DavidX
9th December 2010, 08:12
A Window into Post-Communist Countries
& Essays by Kirill Medvedev
CHINA and RUSSIA
Kirill Medvedev is an important figure in the leftist scene in Russia today. I came across Kirill Medvedev while working on a project to problematize the chinese version of neo-liberalism and the weird brand of individualism in chinese culture today.
Basically, during after Mao in china, there is a trend towards the neo-liberal economics of the united states- not only is this a current within intellectual elites in economics, but all over the academy in the humanities and in public and popular culture. Some background:
The Tienman Square is an endemic example which can be problematized by an extensive leftist analysis. Not that the popular student was totally wrong in it's attempt to reform the chinese communist party, but that their misguided efforts and capitulations only aided what became the state-capitalist model today. The students ignored both the overwhelming workers's support in favor of their own narrow idealistic conception of “democracy” and “western values” but ended up closing the space for those intellectuals and students who wanted to genuinely question the CCP and create (maoist) reforms that would better reflect the agricultural laborer and the proletariat's idea of socialism. The democratic movement had potential, the solidarity of the working class, but effectively working class politics did not play enough into the interests of the democratic protesters enough for them to join forces.
The State-Capitalist style economic system of china today bears no benefits for the working class today, with figures constantly reported that show the obscenity of the current situation in terms of wealth disparity, working conditions, enviroment degredation. Etc. It is unclear what consequences the rise of china's middle class (and it's lifestyle will have for global resource consuption, and financial systems. A detailed analysis by Minqi Li, a professor of economics at the University of Utah, investigates the ecological and other limits of growth in the capitalist world system and the extreme pressure upon it that comes from china's growth. (1)
The Neo-Liberal ideology of urban middle-class dominates the media today, but is totally removed from any realistic idea of what the rest of China looks like today. With the current intellectual climate, there is no possibility for real opposition, real discussion, and real political life in China. The cynicism and materialism of the stratum of middle class youth today with the greatest amount of social power, combined with the old bureaucratic class demand that the state ignore the plight of hundreds of millions of workers and agricultural workers who are trying to organize and remain complacent in it's servitude to corporations, maintaining the impossibility of real politics.
A very similar situation is happening in Russia, a situation that's described in the following essays by poet and essayist Kirill Medvedev. Here is an excerpt
“At this point the liberal intelligentsia split psychologically and socially in two: one half became directly engaged in servicing the structures of capital—banks, publishing houses, corporations, and so on—while the other decided that regardless of all the hardships—the impossibility of working in one’s field, the cultural degradation, the vulgarity and pettiness of the new overlords—it would be wrong to grumble, to express discontent, to make demands. It was futile and unattractive to go against the time. And then, early in this decade, came the rise of the national-patriotic “red-browns,” who would be “even worse” than the current rulers, just as the Communists would have been “worse” than Yeltsin. As a result, the two halves of the intelligentsia formed an ideal consensus. At that moment, any possibility for real opposition, real discussion, and real political life in Russia disappeared.
We’ve now reached another turning point, because the red-brown scare is finally fading into the past. And a task that was wholly bungled at the beginning of the nineties is once again taking center stage: the creation of a real left-wing movement, based on workers’ autonomy, on independent labor unions, on the cooperation of grassroots movements and organizations.
I am unable to post links.... so if someone is able (w/ +25 posts) to post them for me next that would be much appreciated
(1) Google kirill medvedev dissent (first link)
Talks about being an artist/activist in russia and the current intellectual climate.
(2) Google "paper monument gessen medvedev"
A piece discussing the situation of various artists in Russia -Keith Gessen
(3) Google "On Propaganda and Art Kirill Medvedev"
I highly recommend the works of Minqi Li, an extremely serious project that offers an analysis that needs much more attention and work today. His work “The Rise of China and the Demise of the Capitalist World Economy” is something that i'd want anyone to read who wants to understand the political system of china today or to reevaluate the legacy of Mao in China. (If you pm me with an email I send you a pdf scan I made)
I share these essays in hope that we can foster a discussion upon them and explore other texts related to these issues.
