Wang Ruoshui

People’s Republic of China state institutions Marxism–Leninism 1926–2002 ○ Natural causes

People’s Daily deputy editor who argued for Marxist humanism and the theory of alienation

Born in Shanghai, he studied philosophy at Peking University from 1946 and joined the Communist Party on graduating in 1948. From 1950 he worked at People’s Daily, an ardent Maoist whose attacks on Hu Shih and others won Mao’s praise. In 1972 he wrote articles under Zhou Enlai’s directive to criticise ultra-leftism, was attacked by Zhang Chunqiao and Yao Wenyuan, and was sent to labour. He became deputy editor under Hu Jiwei in 1977 and in the early 1980s introduced the concept of “alienation”, arguing for a Marxist humanism in which “man is the starting point of Marxism”. Removed as deputy editor in 1983 at Deng Liqun’s demand during the campaign against spiritual pollution, he was expelled from the party in 1987 in the campaign against bourgeois liberalisation, partly for supporting the 1986 student movement. He later continued his research in the United States and died in 2002.

Also known as: Wang Jo-shui