Helmsman

Subject – IR

Context – China’s Communist Party hails ‘helmsman’ Xi after ‘historic’ meet

Concept –

A day after the Communist Party passed a “historical” resolution elevating the status of Chinese leader Xi Jinping on a par with its tallest past leaders, China’s ruling party referred to Mr. Xi as its “helmsman”, a title previously only reserved for Mao Zedong.
An annual party meeting called a plenum passed its first “historical resolution” since 1981 — and only the third such declaration in its 100¬year history — that extolled Mr. Xi’s leadership and demanded loyalty to ensure his “core position” in the party.
This was the third resolution on history passed by the party, and the previous two marked significant changes in its politics.
In 1945, Mao Zedong passed a resolution that moved the party away from Stalinist influence and marked the start of Mao’s decades-long political and ideological dominance.
In 1981, Deng Xiaoping passed a resolution that marked a move away from the excesses of Maoism and a one-man personality cult to launch the reform era. In keeping with the shift away from one-man rule, Deng was called a “paramount” leader but not a “helmsman” and he eschewed building a cult of personality.