Xi Jinping assumes General Secretary position of CPC

[Bardo]

BEIJING – China's magnificent seven, the fifth and latest generation of Communist Party leaders to helm the world's most populous nation, strode into the limelight Thursday morning to end a week of public ceremony in Beijing – and many months of backroom bargaining.

The leader of the gang is Xi Jinping, 59, who has a celebrity singer wife and a daughter studying at Harvard. He took over from Hu Jintao as general secretary of the 82-million-strong Chinese Communist Party.

This once-a-decade leadership transition, picking a new party chief and the other members of the party's Politburo standing committee, the apex of power in China, represents only the second orderly succession in the People's Republic of China's often-troubled history.

There was no surprise in Xi's appointment, as he had long been picked to succeed Hu as party chief and president; nor in the appearance of Li Keqiang, 57, likely to succeed Wen Jiabao as premier when the less-important transition of government leaders takes place in March. Less expected was Xi's promotion, also announced Thursday, to head of the party's military commission, overseeing the People's Liberation Army. Hu Jintao could have held on to that post for two years, as his predecessor had.

Both Xi and Li, who already sit on the standing committee, are considered capable administrators but only cautious reformers at best. After months of speculation, the political drama Thursday focused on the identity, likely portfolios and reformist credentials of the other five men in the seven-member lineup, a reduction of two from Hu's nine-strong standing committee.

more (http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2012/11/14/xi-jinping-china-politics/1705967/)

[Flying Purple People Eater]

Hahahahahahahahah.

I wonder how Mao would react to the monster he created.

[Robespierres Neck]

Hahahahahahahahah.

I wonder how Mao would react to the monster he created.

He'd be rolling in his grave.

[Don't Swallow The Cap]

It was truly bizarre to watch them pay lip service to Mao and Socialism whilst understanding their actual intentions. I still wonder why they don't cut the shit and drop all that nonsense about "Socialism with Chinese characteristics"

[Rugged Collectivist]

It was truly bizarre to watch them pay lip service to Mao and Socialism whilst understanding their actual intentions. I still wonder why they don't cut the shit and drop all that nonsense about "Socialism with Chinese characteristics"

Would they honestly lose any popularity if they did? I was under the impression that most Chinese people are well aware that the party is communist in name only.

I guess the saying "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" applies here.

[Questionable]

So what's this guy's actual politics? Is he really bringing anything new to the table or is it just more of the state-capitalism we've been seeing?

[Don't Swallow The Cap]

So what's this guy's actual politics? Is he really bringing anything new to the table or is it just more of the state-capitalism we've been seeing?

"Xi's leadership experience [after Zhengding] in running Fujian, Zhejiang, and Shanghai, three economically-advanced regions, has prepared him well for pursuing policies to promote the development of the private sector, foreign investment and trade, and the liberalization of China's financial system,"

He also seems to have some pretty cozy ties with the military.

[Let's Get Free]

Hahahahahahahahah.

I wonder how Mao would react to the monster he created.

The nature of Stalinist state capitalism inevitably leads to a return of the bourgeoisie, whether Mao liked it or not.

[hetz]

The nature of Stalinist state capitalism inevitably leads to a return of the bourgeoisie, whether Mao liked it or not. That's even more true for "Leninist state-capitalism", something Lenin himself was perfectly aware of.
In socialism, Soviet theorists agreed, you have certain tendencies towards the restoration of bourgeois power. The main issue is fighting these.

[Yuppie Grinder]

That's even more true for "Leninist state-capitalism", something Lenin himself was perfectly aware of.

what are you on about

[hetz]

Now mind the fact that I don't agree with Gladiator about "the inevitable", I'm talking about these previously-mentioned tendencies.


It is, I think, almost universally realised at present that the Bolsheviks could not have retained power for two and a half months, let alone two and a half years, without the most rigorous and truly iron discipline in our Party, or without the fullest and unreserved support from the entire mass of the working class, that is, from all thinking, honest, devoted and influential elements in it, capable of leading the backward strata or carrying the latter along with them.


The dictatorship of the proletariat means a most determined and most ruthless war waged by the new class against a more powerful enemy, the bourgeoisie, whose resistance is increased tenfold by their overthrow (even if only in a single country), and whose power lies, not only in the strength of international capital, the strength and durability of their international connections, but also in the force of habit, in the strength of small-scale production. Unfortunately, small-scale production is still widespread in the world, and small-scale production engenders capitalism and the bourgeoisie continuously, daily, hourly, spontaneously, and on a mass scale. All these reasons make the dictatorship of the proletariat necessary, and victory over the bourgeoisie is impossible without a long, stubborn and desperate life-and-death struggle which calls for tenacity, discipline, and a single and inflexible will.


I repeat: the experience of the victorious dictatorship of the proletariat in Russia has clearly shown even to those who are incapable of thinking or have had no occasion to give thought to the matter that absolute centralisation and rigorous discipline of the proletariat are an essential condition of victory over the bourgeoisie.
Lenin, 1920
http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1920/lwc/ch02.htm

[GoddessCleoLover]

How long can the CCP maintain the charade of Chinese "socialism"? The level of cynicism among the Chinese people is high and I doubt that the CCP will be able to maintain its position in the event of an economic crisis. The result is likely to be an open restoration of capitalism as occurred in the former Soviet Union. Sadly, China today is much closer to capitalist restoration than it is to the dictatorship of the proletariat.

