|
By Heiko Khoo
|
|
Monday, 21 April 2008 |
|
A brief comment on the different historical periods China has been
through since the early 20th Century, from the founding of the
Chinese Communist Party by genuine Marxists to the present-day transition to
capitalism.
|
|
By Rob Lyon
|
|
Tuesday, 01 April 2008 |
|
Western bourgeois
commentators have shed crocodile tears over the plight of the Tibetan people.
But interestingly apart from a lot of talk they are doing very little. China is
too important a trading partner to upset the cart too much. Here we look at the
historical background to the situation in Tibet and how it relates to the
growing contradictions within Chinese society as a whole.
|
|
By Heiko Khoo
|
|
Tuesday, 18 March 2008 |
|
Tibet erupted in ethnic based rioting over the past few
days. Undoubtedly there is some outside interference, but this alone cannot
explain what is going on. At the root of the problem is the uneven spread of
wealth, which has been made worse by the introduction of market economics,
compounding the feeling of national oppression of the Tibetans.
|
|
By Heiko Khoo
|
|
Thursday, 07 February 2008 |
|
The largest human migration in the world gets under way every Chinese New Year, as China's 120 million strong army of migrant workers make their annual trip home. This year heavy snows led to railways and roads being overburdened and transport bottlenecks wreaked sudden nationwide chaos. |
|
By Bárbara Areal - www.elmilitante.org
|
|
Tuesday, 01 May 2007 |
 China
has recently passed a law recognising the right to privately own the means of
production. What is the significance of this and what lies behind it?
|
|
By the International Marxist Tendency
|
|
Friday, 13 October 2006 |
|
Although the dismantling of the old state owned planned
economy was an enormous reactionary step backwards and Marxists are utterly
opposed to it, there is one positive element in the process: the creation of
the largest proletariat in the world. The development of capitalism in China brings
with it class contradictions that are preparing a new revolutionary upheaval in
Chinese society. Once this massive Chinese proletariat moves decisively it will
shake the whole world.
|
|
By the International Marxist Tendency
|
|
Wednesday, 04 October 2006 |
|
Deng’s early “reforms” initiated in the late 1970s were
aimed at improving efficiency in the economy. But once the Chinese bureaucracy
had embarked down the road of capitalist incentives the whole process had a
logic of its own, sucking China
more and more down the road of capitalist restoration. This did not happen all
in one go. There were several key turning points which are analysed here.
|
|
By the International Marxist Tendency
|
|
Monday, 02 October 2006 |
|
From a Marxist point of view the 1949 Chinese Revolution,
in spite of its bureaucratic deformations, was the second most important event
in human history after the Russian Revolution. It led to the abolition of
landlordism and capitalism and the end of imperialist domination. Now, however,
capitalism dominates in China.
How did this happen? Here we present Part One of a document approved by this
year’s world congress of the International Marxist Tendency which looks at
events from the revolution up to the end of the Mao era.
|
|
By Ted Grant
|
|
Monday, 14 August 2006 |
|
This article, written in May 1965 by Ted Grant,
shows how genuine Marxism was able to see the real processes going on in China and not be
fooled by the words of the Chinese leaders. Then as now Marxism was a tool that
allowed one to see through the fog of seemingly contradictory and
incomprehensible events.
|
|
By Fred Weston
|
|
Tuesday, 23 May 2006 |
|
The march towards
capitalism is not a simple straightforward process. There are
opposition voices within the bureaucracy, but more importantly
capitalist development has created a massive working class and this
is now being expressed in the growing level of strikes.
|
|
By Fred Weston
|
|
Monday, 15 May 2006 |
|
State planning
has broken down in China, but the state still plays a key role in
providing capital investment and in nurturing major Chinese
corporations whose role is to compete with the foreign multinationals
and guarantee that important economic interests remain in Chinese
hands.
|
|
By Fred Weston
|
|
Wednesday, 10 May 2006 |
|
Nearly thirty
years have passed since Deng first introduced his “market reforms”.
