Looking for a revolution: new classes and new consciousness in China
Few days ago I had a discussion here in Beijing with a group of foreign sinologists and journalists about class and class consciousness in nowadays China.
I was arguing that following the huge economic and social changes among Chinese society new "class consciousness" is coming out. "Class consciousness" not in the most classical and theoretical meaning, but referring to a common feeling of exploitation and injustice suffered by different "groups" in nowadays China.
For example, migrant workers in a big city who have not been paid for months, peasants in a small village who have seen their land stolen by corrupted officers, citizens of some outskirt who have seen their houses demolished and so on… all these kind of social injustice is leading to the creation of new "classes" and, with that, new class consciousness.
The point is that those classes are not very linked between them (I mean, all over the whole country) so all the struggles and riots who come out from them are just local and small scale. Francesco Sisci, a well-known Italia journalist and sinologist, argued in an article published on Asia Times that, talking about class struggle and future of society, this is the main difference between, for instance, China and India. In China the Communist Party ruled the country since 1949 and the main trade union is linked and controlled by the CCP. This does not happen in India, where the working class, the lowest strata of the society and the exploited are pretty well organized by parties, unions and other kinds of grassroots organizations on a national scale.
posted by Massaccesi Daniele @ 12:05 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
(part 1)
Hello Daniele (and all the others)!
1. The analysis of Francesco Sisci seems grounded on some orthodox leftist position (I do not know him, so put me right if I am wrong). The majority of today's working class in India is not organized at all. Moreover, unions and leftist parties in India are mostly corrupt; some are heavily involved in official politics and the state. Unions in big factories represend only the workers with permanent contracts (in many factories they constitute only one third or less of all workers). The majority of workers have no long-term contracts, can be kicked out at once, and have to fight against the discrimination by the unions as well as against the bosses. (Of course, there is much more to this, but just as a short response...)
2. In China the CP and the ACFTU (the CP union) are obviously not representing the workers, neither the old working class (state workers who have been experiencing layoffs, cutbacks, restructuring...) nor the new working class of rural migrants.
Neither the numbers of people "living under the proletarian condition" (that is, having no means of production and having to sell their labor power), nor the number of ACFTU members, nor the mere number and descriptions of strikes and other actions tell us a lot about what "class" in China really is nowadays.
We will not understand, what "class" is, if we stay with the orthodox understanding of "class in itself" and "class for itself", that is the idea, that the working class just needs to develop "class consciousness". Nowhere and never have workers had a "class consciousness" as envisioned by Lenin and his later friends (or by @-syndicalists).
If we want to understand what "class" in China is (and equally important: what workers think of themselves, how they see their own acting, and how we can understand their acting) we need to look at their concrete lives and struggles. "Class" then becomes a process, a set of experiences, that can differ depending on time and space.
I do not think it is enough to conclude, that the struggles in China are local and isolated. It is important to understand, what motives the workers have for their struggle... and why they keep it local. Many Chinese workers are aware of their situation "as workers", their opposition to the "boss", and the need "to struggle" (or 闹, as they often phrase it). And (since "workers" are not just workers) many Chinese women workers are also aware of their specific situation and exploitation as women laborers in their families as well as the factories or other work places. Nevertheless, they limit the scope of their acting or struggles, because they have to fear repression (by the boss, by the state...). The fear does not mean, workers do not fight. Their anger (some say, hatred) is big enough to dare to struggle against the boss... and sometimes even the police... But there are some invisible but very real limits (and rules) to their struggles. If they cross these boundaries, they face the destruction of their lives.
(part 2)
What is striking, however, there is no language of class. That is mainly, because the language of class was absurdly distorted by Maoism and the CP, and, so far, it seems that all attempts to reconquer it or develop a new language of class have not been successful.
Nevertheless, I would be careful with early conclusions on the state of class struggle(s) in China. Right now no other region of the world sees as many strikes and other labor actions... and we are talking about the "factory of the world"... which is also the "construction site of the world" and the "household of the world" (if we consider the number of construction workers as well as domestic helpers). We will see what effects the workers' struggles will have.
Whether a formation (or reconstitution) of class in China through the struggles will lead to a working class movement with a revolutionary agenda and a situation where capitalism (in all its forms) might fall and make room for a just society based on the free association of all is open.
I venture to guess, that Maoists and orthodox Marxists will rather stand in the way of such a process...
(Sorry, Daniele, I did not comment on all your points. I just want to stress, that the debate on class in China is so complex, because people involved have different understandings of what "class" is, and equally important, what class "should do".)
Jm2c
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