China, Socialism & THE DEMOCRATIZATION OF THE LATRINES !

[cwellen <cwellen@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Greetings to all comrades from Wei En Lin,

and especially to you, Chris from London.



Recently Chris from London, you noted:

"[A recent news]
item presents the tightening of Chinese controls
over the process as coming from nationalist rather than
socialist motives. Marxists would need to have endless debates about
the changing class character of the Chinese state to decide.
Nevertheless this is a rare developing country that has the
initiative over international finance capital.

There has been a high price for this in terms of socialist
ideals. But it is not yet clear IMO, given the harsh
global neo-liberal climate of the 90's that there are no
socialist long term aims at all behind the government's
policy."

If one goes to live in China for an extended period, I fail to see how
one could conclude that there is a "socialist long term aim."  The
leaders are improvising day by day.  The workers have become
"bourgeoisified."

What do we mean by the word "socialist'?  I always thought it referred
to "workers control of the means of production."  Workers in China, at
present are being organized the way workers in 19th century Britain were
organized.  They are told to shut up or be fired.  Union leaders are
more vigorously persecuted than the Tian an men democracy demonstrators.
Shang hai strikers really had a going over in 1989 and afterwards.

The following story illustrates the extent to which China is a workers
state.  In 1994, workers on a certain campus in Beijing were brought in
to construct new walls and streets (A big capitalist donor from Hong
Kong was financing the renovation).  The workers were made to live on
the campus for months and months, through the harsh winter, in brick
huts with holes in them.  Plastic covers kept out the drafts.  These
workers were separated from their families and forced to work under
difficult conditions at all hours (Certainly,they would have liked the
time to commute to their own homes).

After a few months, a conflict arose.  The workers had no toilet
facilites.  Yet they were laboring to reconstruct an academic building
which did have toilets.  They began to use the toilets, against orders.
Professors and students began to complain (especially professors, who
lived in the classrooms in this building--they did not have adequate
housing on campus).  The workers raised the slogan "DEMOCRATIZATION OF
THE LATRINES !"  The Academic authorities responded by locking the doors
to the building, so it could not be used before 8, when classes began,
or after 5, when classes ended.  So the workers basically lost.  They
continued to work with inadequate facilities, under difficult
conditions.  The slogan "All power to the workers!" appeared to be
irrelevant in this context.

Let us be realistic in our examination of conditions in China and the
developing world in general.  China is a totalitarian state ruled by a
nomenklatura which is half-stalinist and half state capitalist.
Democracy, even bourgeois democracy could be a step forward in this
instance; perhaps a necessary first step.

Chris from London added at the end of his post:

"PS China's struggle against the transnationals definition of
intellectual property rights is a just struggle against
imperialist oppression. We ought to be disussing it and supporting
it on this internet medium of free communication.The USA is
leading the attempt to force China to accept this privatization of
knowledge."

With this I agree one hundred per cent. But recall that China is not
defending itself against the privatization of knowledge. It is attacking
the monopolist position of the US, which is something quite different.
China is not seeking to democratize or put "information" under workers
control or even public government control.  China is seeking to advance
the interests of Chinese private corporations which seek to benefit from
pirated programs, CD's, videos et cetera.  And they are doing an
excellent job.  Believe it or not, "Jurassic Park" was available for
private video viewing in Beijing before it was available in the US.
(Whether this particular act of pirating benefitted the Chinese working
classes or not, I leave to you to decide).

In any case it would be good for all of us to take up the slogan:

DEMOCRATIZATION OF THE LATRINES !

or even better,

DEMOCRATIZATION OF ALL WORKPLACES !

Sincere Regards,

Wei En Lin











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