From Leninist Discipline to Socialist Legalism: Peng Zhen on Law and Political Authority in the PRC. By Pitman Potter. [Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2003. xi+259 pp. £42.95. ISBN 0-8047-4500-5.]

Extract

Pitman Potter has provided the first book-length treatment in English of Peng Zhen, a seminal figure in the development of the legal system in China during the Mao and Deng era. Peng began his roller coaster career by rising through the party ranks to become party secretary of Beijing and party secretary of the Political-Legal Commission. He was then purged and expelled from the Politburo for opposing Mao. After Mao's death, Peng returned to power, regaining his seat on the Politburo, and serving in a variety of high-level positions, including secretary of the Political-Legal Committee and chairman of NPC Standing Committee.

As Potter notes, the complexities of Peng's career, his view that the role of law must suit the needs of the time, and his own personality traits make it difficult to draw simple conclusions about his ideas on law and political authority. At times, Peng was a brutal enforcer of party policy who emphasized the subservience of law to party dictates. At other times, he boldly opposed Mao and later Deng and insisted that the party should be subject to legal constraints and refrain from interfering in day-to-day governance. A cynical reviewer could easily conclude that Peng adopted views based on what best suited his political position and personal interests at the time. Potter is somewhat more charitable, portraying Peng as a hardnosed pragmatist, willing to take a principled stand even at great personal expense when necessary, but also keen to keep up with the times.