A recent commentary by Greg Godels which appeared yesterday on the Marxism-Leninism Today site, explores the question of "People’s China: What Lies Ahead?”. With Michael Roberts, John Smith and others on the Marxist left, Godels says “the question remains open” as to whether the PRC is restoring capitalism, much less that it has already done so.
Unlike its most ardent defenders, Godels does not believe the Chinese system is “socialist with Chinese characteristics”. Referring to the exploitation of Congolese and other workers by resource-extracting Chinese state and private corporations, he notes that the PRC’s foreign policy has little in common with the former Soviet Union which lent material support and political solidarity to movements fighting US imperialism. Though Godels nods with approval at a recent piece by Charles Andrews on the Congo, unlike Andrews he describes the PRC’s relationship to capitalism at home and abroad as “vexing” and “contradictory”. On the positive side, Godels cites the Chinese state’s expropriation of bankrupt property developers with Western capitalist countries and Japan who would not and could not "address a real estate bubble by absorbing real estate into the public sector.” More generally, “under Xi’s leadership, the direction of the PRC’s ‘reforms’ may have shifted somewhat away from an infatuation with markets, private ownership, and foreign capital. The former 'enrich yourselves' tolerance for wealth accumulation has been tempered by conscious efforts at raising the living standards of the poorest. Xi has made a priority of 'targeted poverty alleviation,' with impressive success." He cites “measures or surveys of public confidence, satisfaction, or trust in government” which show the PRC as "always found at or near the top” while "the U.S. fares very poorly” The PRC has also "shocked Western critics with the breakneck pace of its adoption of non-emission energy production...an achievement well ahead of Western estimates and Western achievements, and a victory for the global environmental movement." "Western leftists too often simplify the ‘Chinese Question’ by making it a parlor game revolving around whether China is or is not a socialist country, an error confusing a settled, accomplished state of affairs with a contested process”, Godels says. "As long as capitalism exists and holds seats of political power, the process of building socialism remains unstable and unfinished. The 1936 Soviet constitution declared in Article One that the USSR was 'a socialist state of workers and peasants,' a status that was under great duress over the subsequent following decades. The 1977 constitution stated even more boldly that the USSR was 'a socialist state of the whole people,' a state without classes and, by implication, class struggle. A decade and a half later, there was no USSR." "Building socialism is a fragile process and one prone to reversals and defeats”, Godels concludes, and advises Western Marxists to "observe developments in the PRC with vigilance and a critical eye. If building socialism is a dynamic process, we should attend to its direction, rather than pronouncing its summary success or failure. "The PRC is a complex creation with a complex– often contradictory– relationship with other countries as well as the socialist project. The cause of socialism is ill served by either ignoring or exaggerating both missteps and victories in the PRC’s revolutionary path.” Full: https://mltoday.com/peoples-china-what-lies-ahead/ -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#29656): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/29656 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/105142448/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