Cheers,
& Essays by Kirill Medvedev
CHINA and RUSSIA
Kirill Medvedev is an important figure in the leftist scene in Russia today. I came across Kirill Medvedev while working on a project to problematize the chinese version of neo-liberalism and the weird brand of individualism in chinese culture today.
Basically, during after Mao in china, there is a trend towards the neo-liberal economics of the united states- not only is this a current within intellectual elites in economics, but all over the academy in the humanities and in public and popular culture. Some background:
The Tienman Square is an endemic example which can be problematized by an extensive leftist analysis. Not that the popular student was totally wrong in it's attempt to reform the chinese communist party, but that their misguided efforts and capitulations only aided what became the state-capitalist model today. The students ignored both the overwhelming workers's support in favor of their own narrow idealistic conception of “democracy” and “western values” but ended up closing the space for those intellectuals and students who wanted to genuinely question the CCP and create (maoist) reforms that would better reflect the agricultural laborer and the proletariat's idea of socialism. The democratic movement had potential, the solidarity of the working class, but effectively working class politics did not play enough into the interests of the democratic protesters enough for them to join forces.
The State-Capitalist style economic system of china today bears no benefits for the working class today, with figures constantly reported that show the obscenity of the current situation in terms of wealth disparity, working conditions, enviroment degredation. Etc. It is unclear what consequences the rise of china's middle class (and it's lifestyle will have for global resource consuption, and financial systems. A detailed analysis by Minqi Li, a professor of economics at the University of Utah, investigates the ecological and other limits of growth in the capitalist world system and the extreme pressure upon it that comes from china's growth. (1)
The Neo-Liberal ideology of urban middle-class dominates the media today, but is totally removed from any realistic idea of what the rest of China looks like today. With the current intellectual climate, there is no possibility for real opposition, real discussion, and real political life in China. The cynicism and materialism of the stratum of middle class youth today with the greatest amount of social power, combined with the old bureaucratic class demand that the state ignore the plight of hundreds of millions of workers and agricultural workers who are trying to organize and remain complacent in it's servitude to corporations, maintaining the impossibility of real politics.
A very similar situation is happening in Russia, a situation that's described in the following essays by poet and essayist Kirill Medvedev. Here is an excerpt
“At this point the liberal intelligentsia split psychologically and socially in two: one half became directly engaged in servicing the structures of capital—banks, publishing houses, corporations, and so on—while the other decided that regardless of all the hardships—the impossibility of working in one’s field, the cultural degradation, the vulgarity and pettiness of the new overlords—it would be wrong to grumble, to express discontent, to make demands. It was futile and unattractive to go against the time. And then, early in this decade, came the rise of the national-patriotic “red-browns,” who would be “even worse” than the current rulers, just as the Communists would have been “worse” than Yeltsin. As a result, the two halves of the intelligentsia formed an ideal consensus. At that moment, any possibility for real opposition, real discussion, and real political life in Russia disappeared.
We’ve now reached another turning point, because the red-brown scare is finally fading into the past. And a task that was wholly bungled at the beginning of the nineties is once again taking center stage: the creation of a real left-wing movement, based on workers’ autonomy, on independent labor unions, on the cooperation of grassroots movements and organizations.
I am unable to post links.... so if someone is able (w/ +25 posts) to post them for me next that would be much appreciated
(1) Google kirill medvedev dissent (first link)
Talks about being an artist/activist in russia and the current intellectual climate.
(2) Google "paper monument gessen medvedev"
A piece discussing the situation of various artists in Russia -Keith Gessen
(3) Google "On Propaganda and Art Kirill Medvedev"
I highly recommend the works of Minqi Li, an extremely serious project that offers an analysis that needs much more attention and work today. His work “The Rise of China and the Demise of the Capitalist World Economy” is something that i'd want anyone to read who wants to understand the political system of china today or to reevaluate the legacy of Mao in China. (If you pm me with an email I send you a pdf scan I made)
I share these essays in hope that we can foster a discussion upon them and explore other texts related to these issues.
Cheers,