Chinese capitalism and exploitation
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Useful article on the situation facing workers in China:
“Incomes and living standards have risen dramatically since the 1980s, and the country achieved an impressive record of poverty reduction, all of which should be recognized and applauded. But the fact remains that Chinese workers have lagged far behind the owners of capital and the government when it comes to income gains. It may not be the abject labor extraction envisioned by Deng, but it is labor extraction nonetheless.
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/china/how-china-forgot-karl-marx
I like the title of the book writen by the author of this article: ‘Statism with Chinese Characteristics’.
Similar to the Cuban and Chilean road to socialism, or socialism with a nationalist/patriotic character
A further article from the Foreign Affairs website
https://tinyurl.com/ChinaDemographics
It’s 4500 words long but contains some useful info – here are what I think are key points for us:
How much any of the following is due to the fuckup of the one child policy, the author doesn’t say but, against the background of an ageing population:
Pensions: starting in 2025, pension age to rise over next 15 years (so the huge increases in productivity won’t reduce the length of the sentences handed down to the wage-slaves – as socialists know capital is ever hungry for living labour). Startling claim by author: urban pensions are 18 times higher than rural and (internal) migrant pensions.Not enough babbies
The state is encouraging women to be better wives and “In 2021, it launched a new slate of pro-natalist initiatives including baby bonuses and parental leave policies while restricting access to divorce, abortion, and vasectomies.”State creating a cleft stick for itself?
Promotion of nationalism has provoked anti-immigrant ideas – against a backdrop of 18.9% youth unemployment, a 2025 plan to give visas to skilled foreign workers led to uproar on social media – author says no such visas have been issued. For now the state may have have closed off immigration as a solution to labour shortages.Miscellaneous
1 Employees of cash-strapped local govt are facing delays in being paid (unfortunately, the China Labour Bulletin no longer exists to report on such matters)
2 83 million rural and migrant residents have dropped out of enrolled in the state health-care programme because they can no longer afford the insurance premiums.I hope this has been useful!
Richard Wolf published a video where he is indicating that the solution to the problem is the large emigration of young workers, but the nationalists do not see that solution, young workers will contribute to the state coffers through their employers, and they are not going to collect retirement for a long period of time. The Chinese working class is getting old, like the American, Japanese and European working class. Mexican workers have very large families, and most of them are young
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