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?

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

    "in part because of the political leanings of some union leaders. In fact, on the very day of the 4 August 1983 revolution, the CNR was repudiated by a congress of the main primary school teachers’ union, which had backed a previous military regime. In March 1984 security forces arrested several of the union’s leaders, prompting a three-day strike that was observed by many teachers around the country."

    Sounds more like these fancy lad union bosses were getting kickbacks & special treatment from the previous Junta regime

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

        I think in this case it was more about these trade unionists being unnecessarily resistant to the real social & institutional changes that were required for Burkinabe to lift themselves up

        When meritocracy is threatened, it's usually the pampered & out-of-touch eggheads & powerful hierarchical social arrangements of the past that react in these ways