ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the extent to which present or future definitions and functions of the party are compatible with the basic patterns of organization in a modernized society. Academic, entrepreneurial, managerial, political, and professional elites play an important role in generating and applying scientific and technological achievements in an increasingly complex society. The ideological crackdown following the Soviet intervention in 1968 against Czechoslovakia's "Prague Spring" left social scientists with little hope for academic freedom in discussing the reality of Soviet society. In contrast to radical socialism's one-dimensional images, marked by intolerance for persons of the wrong colors, reform socialism has a more complex vision of social groups. China's recent three-colored division suggests a triangular approach to elites consistent with the social science categories of wealth, power, and prestige. Su Shaozhi has repeatedly since 1978 voiced a Chinese reformer's view of the problems in overcoming the non-democratic traditions of socialism.
