Winning Only Makes a Strongman Less Safe
Xi Jinping's relentless removal of top officials shows why victory makes a one-man ruler feel less safe, not more.
wsj.com · How Xi Jinping Steamrolls Dissent With Tactics From Stalin and Mao - WSJJoseph Torigian, who teaches history at American University and researches power struggles under Stalin and under Mao, was explaining why purges keep coming under Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
“The more successful you are, the more enemies are afraid of you and mobilize to destroy you, and therefore the more you need to purge,” Torigian said.
His point is the one in that line. In his argument, greater success brings greater fear among enemies, and that fear leaves a leader feeling he must purge more.
Xi shows how far that can go. Now 73 and having led the party for more than a decade, he has adopted methods reminiscent of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong, the founder of Communist China, to crush dissent and fill senior posts with loyalists as he sets himself up to stay in charge. His goal is to steer China's course for years ahead and build up national strength to rival the United States in armed strength and economic weight.
After securing a third term atop the party in 2022, Xi has moved against high-level officials with a pace and breadth not seen since Mao's time, removing three Politburo members in six months. It was the biggest purge at that level since 1976, and it swept up the ministers in charge of defense, foreign affairs and agriculture, along with generals, provincial chiefs, finance overseers and executives at government-run firms.
Stalin and Mao built total control the same way, by removing rivals and silencing criticism while amassing unchecked control. Their drives condemned millions of cadres, thinkers and everyday people to prison, labor camps and execution.
Xi has shunned that kind of mass fanaticism, but he still uses ceaseless claims of graft and disloyalty to force officials to prove their loyalty and to prevent any rival from threatening his position.
“There is no equilibrium—the enemies continue to manifest,” Torigian said.
Questions people ask
What is the Politburo?
The Politburo is the small group at the top of the Chinese Communist Party that makes the country's most important decisions. Its full membership is around two dozen officials, with a still smaller Standing Committee of seven at the very top. Removing three sitting members in six months is striking because those seats are normally among the safest jobs in China.
What is the self-criticism ritual Xi requires?
Xi revived annual sessions in which Politburo members must criticize themselves and each other in meetings he chairs, with loyalty to his leadership among the criteria. The practice comes from the Mao era, when public self-criticism was used to enforce obedience. It turns an ordinary performance review into a loyalty test.
How do Xi's purges compare with Stalin's?
Stalin's Great Terror in the 1930s was far larger, more intense, and more violent, involving mass arrests and executions, including of many loyal party members. Xi has removed officials from office and from the party, but he has not had them killed. The historian's point is about the political logic, not the death toll.