The economies of communist countries, such as those of the Soviet Union and many of its satellites, are often associated with the rigid application of the largely ineffective principles of the planned economy.
However, the history of the Chinese Communist Party suggests that the opposite may also be the case. Since assuming power in 1949, the Communist Party has indeed been surprisingly flexible in its economic policies – arguably more so than any other Party claiming adherence to communism.
In order to demonstrate this flexibility, it is worth starting with the excesses of the planned economy in the early years of Communist rule over China. The Great Leap Forward, which is another name for the second five-year plan that took place in the late 1950s and early 1960s, is likely the most notable example of those. In an attempt to foster China’s industrial development, the Communist Party tried to divert resources from agriculture to manufacturing by expropriating perceived “excesses.” Unrealistic production goals, corruption in the administration, and coercive methods made the campaign largely inefficient in anything but causing widespread famine. As such, The Great Leap Forward is arguably the most extreme example of a planned economic campaign in history.
Conversely, the reforms of Deng Xiaoping clearly focused on adopting and developing the market economy. By integrating the Chinese economy with the world market instead of pursuing autarky and allowing private ownership of the means of production, the Chinese Communist Party broke away from the orthodoxy of the planned economy. By doing so, it demonstrated that it would not be constrained by political dogma when it came to achieving tangible results in practice.
In short, the Chinese Communist Party has been nothing if not flexible in its approach to the economic policy since 1949. Its history contains some of the most extreme examples of coercive campaigns within the planned economy and a decisive turn toward a market approach. While not all of these approaches were effective, the very desire to shift from one to another demonstrates that, at the very least, the Party proved willing and able to adapt.