The scope of the latest re-education campaign is anything but routine—it is branded Xi
It is probably not a response to any perceived new threat to Mr Xi’s grip. The timing seems routine. It is roughly two years since the last such campaign, which focused on inculcating a highly sanitised version of the party’s history. It is also about six months since the party convened a five-yearly congress, at which Mr Xi appeared to strengthen his power by replacing colleagues with his protégés and securing a norm-breaking third term as party chief.
State media trace the history of Mr Xi’s education campaigns back to Mao Zedong’s “rectification movement” of the 1940s during the party’s days as a guerrilla force. They do not mention that thousands of people were killed in purges that ensued from Mao’s attempts to reform party members’ thinking. Today’s campaigns are far more restrained, but officials still use blood-curdling language to describe the psychological impact they are intended to have.
Education campaigns are launched with enormous fanfare. The decision to start this one was formally endorsed by the ruling Politburo on March 30th. It was kicked off by Mr Xi himself at a gathering of officials four days later. He said it would be a “tempering of the mind” and a “spiritual baptism” that would play an important role in unifying party thinking and solving “prominent problems within the party”. The term is a euphemism for everything from ideological deviation to disloyalty.
Launched in 2019, the app has become the bane of many party members’ lives. By noting users’ scores and daily usage habits it allows the party’s ideological workers quickly to identify those whose minds are not on the task. Boredom with education campaigns is a common problem.
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