Re: [OPE] winning the battle of democracy

I'm not sure whether the following was meant ironically
"Sure, that's why "communist" regimes like China, where no capitalism or
class exploitation exist, make it a habit to take away people's rights and
freedoms, all in the name of the proletariat. But what do the millions of
Chinese workers want bourgeois rights and freedoms for, if they already have
paradise? And if they insist on organizing mass protests for political
freedom, which, as we all know, only means 100% capitalism and 100%
exploitation - well, it's for their own good that they get massacred on the
spot."
BUT, if the characterisation of china in the first sentence was intentional,
then it is a serious misrepresentation of the facts. china is not communist
in any way, except the name of its ruling party; and that's only historical
accident. of course there is capitalism in china, though we may debate
exactly what kind of capitalism it is. of course there is exploitation -
and at an extremely high level.
some of the vestiges of the previous regime remain: there is a high degree
of state ownership of industry, a lot of investment is directed by agencies
of the state and land is still owned by the state. but markets flourish;
firms invest to make profits; people are being dispossessed of their assets,
apart from their labour power.
michael

On 17 March 2011 23:28, GERALD LEVY <gerald_a_levy@msn.com> wrote:

>
> Hi Duccio:
>
> The reason I found the phrase 'winning the battle of democracy'
> to be ironic last week was because I thought that the events in
> Wisconsin were an indication that workers in the US were LOSING
> the battle of democracy.
>
> In solidarity, Jerry
> _______________________________________________
> ope mailing list
> ope@lists.csuchico.edu
> https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/ope
>

-- 
Michael Webber
Professorial Fellow
Department of Resource Management and Geography
The University of Melbourne
Mail address: 221 Bouverie Street, Carlton, VIC 3010
Phone: 0402 421 283
Email: mjwebber@unimelb.edu.au

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Received on Thu Mar 17 22:13:01 2011