Thoughts from China: Socialism, a work in progress

by: Brad Janzen
September 23 2011
china.deng.chou.peng

 

BEIJING - I arrived in Beijing on June 25.  My first time in Asia. My first time outside of the Western hemisphere. Though I had studied some Chinese, I was a bit overwhelmed at the communication barrier as I walked into a restaurant to order my first meal here.  The menu was all in Chinese, with no pictures, and no pinyin. (Pinyin is the transcription of Chinese to the Latin alphabet, with accent marks denoting the tones).  Nevertheless, after being here for two and a half months, my Chinese is slowly improving.

My initial impressions of Beijing and China were, and still are, complex. China has surpassed Japan and Germany to become the second largest economy in the world, and China's GDP will likely pass that of the U.S. in a few years. China's economy is a mixed economy, with the state controlling much of what Lenin called the "commanding heights" of the economy, but with a large capitalist sector, and with an enormous number of small businesses. While the state permits capitalist enterprises, including foreign companies, to operate here, the state retains the ownership of the land, and essentially is granting the company the privilege of using the land in the interest of development.

It is true that China is a developing country. It also does, however, have a very modern aspect. The subway system in Beijing is world class, and also inexpensive at 2RMB per ride (around 30 cents USD), including limitless transfers. In 1980, there were only two subway lines; now there are 14, with plans to build 10 more in the next five years. The new lines will be welcome, as public transportation in Beijing, while modern and inexpensive, can be extremely crowded during rush hours.

Crime is very low. I feel safer in Beijing than in any other major city I've ever spent time in.  

The government in Beijing plans to raise the minimum wage by 15 percent every year for the next five years. Minimum wage varies by cities in China, but is universally low. In Beijing, it is currently about 1300RMB (about $200/month). Most workers make substantially better than the minimum wage, averaging probably about 5,000RMB. As an English teacher for a private company, I'm making about 12,000RMB (about $1500/month), on which I can live comfortably.

China exercises price controls on basic necessities such as food, and the cost of living is very low in general. One exception in Beijing is rent. My rent in Beijing is comparable to what I paid in Dallas, Texas, although my place is a little nicer.

In 2008, China passed a Labor Reform Law which grants workers some very important rights. Chinese labor law intentionally favors employees over employers. "Employment at will," so common in the U.S., is illegal in China. If an employer wishes to terminate an employee, the burden is on the employer to establish just cause. Economic difficulty is not considered just cause; and this law applies to all employers, large and small, foreign and domestic. There are strict restrictions on probation periods.   

Yet there are still companies, mainly foreign companies, who violate the law. And in some cases, workers have been treated in ways which one would hope to not occur in any country, particularly a socialist one. One can read about the case of Foxconn, for example, where there were several suicides by employees working in terrible conditions.  I don't have to read capitalist media to learn of this; CCTV (China's state-owned television network) ran a documentary about this.

The Marxist ideological level in China is lower than one might wish. The schools focus heavily on math and science (and do quite well at it), but don't seem to do much with philosophy. While the economy is booming as it currently is, maybe that doesn't seem like a huge issue; but I fear that if global recession causes the economy to worsen, this could be a problem. While China is still a developing nation, with socialism still in infancy, the Communist Party has truly accomplished much, lifting more people out of extreme poverty than any other country in history. Despite the many contradictions of China, an end to socialism here, a la USSR 1990s, would be a disaster for the Chinese people, and for workers everywhere.

Post your comment

Comments are moderated. See guidelines here.

Comments

  • Well, you must be some of the few outside of the John Birch Society who consider China socialist, or any kind of model worthy of emulating. In my mind, a 'workers' state' is essentially an anti-statist and anti-capitalist formation, due to its actual content (and its ultimate intention of facilitating statelessness)- it does not seek to replace the bureaucratic-military structures of a state, it is a fundamentally different formation, most usually defined as some form of radical council democracy- which is not what China is. And Lenin was, at least in intention, an anti-statist, hence, as he says in State and Revolution: "While the State exists, there can be no freedom. When there is freedom there will be no State." It's a shame that both of your conceptions of socialism is of a statist bureaucratic military complex, or at least that this is a neccesary stage to pass through- the kind of justification used by every authoritatian 'communist' state. The idea of a communist state is ridiculous, since communism means a stateless and classless society. I urge you to reclaim the democratic and libertarian spirit of socialism. What Lenin has best to teach us is strategic and tactical flexibility- so yes, fight to force concessions out of states and corporations, but don't idealise the bourgeois state, or even so callled 'socialist' states as a force for transformation (organs of self organisation and popular power, through workers/neighbourhood/farmer/peasant councils, united together in a 'state' or federation are possible organisational forms of socialism) because all that will happen is that you will become the new ruling class, and declare people like me 'Trotskyite fascists' and send me to the gulag for being anti-proletarian for criticising the Communist Party.

