Saturday, March 3, 2018

How Did Communist China Become a Capitalist Superpower? Interview with Steve Cohn





In his new book, "Competing Economic Paradigms in China," Steve Cohn examines how China's economic policy went from Maoist "iron rice bowl" to neoliberal economics.

In our 2008 Article on Social Character of China we exposed the Dengist big lie of "crossing the river by touching the stones” – mentioned in this interview.

Let us follow our Chinese Comrade Pao-yu Ching to understand the class basis of the current leadership of the Communist Party of China today.

  If we trace the origins of the Deng Xiaoping Reforms after Mao’s death. The reform formally began after the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in December of 1978.

  When Hart-Landsberg and Burkett explain how Deng began the Reform and how the capitalist restoration has continued for the past thirty years, they searched for reasons beyond personal greed and explained that the capitalist restoration, once started, generated “structural contradictions” that have kept it going.

  We, of course, have to look for reasons other than personal greed to explain the political, economic, and social development in China or in any other countries; however, Hart-Landsberg and Burkett seemed to imply that the Reformers did not have a clear idea about their Reform programs and that they indeed have been “crossing the river by touching the stones” a famous saying of Deng Xiaoping and – and once the Reform got started it seemed to generate enough contradictions to keep it going.

  However, if we look into the history of class struggle in China, we would reach a very different conclusion. Deng’s Reform programs – the dismantling of the Commune, the privatizing of state-owned enterprises, the Labor Reform, the opening up of the economy to foreign investment, and many others–all have their origins long before 1979. Deng and his predecessor and mentor, Liu Shaoqi, tried repeatedly to institute these programs since the 1950’s.

Therefore, contrary to what Deng openly said, the Reform that began in 1979 not only had a clear direction but also a well-planned road map.

SOURCE:


https://www.marxists.org/history/erol/uk.ebbingtide/csd-china.htm




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