What started as an attempt to stimulate growth within a planned
economy has ended up by establishing capitalist relations in the
Chinese economy. How did all this happen and where is China going
today?
|
|
By Eva Cheng (LINKS no. 27, January to April, 2005)
|
|
Wednesday, 26 April 2006 |
|
The
dominant wing of the Chinese Communist Party has pushed through
capitalist counter-reforms in the Chinese economy over the past
couple of decades, achieving immense economic growth but also
devastating effects on the conditions of the workers. Here we publish
an interesting letter by an anonymous group of “veteran
CCP members, veteran cadres, veteran military personnel and
intellectuals” who are opposed to this course.
|
|
By Bruce Boon
|
|
Monday, 10 April 2006 |
|
China’s
headlong drive towards capitalism is beginning to meet resistance.
Workers’ protests are growing. Opposition is even being voiced
within the ranks of the Chinese Communist Party itself. It is merely
a matter of time before the class struggle erupts on a grand scale.
|
|
By Bruce Boon
|
|
Thursday, 06 April 2006 |
|
The widening income gap in China and
the resulting social explosions, threatening the interests of the
ruling bureaucracy and capitalists, is a top item on the agenda of
the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party. In a bid to ease the
revolt, the 11th five-year economic plan is nominally focusing on
more equal distribution, but this cannot solve the contradictions
created by the move towards capitalism.
|
|
By In Defence of Marxism
|
|
Friday, 31 March 2006 |
|
Here
we publish a statement of one of the administrators of the China Workers'
Website on the recent closing of their site.
|
|
By Stephen Philion
|
|
Friday, 31 March 2006 |
|
On February 22, the Chinese government shut down the China Workers' Website
and Discussion Lists, a website that allowed Chinese workers and farmers to
discuss their struggles and the problems they face. The developments and changes
in China are of extreme significance for workers and youth of the whole world
and in this regard, this interview, conducted by Stephen Philion for the Monthly
Review Magazine, is
extremely interesting and important, and provides an insight into the conditions
of the Chinese workers, youth and peasants.
|
|
By RY in China and Fred Weston
|
|
Wednesday, 22 March 2006 |
|
We are publishing an exchange of
letters between a Chinese Communist, RY, and Fred Weston of the
Marxist.com Editorial Board. They give an insight to the problems
that many genuine Chinese Communists are facing, as China moves
further and further down the road of capitalism.
|
|
By Michele Fabbri
|
|
Friday, 20 January 2006 |
|
Since the era of Deng Xiaoping China has been moving ever closer to capitalism. What started as an attempt to use market criteria to push forward economic growth within the context of an economy still dominated by the public sector, took on a momentum of its own. Now we have capitalist relations dominating. This article was first published in Italian in the Marxist journal FalceMartello. |
|
By V.I. Lenin
|
|
Monday, 02 January 2006 |
|
An interesting piece by Lenin in which he develops a Marxist approach to a predatory imperialist war on the part of Tsarist Russia against China, with many lessons that can be applied to today's situation. The Tsarist regime claimed it was fighting “barbarism” and “civilising” China. The war was presented as one between “cultures”. Over one hundred years later the same arguments are being used by Bush to justify his war in Iraq. |
|
By In Defence of Marxism
|
|
Thursday, 27 October 2005 |
|
An interesting letter from a reader in China, who points out that the dominant mode of production in that country is now capitalism. He asks the question; “following the full market economy then how can we class the current leadership of China, what class are they supporting?” |
|
By Adam Fulsom in China
|
|
Thursday, 13 October 2005 |
|
Following on from the letter we published a few weeks ago, another reader in China has added his thoughts to the discussion. He highlights particularly the growing disparity between different social layers in Chinese society, a result of the development of capitalism, which is destroying all the gains of the past. |
|
By Fred Weston
|
|
Thursday, 13 October 2005 |
|
The introduction of the “market economy”, i.e. capitalism, in China is provoking massive social contradictions: extreme poverty at one end, extreme wealth at the other. But a gigantic proletariat is also being created, the “gravediggers” of capitalism, as Marx used to say. |
|
By S.J. Guan