[Bayhinga]

How long can the CCP maintain the charade of Chinese "socialism"?


I've no idea, however, due to the recent stories on China, a news company (can't remember the name) asked around to the people of china to ask what they thought of the leadership change. Naturally, as a bourgeois company, they approached an economist in China, and he was asked "What do you think of the leadership change?", he replied, "I don't mind so much who is in charge, but just so long as we remember our goal to achieve communism, because in communism, everyone is rich." (para.). I was cringing so hard at it.

[Crimson Commissar]

How long can the CCP maintain the charade of Chinese "socialism"? The level of cynicism among the Chinese people is high and I doubt that the CCP will be able to maintain its position in the event of an economic crisis. The result is likely to be an open restoration of capitalism as occurred in the former Soviet Union. Sadly, China today is much closer to capitalist restoration than it is to the dictatorship of the proletariat.

It's not even a charade anymore. The only people that still have the slightest suspicion that China might be even remotely Socialist are western nationalists that feel the need to launch a Cold War 2.0 against them, and a few various groups of fringe Marxist-Leninists who basically defend the CCP because the USA isn't too fond of them.

China, as a degenerated worker's state, would still have an opportunity to reform itself back to a Socialist path if the right people managed to get in power at the right time. I'd expect nothing short of a full-on NATO intervention if Chinese Communists managed to shut down foreign business and slave labour in their country though.

The other, and infinitely more likely option, is a revolution of course. But I don't have much hope to be honest. The PRC is very likely to be overthrown in the future, sure. But I can see it turning out much like the Arab spring. We'll just be trading out a pro-Capitalist anti-America authoritarian government for a pro-Capitalist pro-America neo-liberal government. And of course expect the media to portray it as a "noble democratic uprising of the Chinese people" when it's really just a front for global corporations to gain total and final control over East Asia.

[GoddessCleoLover]

The CCP plays and will continue to play Chinese nationalism as its trump card in its bid to continue in power. China had its "Arab spring" back in '89 and the CCP did not hesitate to use the PLA against the civilian population. I doubt that they would hesitate to do it again.

[Avanti]

main actor gets new mask.

the play goes on.

[Prometeo liberado]

My friend Zse Zchuan, who operates out of Hunan, let me in on a little known secret that Xi Jinping will be making a very important Red letter statement this morning setting clear all confusion and doubt about what he stands for. First off he'll set straight the truth about The Great Purges(a series of practical jokes gone awry), How he and Bob Avakian will unleash the power of the New Synthesis, and of course lending a calming voice to the confusion of the Spanish Civil War. Xi Jinping knows better than anyone how to quell the left and so it will be done.

Thanks for the heads up Zse, you're forever keeping it real in China, homeboy.

[Os Cangaceiros]

The CCP plays and will continue to play Chinese nationalism as its trump card in its bid to continue in power. China had its "Arab spring" back in '89 and the CCP did not hesitate to use the PLA against the civilian population. I doubt that they would hesitate to do it again.

Hmmm, while it is true that the CCP is terrified of losing political influence and will do anything to maintain it's hold on power, they're on shaky ground. For one China's workers are rebellious, perhaps the most rebellious in the world right now. They're definitely not a passive force. On the other hand the rot of corruption within the Chinese state is pretty bad. The "political criminal nexus" (PCN) is so deeply imbedded in China that I doubt anything can really root it out.

[GoddessCleoLover]

The CCP has shown itself willing to murder the Chinese people before and I fear they would not hesitate to do it again. I agree that the Chinese proletariat is active, at times indeed it is militant. I hope that they overthrow the CCP, but IMO that would be difficult unless the CCP lost its hold over the PLA.

[Prometeo liberado]

The CCP has shown itself willing to murder the Chinese people before and I fear they would not hesitate to do it again. I agree that the Chinese proletariat is active, at times indeed it is militant. I hope that they overthrow the CCP, but IMO that would be difficult unless the CCP lost its hold over the PLA.

Imagine that, a state power doing anything to stay in power. We fail in our analyisis when we are caught by surprise by that acts of this state power. This tells me that somewhere deep inside many on the left secretly pray that there is something in the way of Marxist thinking left in the CCP. That went out the window long, long ago people.

[Yazman]

How long can the CCP maintain the charade of Chinese "socialism"? The level of cynicism among the Chinese people is high and I doubt that the CCP will be able to maintain its position in the event of an economic crisis. The result is likely to be an open restoration of capitalism as occurred in the former Soviet Union. Sadly, China today is much closer to capitalist restoration than it is to the dictatorship of the proletariat.

There was an open restoration of capitalism in China years ago. Unlike the Soviet Union, however, the political system managed to remain intact during the restoration of capitalism in China. Corporations do whatever the hell they like with government sanctioning and virtually run the economy. Even the CCP openly supports capitalism.

China has two major stock exchanges for christ's sake! This alone is an indicator that capitalism has been openly restored. Just because their politics is clad in leftist-sounding rhetoric does not mean they are not openly pro-capitalist. Because they are, and have been advocating building a market economy for decades.