Editing Democracy in China (section)

==== Late 1970s to 1980s ====
{{Further|Democracy movements of China|Protest and dissent in China}}
In the [[Democracy Wall]] movement of 1978 to 1979, movement participants argued that democracy was the means to resolve conflict between the bureaucratic class and the people, although the nature of the proposed democratic institutions was a major source of disagreement among participants.<ref name=":8">{{Cite journal |last=Paltemaa |first=Lauri |date=2007 |title=The Democracy Wall Movement, Marxist Revisionism, and the Variations on Socialist Democracy |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10670560701562325 |journal=Journal of Contemporary China |volume=16 |issue=53 |pages=611 |doi=10.1080/10670560701562325 |issn=1067-0564 |s2cid=143933209|url-access=subscription }}</ref> A majority viewed the movement as part of a struggle between correct and incorrect notions of [[Marxism]].<ref name=":8" /> Many participants advocated [[Classical Marxism|classical Marxist]] views that drew on the [[Paris Commune]] for inspiration.<ref name=":8" /> The Democracy Wall movement also included non-Marxists and anti-Marxists, although these participants were a minority.<ref name=":8" />

Leaders of the post-Mao reforms in the 1980s argued that the CCP's record under Mao was bad, but that the CCP reformed without being forced. The American political scientist [[Andrew J. Nathan|Andrew Nathan]] concluded that "the reforms aimed to change China from a terror-based, [[Totalitarianism|totalitarian dictatorship]] to a 'mature,' administered dictatorship of the Post-Stalinist Soviet or Eastern European type." "Democracy" would not involve elections or participation in decision making but "the [[rule of law]]", which was based on procedural regularity in the exercise of power.<ref>[[Andrew J. Nathan]]. ''[[iarchive:chinesedemocracy00nath_0|Chinese Democracy]]''. (New York: Knopf : Distributed by Random House, 1985). {{ISBN|039451386X}}. pp. 227–228.</ref>