|
|
Wednesday, 21 September 2005 |
|
We are publishing a
letter we recently received from a reader in China, who considers himself a Marxist. Although we would
not necessarily agree with every point he makes, the letter does give a very
interesting insight into what is happening in Chinese society. |
|
By Heiko Khoo
|
|
Wednesday, 27 April 2005 |
|
Recent nationalist, anti-Japanese demonstrations have brought to the surface many contradictions within Chinese society and also between China and its main rivals. The authorities have tolerated these demonstrations, as they do not threaten the regime as such. It shows how far the so-called Chinese Communist Party has degenerated in its ever-growing embrace of capitalism and all the monstrosities that go with it. |
|
By Michael Roberts
|
|
Thursday, 20 January 2005 |
|
As the Chinese bureaucracy pushes the economy of China more and more along the capitalist road, more contradictions are appearing. The more the economy is integrated into the world market the more it will be prone to all the ups and downs of world capitalism. A serious slowdown on a world scale will have devastating effects. |
|
By Alan Woods
|
|
Friday, 14 January 2005 |
 This article was written at a time (Autumn of 1976) when many on the left had big illusions that Maoist China was somehow a genuine socialist regime. Alan Woods was able to see beyond the fog of the Maoist propaganda and see what was really happening in China. This article provides interesting background information for anyone who wants to know the truth about the nature of the Chinese bureaucracy, that same bureaucracy that is now pushing China more and more towards capitalism. (Editor’s note, January 14, 2005) |
|
By Heiko Khoo
|
|
Monday, 13 December 2004 |
 China’s drive to the “socialist market” has fostered a booming economy, but concealed behind this is a mass of contradictions. In spite of the growth a crisis is inevitable. A terrible price is being paid by the working class for the drive to a market economy. Heiko Khoo looks at the real face of China. |
|
By Rob Lyon
|
|
Friday, 04 June 2004 |
|
Today marks 15 years since the tragic defeat of the movement of workers and students in Tienanment Square. To mark this important day we are publishing this latest analysis by Rob Lyon. |
|
By In Defence of Marxism
|
|
Thursday, 15 April 2004 |
|
We received this letter from China. It gives an interesting insight into the real state of the Chinese Communist Party. It shows how far this organisation has degenerated. Faced with the growing social polarisation between the enriched bureaucracy and the ordinary working masses, the Chinese workers need to return to the revolutionary ideas that the early Chinese Communists based themselves on, the ideas of Lenin. |
|
By Anfanger
|
|
Friday, 14 November 2003 |
|
We have received this article from a Chinese sympathizer who gives a very
good insight to the real situation facing millions of workers in China. In spite
of all the gloss about the economic development of China in the past few years
thanks to the introductions of “market economy” methods, there is another
side to the situation. The closure of state-run industries is creating millions
of unemployed and to these further millions are added from the rural areas
drifting to the cities in desperate search of work. |
|
By David Hughes
|
|
Wednesday, 16 July 2003 |
|
In less than two weeks Hong Kong has been shaken to the foundations by three
mass rallies demanding democratic change. Over 500,000 protested against the
passage of "anti-subversion" laws; over 50,000 demonstrated outside of the Legislative Council
halls July 9 to appeal for democratic reforms, and on Sunday, over 20,000
participated in a rally for universal suffrage. |
|
By Ho Jun-bo
|
|
Saturday, 22 March 2003 |
|
Ho Jun-bo sends us this update on the situation in China. The massive protests of the oil
and steel workers are continuing in the face of provocation by the state. The state claims
it has arrested six leaders, and is enforcing a media blackout. |
|
By Ho Jun-bo, Hong Kong
|
|
Wednesday, 19 March 2003 |
|
Across north-east China there have been massive protests of oil workers, particularly in
Diqing where an estimated 50,000 workers are on strike. And in Liaoyang where steel,
textile and poor farmers are also striking. Not since the struggles of the workers, youth
and students of the 1987-9 period has China witnessed this level of worker, youth, poor
farmer and poor peasant and migrant worker unrest. The recent struggles have demonstrated
the enormous potential existing amongst the Chinese working class to resist capitalist
