ABSTRACT
This chapter examines Franz Schumann's writings in an attempt to recover the theory of Chinese politics implicit there. It reviews changes in the ideological superstructure and in the organizational base of Chinese politics as they have evolved in the post-Mao period, the implicit questions being what has been inherited from the Cultural Revolution era, what has been restored from the pre-Cultural Revolution period, and what has remained constant throughout these vicissitudes. The chapter attempts to compare post-Mao political developments with the original theoretical framework in an effort to see whether the latter can shed some light on the former. Ideological development since the death of Mao Zedong has proceeded through roughly three phases: a first phase of overall thematic continuity with the Maoist era, a second phase of ideological secularization and liberalization, and a third phase of ideological retrenchment. The political agenda changed often and sometimes profoundly, it was consistently rationalized in terms of continuing the revolution.
