In the midst of the trade war between the US and China, quite a few among the international Left feel happy about Beijing “standing up to Trump’s bullying”. While we are temporarily entertained by Trump’s failure, we must not forget that any Xi victory in his counter-offensive always requires the people to pay the price.
Historically, students have been at the forefront of resistance to Communist Party rule. During the 1989 uprising, they played a leading role in the Tiananmen Square demonstrations, which acted as the social detonator for a nationwide strike movement. But after the movement was defeated, university campuses became tightly monitored and increasingly repressive.
Having written extensively on protests in China, I can attest that protests in China are not at all uncommon – but that doesn’t make what is happening now any less significant.
China has long seen high-speed economic growth tied to property investment. That model is now failing.
Xi’s crackdown on the billionaires and his call for reduced inequality is yet another zig in the zig-zag policy direction of the Chinese bureaucratic elite…
In what was originally a public presentation at a Socialism conference, Lance Selfa looks at origins of Maoism and its international impact.
