The Real News: The Chinese Communist Party

[bootleg42]

Good watch:

http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=33&Itemid=74&jumival=188 (http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=2090)

A left look of the party, China, and the new Left there. Various videos. Thoughts?????

[BobKKKindle$]

Although capitalism has been restored in China, it is important not to overstate the extent of market liberalization, as the government still retains ownership of strategic industries (for example, the technology sector) which have served as the driving force behind the high rates of economic growth which China has exhibited in the past decade. In 2001, state-owned and partly state-owned enterprises (shareholding corporations) accounted for 57 percent of the gross value of China’s industrial output (Source: China Statistical Yearbook 2002). Any individual foreign investor is only able to own a maximum of ten percent in a domestic firm (and foreign investors as a group can only account for up to twenty percent of ownership) which has ensured that, of the 1,240 companies listed on China’s two main stock exchanges, in many cases the government holds a majority of shares, in others a substantial minority. Even in cases where private control is dominant, although shareholders have the right to derive income from their assets and can even sell shares to other investors with the intention of gaining a net return (by selling shares at a higher price than the original purchase price) shareholder rights do not extend to regulating the behaviour of managers and company directors, which has allowed the government to maintain influence, given that many company executives also hold positions within the state apparatus. In addition, the government also controls the financial sector which has allowed for the value of China's currency to remain stable despite the threat of speculative attacks and major periods of instability, most notably the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997, which caused widespread economic collapse in other states where the government did not implement similar regulations.

This shows that China is more complex than is commonly supposed, and it is not accurate to describe the restoration of capitalism as absolute.

[RedHal]

I've already seen these and looking forward to the next one. I discovered The Real News through this series and I like what I see. I know there's atleast one marxist in the editorial board

[Winter]

That was very informative. It seems that organization amongst China's working class is not too far off in the future.

[bootleg42]

I love the Real News and suggest it to all.

And I was shocked for the guy to say that the 1989 protests were pro neo-liberal. I thought it was just a protest against the dictatorship that was already existing but getting only more powerful. Also correct me if I'm mistaken but didnt they sing the international at those protests????

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

He said the leadership of the 1989 protests were pro-capitalist, which is absolutely true.

One of the main leaders, Chai Ling, later admitted to having wanted to provoke the government into causing a "bloodbath" in order to spark a counterrevolutionary uprising across the country.

[RedHal]

I love the Real News and suggest it to all.

And I was shocked for the guy to say that the 1989 protests were pro neo-liberal. I thought it was just a protest against the dictatorship that was already existing but getting only more powerful. Also correct me if I'm mistaken but didnt they sing the international at those protests????

Remember before the Tiannenmin crackdown the western imperialists were "friendly" towards China, this had a impact on students and academia, they looked towards western "democracies", so I believe what Minqi is saying is correct. As the protest movement grew, that's where you saw workers, peasants and left radicals join.