Hu Yaobang’s legacy and the rise of China’s authoritarian rule

A new book reexamines Hu Yaobang’s reformist legacy and its erasure under Xi Jinping.

Hu Yaobang, newly appointed Chairman of the People's Republic of China, on June 30, 1981. © Hulton Archive/Getty Images

By Clarisa Sendy

The Conscience of the Party: Hu Yaobang, China’s Communist Reformer, by Robert L. Suettinger

The treatment of a nation’s prisoners often reflects its moral compass, as Fyodor Dostoyevsky famously suggested. In totalitarian regimes, however, it is often the fate of their most honest leaders that reveals the true nature of the system. Hu Yaobang (1915-1989), a brilliant and idealistic revolutionary, exemplifies this principle. He rose through the ranks of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), nearly reaching its pinnacle before being deposed in 1987 for his commitment to reform.

Robert Suettinger’s new book, The Conscience of the Party, offers a compelling portrait of both Hu and the party that shaped—and ultimately betrayed—him. While Hu was born in 1915, it was the CCP, founded six years later, that defined his life. The party recruited, promoted, humiliated, purged, and ultimately discarded him. His death from a heart attack in April 1989 unleashed a wave of public mourning that quickly escalated into mass protests at Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. Those demonstrations, fueled by frustration with government repression, were violently suppressed by Deng Xiaoping and other hardliners, leading to the infamous June 4 massacre.

Despite his downfall, Hu’s economic reforms helped make the CCP more resilient, less economically dysfunctional, and, for a time, more open to collective leadership. However, under Xi Jinping, Hu’s legacy has been systematically erased. Xi’s consolidation of power marks a return to authoritarian rule, undoing many of the political reforms Hu once championed.

Hu Yaobang’s rise in the Chinese Communist Party

Hu’s journey from rural obscurity to the upper echelons of power was remarkable. Born into poverty in Hunan Province, he was one of only four of his 11 siblings to survive into adulthood. His small stature—under five feet tall and weighing barely 100 pounds—belied his sharp intellect and relentless energy.

Hu joined the Communist movement at 14, becoming a key figure in the Long March (1934-1935), the grueling retreat that cemented Mao Zedong’s leadership. His intelligence and enthusiasm made him a standout propagandist and instructor in Marxist-Leninist doctrine. Mao took notice, assigning him important roles in the Red Army’s headquarters. During this time, Hu formed a crucial alliance with military commander Ye Jianying, a relationship that would later save him from political purges.

However, Hu’s early years in power were marked by bloodshed. In 1950, he was tasked with imposing Communist rule in Sichuan Province under Deng Xiaoping. The so-called Bandit Annihilation Campaign and the Campaign to Suppress Counterrevolutionaries led to mass executions. Mao set arbitrary killing quotas, demanding ever-harsher crackdowns on perceived enemies of the state. Deng, notorious for his ruthlessness, warned subordinates that failing to meet execution targets would weaken the party’s grip on power. During a three-month period, an estimated 49,000 people were killed in the region under Hu’s oversight.

Suettinger does not shy away from this dark chapter in Hu’s life. While some of Hu’s defenders argue that he carried out fewer executions than mandated, his complicity in the regime’s brutality remains undeniable. This period would haunt Hu later in life as he sought to reform the party from within.

Hu’s disillusionment and push for reform

Hu’s faith in the party was deeply shaken by Mao’s catastrophic policies, including the Great Leap Forward (1958-1961), which caused tens of millions of deaths through starvation. As a loyal party member, Hu initially endorsed the campaign but later became conscience-stricken. He personally apologized to officials in Anhui Province who had been punished for reporting the famine’s true scale.

During the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), Hu fell victim to Mao’s purges. He was beaten, imprisoned, and sent to perform forced labor. Yet, unlike many of his contemporaries, he survived—thanks in part to Ye Jianying, who helped rehabilitate him after Mao’s death.

When Deng Xiaoping emerged as China’s paramount leader in the late 1970s, Hu became one of his key allies. As general secretary of the CCP, Hu spearheaded economic and political reforms aimed at modernizing China while curbing the excesses of authoritarian rule. He advocated for greater intellectual freedom, a more open press, and term limits for senior leaders—policies that directly threatened the party’s entrenched elite.

The downfall of a reformer

Hu’s push for political reform ultimately led to his downfall. While Deng supported market-oriented changes, he viewed Hu’s calls for transparency and democratic governance as a step too far. In 1987, after student protests erupted in several cities, party hardliners accused Hu of being too lenient. He was forced to resign, relegated to a powerless position on the Politburo Standing Committee.

Two years later, Hu suffered a fatal heart attack after attending a Politburo meeting. His death triggered a massive public outpouring of grief, with students and workers gathering in Tiananmen Square to mourn. What began as a memorial for Hu quickly turned into a broader pro-democracy movement. Deng and other leaders saw the protests as a direct threat to their rule. On June 4, 1989, they responded with brutal force, ordering troops and tanks to crush the demonstrators. The crackdown killed hundreds—possibly thousands—of civilians and cemented the party’s hardline approach to dissent.

Xi Jinping’s erasure of Hu Yaobang’s legacy

Today, Hu Yaobang’s name is barely mentioned in China. Under Xi Jinping, the party has systematically erased references to Hu and his reformist policies. Websites and publications associated with his legacy have disappeared. Even Deng Xiaoping, once revered as the architect of China’s modernization, is being sidelined in official narratives.

Xi has repurposed Deng’s famous slogan, “Reform and Opening,” to justify policies that strengthen state control rather than promote liberalization. In his 2021 speech marking the CCP’s centennial, Xi mentioned Deng only once—praising his role in suppressing the Tiananmen protests. This revisionist approach underscores Xi’s efforts to reshape history in service of his own authoritarian ambitions.

A cautionary tale for China’s future

Hu Yaobang’s story is a stark reminder of the CCP’s intolerance for political reform. His efforts to democratize the party ultimately led to his expulsion, and his legacy is now being erased by a leadership that fears any challenge to its absolute authority.

Suettinger’s The Conscience of the Party is more than just a biography of Hu—it is a study of the CCP’s inner workings, revealing how the party crushes dissent while adapting just enough to maintain its grip on power.

As Xi tightens his hold on China, Hu’s story serves as both a cautionary tale and a glimmer of what might have been. His fate is a testament to the dangers of challenging authoritarian rule, but also to the enduring appeal of political ideals that refuse to be silenced.