Oh God, oh shit, I said I wasn't going to do it. I said I wasn't going to start a China struggle session. Already getting flashbacks to the Discord.
But something just doesn't sit right with me and wanted to get some clarification here...
My question is this: why does China ban labor organizing/unions?
Is this yikes/intentional/actually a good thing?
(Yeah, I do know that labor unions are not always unequivocally good and sometimes they act more like middle management than as representatives of the workers... but democratizing the workplace seems like a no-brainer for any socialist project.)
Thoughts?
Yeah, but isn't "workers of the world unite" the whole point of being a Marxist? Decrying "independent" trade unions as foreign influence and prohibiting outright seems pretty disingenuous.
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Because if you're arbitrarily dividing labor among national borders and don't recognize that it's really an international class struggle, that's bad for solidarity. Divide and conquer for the bourgeoisie since capital knows no borders.
China certainly doesn't have any qualms about "foreign influence" from foreign corporations... but foreign labor organizations on the other hand? :thonk:
But maybe if the state trade union starts kicking ass, I'd feel differently. End goal is abolition of class, after all and labor unions are just a key tool of that goal.
R u off ur head?
Foreign corporations have previously had to enter into joint ventures with Chinese companies to even enter in. It leverages the ACFTU to unionise within those foreign corporations to retain control. There are laws that require party cells within corporations of a certain size.
commodities & most forms of production are carried out within nation states
https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/trade-union-fast-food-giants-violate-labor-law-china/
but it's the corporations, foreign & domestic, who are undermining the state of labor relations in China, and not necessarily the CPC
This brings up an interesting question: Can none Chinese workers join the State Union? If so, would they support worker action in other countries?
Almost certainly not at this juncture.
China ceased exporting socialism years ago. Maybe we’ll see it revive those roots later on, but right now its position internationally is peaceful co-development. The one saving grace is that it’s happy to assist countries otherwise frozen out by the USA.