    Posted by LeftInternationalist, 11/09/2011 9:20am (15 years ago)

  • To Left Internationalist,
    The concept of socialism being "anti-statist" betrays a total lack of understanding of socialism in any Marxist or Leninist sense of the word. Rather than rehash centuries old argument, I would instead simply recommend Lenin's State and Revolution, which is not the least bit ambiguous on this point.

    Posted by Brad, 11/01/2011 3:53am (15 years ago)

  • China's Socialist Market Economy described by capitalist (AP) press:

    "Beijing's communist authorities 'have lots of levers they can pull, unlike U.S. authorities.'"
    "The government owns most of the biggest companies and banks. It controls the currency.
    "Chinese policymakers can also order state-owned banks to lend if the economy slows much. They can command local governments to keep workers busy building roads and bridges."

    Yes, China IS socialist. And YES, socialism can work!

    Posted by Brad, 11/01/2011 3:49am (15 years ago)

  • China is a state capitalist system-I think that's very clear, and some Marxist theorists have asserted that this is simply a new form of the state capitalist model which China has followed since the Communist Party established its monopoly rule under Mao's leadership, which then followed the Stalinist model of development (state capitalism, or, bureaucratic collectivism according to some, or more simply another bureaucratic ruling class elite merely replacing the capitalist elites) i.e. 'socialism is merely state capitalist monopoly which is made to serve the interests of the whole people' (Lenin) and China today is certainly not implementing a socialist model in any sense a good socialist would argue for- that is, a systemic alternative to capitalism that is radically democratic, emancipatory, libertarian, with anti-capitalist and anti-statist forms of social organisation which are facilitating the emergence of a stateless and relatively classless society. China merely proves the capitalist propaganda wrong that capitalism and democracy go hand in hand- China's capitalism is more dynamic, efficient, and even more ruthless than the Western capitalist states- and democracy is completely absent. Evidently, the mere feature of the accumulation of capital does not equal the emergence of and kind of democracy, even of the extremely limited parliamentary sort we in the West have. What China has done, in some ways, is extremely impressive- however, socialists should not be arguing China is in transition to socialism- I would have thought that the CPUSA, having been tainted with its previous association with Stalinism, would have finally learned the difference between rhetoric and reality, and that a petty dictatorship of ruling elites in China does not equal socialism. Socialism is centrally about cooperative, democratic, and emancipatory social relations, and 'the free development of each as the condition for the free development of all' (Marx)- if you do not have that you do not have socialism. You should be talking more about worker unrest in China, attempts by Chinese workers to form their own independent trade unions, the struggles of ordinary Chinese people for emancipation, for economic democracy and political liberty, for democratic and libertarian socialism. You forget Marx: "the emancipation of the working class must be conquered by the working classes themselves." It will not be handed down by the CCP or elites. Remember Che: "Liberators do not exist. The people liberate themselves."Essentially, I'm arguing that you should be more consistent Marxists- that's not to hard to ask, is it, considering you are Marxists?

    Posted by LeftInternationalist, 10/19/2011 9:32am (15 years ago)

  • I feel China has done a great job coming to age, but I feel China still has a long way to go. The human rights of their people, imprisoning many and their long history of executing many, more than the USA. The many that had die in coal mines accidents. Environmental problems that they have. The mistreatment of foreigners who work in their plants not paying them a fair wage. The one child rule and their killing young girls. I don agree that they have made ahead in the world in science, math.

    Posted by Paul McClung, 10/14/2011 1:09am (15 years ago)

  • It isn't just teaching Marxism--that must be taught, it is the moral issue also that is at the heart of growing Socialism.
    Honesty, openness, and more honesty from the Party must be at the forefront of China's development. Without it, China could most certainly visit the fate of the Soviet Union.
    When the economy takes a downturn and it probably will happen--after all it is Capitalist -- their must be a solid grounding for working together as a community. Putting people before profits, incorporating high taxation on those who became rich and continue to be vigilant.
    Capitalism is a multi-headed snake...

    wage peace

    Posted by Gabe Falsetta, 10/02/2011 12:09am (15 years ago)

  • I've also taught in Asia. Are you sure your affection for China isn't tied to being a big fish in a big pond? The truth is there is no rule of law, enforcement of law in China. A housing bubble is shielding the fact that the economy would be in recession stemming from the low demand of the West for products made by off-shore Western companies stationed in China--the real secret to its growth.

    Posted by nampa1, 09/24/2011 11:24pm (15 years ago)

RSS feed for comments on this page | RSS feed for all comments