This
is a joint effort to put this blog together by Jenny Chan, Adrian Budd, Kincaid and
also Camilla Royle from the International Socialism Journal Day school on 28
February 2015. More than 60 people attended the day school and this blog, aims
to trace back and also document what have been discussed during the day. Three
different themes are covered in the discussion, they are respectively, China’s
Political Economy and China in the world; Trade Unions and Class Struggle;
Umbrella Protests and New Movement for Democracy. They will be introduced in
the following sections.
In
the opening discussion about China’s Political Economy and the role of China in
the world, Jane Hardy and Adrian Budd argued that the spectacular economic growth of recent decades has
transformed China and had a major impact on the rest of the world. Asian
capitals in particular have taken advantage of China’s opening as a regional
economic centre. But economic transformation has important geo-political
consequences and poses strategic questions to China’s immediate neighbours and
the US, still the world’s major power.
They also argued that mainstream commentators often see a
paradox in China’s simultaneous economic rise and emergence as a geopolitical
challenge to US power (in the East and South China Seas, Indian Ocean, via the
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, etc). But Marxist analysis of imperialism
(including Bukharin’s insight into the
inter-penetration of internationalised production and economic and political
nationalisation) overcomes this apparent paradox and sees the economics and
geo-politics of China’s rise as mutually inter-dependent aspects of global
capitalism’s competitive dynamic. They conclude that China’s military
modernisation and assertiveness, and US regional power and alliances (including
Obama’s ‘pivot’ to Asia), reinforce each other. The slaughter that motivated
Bukharin’s (and Lenin’s) critique of imperialism is not on the immediate
horizon, but competitive rivalries mean the danger of conflict is ever-present,
which in turn means that the world’s rulers continue to divert resources
towards destructive power and away from welfare and development. Capitalist
economics produces an equally destructive capitalist geo-politics.
The second discussion theme is Trade Unions and Class Struggle, covered by Jenny Chan and Tim Pringle. Jenny
Chan highlighted that China’s emergence as a global economic power could not
have occurred without the painstaking efforts of the successive generations of
production workers. What are the prospects for Chinese labour to strengthen its
associational power against the backdrop of privatization of state enterprises
and the emergence of rural migrant workers at the centre of a new working
class? At the key node of global supply base, workers from Foxconn, Honda, and other giant
manufacturers
leveraged their power to disrupt continuous work flow in just-in-time
production, winning partial victories. Through non-governmental organizations
and solidarity ties based on co-worker relationships, gender, locality, and/or
pre-existing social ties, aggrieved workers have come together at the
dormitory, workshop, or factory level to defend their rights and interests. In
response, the Chinese state has been struggling to maintain “social stability”
through more direct management and mediation of high-profile, large-scale
labour disputes. Local officials have skilfully developed a wide array of
“protest absorption” techniques to attempt to mute “rightful resistance.” The
immediate result is that, in many cases, workers’ individual grievances are
partially addressed and collective actions broken up. As China’s
leaders—including trade union officials—make extensive use of their
discretionary power to resolve labour conflicts, rather than institutionalizing
workers’ fundamental rights to freedom of association, it is unclear how long
this interventionist strategy will remain viable. What is clear is that as
capital moves, contentious labour relations are also shifting from coastal
cities to new sites of investment in inland provinces, creating possibilities
of stronger resistance and nurturance of community-based labour power in the
long run.
The
third timely discussion is about Umbrella Protests and New Movement for
Democracy, delivered by Vincent Sung and Sally Kincaid. Sally began the final
input of the day, by discussing the fact that since 2011 the Chinese state has
spent more money on internal security than on defence. The state attempts to airbrush the resistance
and subsequent repression of events of May/June 1989 out of history. Over 2 million people are employed to censor
electronic posts. The number of blocked
Weibo posts peaked on September 28th, as the Chinese state tried to prevent
mainlanders discussing the Occupy Hong Kong movement. Over 300 people were
arrested in China for posting solidarity messages. Eventually the Chinese state had to report
events in Hong Kong in order to condemn the umbrella movement.
There
has been a steady increase in the number of strikes in China, which has
accelerated since September. Sally also mentioned that China Labour Bulletin is a useful source for reported strikes but it
does not show the go slows or where workers attend work but refuse to
work. Sally indicated the contradiction
and tensions within Chinese society are becoming sharper. This is particularly true in the education
sector, where the children of migrant workers, do not have automatic access to
the schools in the cities where their parents work, which leaves them limited
and expensive choices. There are 61 million “left behind” children who live
with either one parent, or grandparents or other members of the family. Over 20 million children live with their parents
in the cities, if they can attend the state run schools they have to pay, but
they need to provide 5 different documents, or they have to attend migrant
schools which have a very precarious existence, or not attend school at all.
Finally
Sally summed up the last session, by reminding people that we should remember
the hypocrisy of our own ruling class.
The tear gas used against the students had been manufactured in the
UK. She also emphasized that our job in
the west was to not only point out this hypocrisy, and build solidarity for those
in struggle, but to remember that China has a rich history of working class
struggle, so that we can help Chinese workers re-learn their own history.
Further news, please contact Camilla Royle and Alex Callinicos at International Socialism.
Additional resources:
23 April 2015 China,
World Capitalism and Workers’ Resistance (videos)
