Worker's Control in Chinese Revolution?

[Labor Shall Rule]

Did it exist? Is there any sources that dive deep into the subject of rural and industrial cooperatives during the course of the Chinese Revolution (1949-1976)?

[Xiao Banfa]

Nah, that would have been "ultra leftist".
The Shanghai commune was dismantled as far as I know.

Since every faction in the cultural revolution worshipped Mao I don't think there was really much of intellectual climate for workers control.

Not by any fault of the heroic chinese workers, more due to Mao's mesmeric police state.

[Joseph Ball]

Yes, there is. Try out this link which is the China Study Group on worker participation in management in the Cultural Revolution, following the model of the fameous Anshan Constitution.
http://www.chinastudygroup.org/index.php?a...=printer&id=113 (http://www.chinastudygroup.org/index.php?action=article&type=printer&id=113)
In this article Pao-yu Ching states 'Workers and cadres openly discussed and debated many other important issues relating to wages and benefits and labor processes in factories, such as material incentives, cadres' participation in production work, workers' participation in management, and what constituted unreasonable rules and regulations. Through these debates, State enterprise workers grasped the meaning of “putting politics in command” and other principles in the Anshan Constitution.'

The link below touches on democracy in agricultural communes in the Cultural Revolution.
http://www.chinastudygroup.org/index.php?a...type=view&id=16 (http://www.chinastudygroup.org/index.php?action=front2&type=view&id=16)
The author of this article Han Dongping expands on this theme in his book 'The Unknown Cultural Revolution. Educational Reforms and Their Impact on China's Rural Development.' (published in 2000)

Mao saw what others describe as the issue of worker's control in terms of ending the division between manual and physical labour. It wasn't just a case of giving the workers decision making powers. They also had to take on knowledge that was usually the province of experts. Burchett and Alley have a lot to say about this in 'China: The Quality of Life.' 1976.

Mao's slogan of 'putting politics in command' of expert knowledge has been widely ridiculed but China's economy from the early 60s was much more dynamic and flexible than the Soviet economy under the leadership of revisionists who took a top down approach to economic management, fetishised the role of experts and preserved a strict division of labour.

[Janus]

Did it exist?
To a certain extent, yes. However, the Chinese state was dominated by the Party which supposedly worked in the interests of the working class.


Is there any sources that dive deep into the subject of rural and industrial cooperatives during the course of the Chinese Revolution (1949-1976)?
There really weren't any industrial communes in the cities as far as I know but there were plenty of rural communes.

[Brownfist]

The Shanghai commune was not dismantled because of workers' control but because of the factional fights between different Red Guard factions that was destabilizing the entire country. The fact is that the experiment of "bombarding the headquarters" had descended into left communism and ultra-leftism which was no longer serving as a rectification movement.

[Janus]

The Shanghai commune was not dismantled because of workers' control but because of the factional fights between different Red Guard factions that was destabilizing the entire country.
But the fundamental idea behind the Shanghai Commune was dropped because of Mao's belief that worker's self-governance would result in the end of the Party and the PRC government proper. This is the reasoning that he gave to Zhang Chunqiao.

[OneBrickOneVoice]

Is this thread a joke?

"Plant after Plant, Office after Office was taken over by its workers. Detachments of the People's Liberation Army, at the request of the Shanghai Worker's Revolutionary Rebel General Headquarters, took up posts along with worker's militia to guard key points -- power stations, waterworks, transport centers, telephone and radio stations -- in order to prevent sabotage. The workers had studied Marx's work on the Paris Commune. Noting his critiscism that the Communards had not seized the banks, they posted pickets at all banks to prevent a run on their funds it was a classical revolutionary take over of power... "

-- Jack Chen, Inside the Cultural Revolution (pp. 254-255)

[Leo]

See this thread if interested:

http://www.revleft.com/index.php?showtopic=58452

[Rawthentic]

Is this thread a joke?

No, it's actually quite a good question. Seeing how Mao was a despotic dictator at times, anyone would wonder if a "socialist" :D nation actually had any worker control.