, irrelevant to the real needs of the people and contradictory in its approach".
Comparison with functionalism
National Principlism has periodically been compared to functionalism due to its anti-capitalist, palingenesis, authoritarian and nationalist standpoints. However, prominent National Principlists such as Qiao Denjiang have rejected this view, stating "Shangean National Principlism rejects all northern "isms" and is solely based in Shangean values". Unlike functionalism, National Principlism calls for the destruction of the capitalist class the the reorganisation of society along the lines of the state and the people, with no intervening classes.
Neo-National Principlism
Neo-National Principlism emerged in the late 1960s as the failure of the Shangean state to deal with ingrained corruption and economic stagnation. "Orthodox" National Principlism was increasingly seen as unable to deal with Shangea's problems and the influence of the new left was rapidly expanding in Shangean intellectual circles. Much of the new left in Shangea ascribed to the principle of action with violent forms of political activism intended to spur revolutionary action being endorsed.
The left-wing journal Global Review attempted to promote a synthesis of National Principlism and the Shangean new left attempting to draw syndicalism and revolutionary militarism into the top-down nature of National Principlism. Neo-National Principlism thus endorsed the notion that a violent military coup was needed to enforce a socialist society which would fight a "people's war" with corruption, capitalism and pernicious foreign influences. Neo-national principlists supported an elimination of the four olds - old ideas, old culture, old habits, and old customs - through the formation of Revolutionary Defence Groups. In economics they endorsed the principle of a command economy with private enterprise being eliminated, the introduction of agricultural collectivisation and the creation of a "proletarian society". Culturally the neo-national principlists were less supportive of maintaining traditional Shangean culture and more in favour of continuing the "social revolution" into other areas of life. In foreign policy the neo-national principlists supported anti-imperialism and alignment with the Association of Emerging Socialist Economies.
Where the neo-national principlists differed from the rest of the Shangean new left was their rejection of workers' democracy, dismissed as "reactionaryism by another form", and their support of a top-down approach to governance centred around a revolutionary clique. This view meant that neo-national principlism was strongest amongst junior officers in the army who would form the Committee to Defend the Revolution in 1969 to agitate for a coup against the government which was considered to be the epitome of the nouvelle bourgeoisie parasitaire.
The neo-national principlists gained the most influence during the 1970s following the 1970 coup d'état. Prominent coup leaders like Shao Yuzhang had been supportive of the neo-national principlist agenda and coming into government attempted to implement its features. Shangean foreign policy during this period did realign to a more aggressive, anti-imperialist direction and economically the government attempted to replace the socialist-oriented market economy with a more centrally planned one utilising greater nationalisation. However attempts to reform the state or change cultural policy were vetoed and after the Coastal Crisis the influence of the neo-national principlists faded.
Under Yuan Xiannian there has been a revival of neo-national principlism which has led to among other things a greater foreign policy shift to Chistovodia.
National Principlist organistions
Active
Harmony Association
Nainan People's Solidarity and Longevity
Society for Restoring Benevolence
Saim Muoy