And here is an essay which I wrote recently and which critically
discusses this viewpoint (i.e. denying that China has become
imperialist). It has been published in English and Spanish.
Unable to See the Wood for the Trees,
https://www.thecommunists.net/theory/pts-ft-and-chinese-imperialism/
<https://www.thecommunists.net/theory/pts-ft-and-chinese-imperialism/>
Incapaces de ver el bosque por ver los árboles,
https://www.thecommunists.net/home/espa%C3%B1ol/pts-ft-y-imperialismo-chino/
<https://www.thecommunists.net/home/espa%C3%B1ol/pts-ft-y-imperialismo-chino/>
Am 07.09.2020 um 00:34 schrieb Esteban Mercatante:
I share an article I wrote, with a different view about China
https://www.leftvoice.org/the-contours-of-capitalism-in-china
<https://www.leftvoice.org/the-contours-of-capitalism-in-china>
On Sun, Sep 6, 2020 at 6:27 PM Louis Proyect <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
I don't think Richard would object to me posting this:
Dear Louis,
Thanks for sending me those two pieces. I would object however
that just because Chinese SOEs have sold so-called ‘shares’ on
the NYSE does not make them capitalist. First, as I explained,
they are not privately owned, they’re profit-maximizing companies.
They’re not ‘companies’ at all. They don’t live or die on the
basis of their success in the market place like regular capitalist
companies. Back in the 1990s, the gov had its SOEs hang out new
shingles, to rename themselves ‘corporations.’ Thus the oil
ministry renamed itself the China National Petroleum Corporation,
and so on. They listed shares on stock exchanges and many
installed ‘corporate boards.’ But this was all for show. First,
the shares available to be traded were officially limited to no
more than 20% of the value of the ‘company’ (and who knows what
that is because no SOE has ever been sold so who knows what its
value is anyway?). No significant SOE has ever been put up for
sale, and the thousands of trivial small SOEs (tiny coal mines,
village level garment companies and the like) that were sold off
in the late 1990s as not worth bothering about were ‘bought’ by
larger SOEs, or by officers, or by Chinese capitalists. None were
sold off to foreigners. Secondly, those shares listed on the NYSE
are non-voting. Their purpose was just to raise money, for
foreigners — to give Western banks, wealth funds, pension funds
the option to speculate on China’s booming economy by giving those
companies piles of Western cash — and no SOEs are permitted to be
sold. There’s no M&A business in Chinese SOEs for Goldman Sachs.
Thirdly, the so-called boards of directors were powerless. The
Party ran all its SOEs. Indeed, last year in a speech I quoted in
my next book, Xi ordered these Potemkin boards of directors
abolished, to make it unmistakably clear that at the Party runs
the companies, not the CEO, not the corporate ‘boards.’ Spectre
limited me to 4000 words so I had to cut out this further
discussion but it's all explained in the sources I cited, Richard
McGregor, Carl Walter and Fraser Howie, James McGregor, and others.
Why don’t you write a review of my book?
Best,
Richard
On Aug 21, 2020, at 5:19 PM, Louis Proyect <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
On 8/21/20 2:37 PM, Richard Smith wrote:
Dear Louis,
Where’s the about face? In everything I have written from my first articles
on the Mao period in 1981 to my thesis in 1989 to my book just out i have
consistently maintained that China is a bureaucratic collectivist regime —
purely so under Mao and still mainly so since Deng installed his capitalist
add-on. As the article says China has all kinds of capitalism today but the
ruling class still runs the economy as bureaucratic collectivists not
capitalists though they do also run some state capitalist operations as with
the foreign
companies they’ve bought. And even though as individuals many have private
investments in western corporations, mutual
funds, etc. You can review my history on this question
here:richardanthonysmith.org <http://richardanthonysmith.org>.
Best,
Richard
Sent from my iPhone
Yes, I believe that you have been consistent all along. I was
under the wrong impression. My own take of course is that China
is capitalist. My responses to Michael Roberts, who is closer to
you on these questions:
https://louisproyect.org/2017/10/30/chinas-state-owned-enterprises-a-reply-to-michael-roberts/
<https://louisproyect.org/2017/10/30/chinas-state-owned-enterprises-a-reply-to-michael-roberts/>
https://louisproyect.org/2018/06/11/is-china-socialist/
<https://louisproyect.org/2018/06/11/is-china-socialist/>
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