restoration and carry through the political revolution against the parasitic bureaucracy
to establish genuine workers' democracy in China. In a significant development the workers
of north-east China have begun to generalise their struggle with the formation of
independent organisations and trade unions. |
|
By Rob Sewell
|
|
Wednesday, 15 January 2003 |
|
In January Wang Fanxi died in Leeds, England. He was one of the few
remaining links to the early Chinese Trotskyist movement. It was after the
defeat of the 1926 Chinese revolution that, together with hundreds of other
members of the Chinese Communist Party, he began to question the policies of the
leadership and joined Trotsky’s Left Opposition. |
|
By Ho Jun-Bo, Hong Kong
|
|
Tuesday, 12 February 2002 |
|
The migrant workers of Hong Kong - who have developed an independent group of
unions and achieved almost 100% membership of unions, social and political
groups, churches and agencies - have won a major victory in their militant
action to prevent any further pay cuts. What remains are the demands to defeat
any proposed changes in working conditions, fees and number caps and the new
demands raised in a young movement that has now tasted first blood. |
|
By Ho Jun-bo, Hong Kong
|
|
Sunday, 16 December 2001 |
|
"Solidarity of the migrant workers of Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Sri Lanka
demonstrated with PTUDC. Hong Kong Unions join the fray. Call for a party of labour wings
support - notion to be sent to the labour movement of Hong Kong and Macao. Labour
Ministers of Indonesia and Philippines rushing to Hong Kong to mediate the struggle."
These are the headings of an article we have received from Marxists in Hong Kong about the
recent migrant workers struggle and their intervention in the movement. |
|
By Ho Jun-bo, Hong Kong
|
|
Friday, 14 December 2001 |
|
("A city of life" is the slogan of the HK Tourist Authority, but
"a city of struggle" has become a regular by-line in the South China
Morning Post). This article we have received from a group of Marxists in Hong
Kong describes the political, economical and social situation in the city. There
have been a number of strikes and demonstrations by different groups of workers
in the last period, particularly the immigrant workers. The article also
explains the strategy of the Marxists in their intervention. |
|
By Phil Mitchinson
|
|
Wednesday, 26 April 2000 |
|
Phil Mitichinson reviews the increasing difficulties in the road to capitalism in China,
the recent workers' uprisings and concludes that "in the next period
internationalcapital will feel the ground quake under the impact of millions of Chinese
workers on the move". |
|
By Heiko Khoo
|
|
Tuesday, 25 May 1999 |
|
This article tries to answer to the following important questions about the Tiananmen
Square movement: What was the character of the movement of April - June 1989? What were
the programmes and policies of the main tendencies? Could the disaster of the capitalist
path have been averted in any other way than the way chosen by Deng Xiaoping, Li Peng and
the leadership at that time? |
|
By In Defence of Marxism
|
|
Monday, 17 May 1999 |
|
Outraged by the NATO bombing of the Chinese embassy in Yugoslavia, almost a million people
took to the streets on the mainland. The Chinese Vice Premier Hu Jintao announced on TV
that although NATO attacked China's embassy, "reform and opening up will
continue". Voices questioning the pro-capitalist path have grown louder, gaining a
base amongst CCP members, lower levels of the bureaucracy, the workers and youth. |
|
By Rob Sewell
|
|
Thursday, 20 February 1997 |
|
The death of Deng Xiaoping opens up a new chapter for China. Over the last 20 years since the death of Mao, the shift towards opening up the economy to capitalist interests has intensified the contradictions of Chinese society. |
|
By Qiu Lihua
|
|
Thursday, 20 February 1997 |
|
A detailed analysis of the process of urban reform and the resistance of the working class. |
|
By Socialist Appeal Editorial Board
|
|
Monday, 13 June 1994 |
|
A detailed analysis of the process of urban reform and the resistance of the working class. |
|
By Heiko Khoo
|
|
Friday, 13 November 1992 |
|
The following article was originally published in the British Socialist Appeal in 1992, it provides background material on the processes and forces shaping modern Chinese society today. It looked at the growing influence within the state apparatus of the pro-capitalist elements, a process that has continued and intensified to this day. |
|
