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.
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.
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.
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".