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?

  • captcha [any]
    1·
    4 years ago

    This article is implying Chinese economists are politically dumber than an American economists which was currently the lowest bar. Someone please follow up on its sources just to confirm its not some wild disinfo.

    • gammison [none/use name]
      3·
      4 years ago

      It's not that they're dumb, it's that the political speech the state endorses must be Marxist, so anything these economists say, even if it is neoliberal, ends up getting couched in Marxist language as newspeak.

      • anthm17 [he/him]
        1·
        4 years ago

        They are no dumber than Americans.

        Pushing neoliberalism is dumb.

        • gammison [none/use name]
          2·
          4 years ago

          It is dumb, just saying that these economists are not just misinterpreting Marx somehow. They are are purposefully using Marxist language because it's essentially a newspeak inside the party, almost anything is fine to say as long as you can say it with Marxist words.

    • gyzosnebi321 [none/use name]
      4·
      4 years ago

      It's by a Marxist academic. He published it in Monthly Review, which is a well known socialist magazine. https://monthlyreview.org/2007/09/01/the-state-of-official-marxism-in-china-today/