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

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

Walter wrote:
> 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.

What is difficult to understand? A wing of the Chinese CP is worried about
peasant unrest so it wants to divert some spending into the countryside. In
making such a proposal, they invoke the memoir of Mao and pay lip-service
to Marxism. But an objective study of the Chinese economy would reveal that
this is tantamount to closing the barn door after the horse has escaped.

> It's been somewhat fashionable in the capitalist world to argue
> that China has become capitalist.

??? Investors have been making billions in China as they take advantage of
superexploited labor and a ban on trade unions. This is what drives that
perception, not fashion.

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

You bring this on yourself by your nonstop "intervention" on behalf of a
kind of Marxism that would have embarrassed Gus Hall at his worst. It
involves a series of litmus tests on Lula, the Chinese CP, the ANC, Evo
Morales, the Chilean SP, etc. You position yourself as the emissary of an
inexorable tidal forces that only a Trotskyite wrecker and splitter would
stand in the way of. I couldn't stand this guff in the 1960s and I can't
stand it now.

> 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

Great, Fidel is for it. That cinches it. Some friends of mine from NYC who
had relocated to Hollywood advised me that if I wanted to join them out
there, I should feel free to leave my brain behind.





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