[Marxism] Sharp Debate Erupts in China Over Socialism and Capitalism

["Walter Lippmann" <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Those who think that capitalism has already been restored in China
may have some difficulty understanding how there could be a debate
going on about what way forward for China. And so debates of one
or another sort are also going on in Vietnam and Cuba recently, a
good thing which help generate some clarity about how to deal with
some of the many complicated problems these three countries have.

It's been somewhat fashionable in the capitalist world to argue
that China has become capitalist. Perhaps there's a "misery loves
company" factor at work? Then there are those, like the neo-con
Francis Fukuyama that capitalism is the "end of history" and thus
humanity cannot aspire to anything better than this. In forums as
Marxmail, where virtually any opinion can be expressed, it's hard
to think that real things can be at stake when the participants
sometimes use indirect and aesopean discussion styles. That's the
way it is done in a one-party state. In the capitalist West we're
not used to such circuitous ways of discussing things. Remember:

"The most important thing right now is political clarity. We are
in a prepatory period right now and it is critical to take stock
of our situation and understand what is needed." (Louis Proyect)

This is one reason why minimizing personal, abusive invective can
contribute positively to developing as much clarity as we can.

Those who may not have as yet read Fidel Castro's explanation of
why the countries have such close relations today, check this:
http://www.walterlippmann.com/fc-china.html


Walter Lippmann
===================================================================

"Since his rise to the presidency in 2002, Mr. Hu has also sought to
establish his leftist credentials, extolling Marxism, praising Mao
and bankrolling research into making the country's official but often
ignored socialist ideology more relevant to the current era."

"He told party leaders in 2004 to study how Cuba and North Korea
maintained political order, party officials say. And he has tried to
distance himself from his predecessor, Jiang Zemin, who invited
private businessmen to join the Communist Party and was viewed as
permitting well-connected officials to enrich themselves with public
property at the expense of the poor.")
-------------------------------
"Corruption, pollution, land seizures and arbitrary fees and taxes
are among the leading causes of a surge in social unrest. Riots have
become a fixture of rural life in China - more than 200 "mass
incidents of unrest" occurred each day in 2004, police statistics
show - undermining the party's insistence on social stability."

"Many Western and some Chinese experts have argued that these problems
stem from China's authoritarian political system, and that they will
not easily go away until people have a greater say in how they are
governed. But the Communist Party and many left-leaning scholars
reject that view. They say the ills are caused by capitalist excesses
and rising inequality, which they say requires that the government
reassert itself in economic affairs."
==================================================

THE NEW YORK TIMES
March 12, 2006
Sharp Debate Erupts in China Over Socialism and Capitalism
By JOSEPH KAHN

COMPLETE TEXT OF NYT ARTICLE
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/message/47388


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