So I've been putting off writing this for a long time and it'll probably need to be a series, but I've had a difficult time answering challenges from my friends who assert that China is either a Dictatorship of the Bourgeoisie or of the Bureaucracy (i.e. state capitalists), and that it's a competing imperialist power along with America (and they also say Russia but I can answer that one being stupid on my own).

The problem with China Discourse is that there is a serious paucity of sources dealing with nuanced critiques rather than just "debt trap!" bullshit or whatever, since the objections of liberals and the objections of smarter ultras are very different. At the very least, the sources dealing with this Discourse are less accessible to me.

But now I'm extremely bored and also recently saw Comrade Queermmunist's excellent rebuttal against the claim of China doing imperialism in the DRC, which gave me some hope that Hexbear would be able to answer some of these claims with something at least plausible.

The main objects of concern are the for-profit national businesses causing bureacratic class antagonism, foreign policy in the form of UN peacekeeping contributions, and straightforward imperialism at the base of its supply chain, along with miscellany like this:

https://newworker.us/international/chinas-stock-market-a-lesson-on-what-socialism-is-not/

I don't know, it's all a mess and putting off ideological work causes problems. If nothing else, let this be a practical lesson to you:

To let things slide for the sake of peace and friendship when a person has clearly gone wrong, and refrain from principled argument because he is an old acquaintance, a fellow townsman, a schoolmate, a close friend, a loved one, an old colleague or old subordinate. Or to touch on the matter lightly instead of going into it thoroughly, so as to keep on good terms. The result is that both the organization and the individual are harmed. This is one type of liberalism.

It catches up with you and makes things worse in the end.

  • Dolores [love/loves]
    ·
    8 months ago

    i think there's a few conceptions of state capitalism that have a logic to them:

    a) a 'complete' monopoly capitalism where state & corporate authority are the same--not usually the accusation levelled at China but i think ultraleft rubes would say it about the USSR

    b) the state organizes & serves the capitalist order, this is actually called "liberal democracy" but westerners can't even accuse asians of being liberals without trying to make it a racially peculiar thing

    not that most of "state capitalism" critiques are actually proposing a consistent analysis like these tho, most times its literally just the existence of wages and institutions with passing resemblances to joint stock companies