Well, first off, I think the word "objective" here is either jargon or just a joke, and is in general a concept to be a bit wary of. Doug may or may not know less about things PRC than you, but you still havent gotten the point in re "options". There is no either/or situation here, total repression or total chaos. Ive tried to post some reasons why this is so; suffice it to say, in another futile waste of time, that to assume things would fall apart overnight, b/c it is so hated, is to reproduce media-think (the "legitimacy" -- loosely defined-- of the regime and of the CP is not in that bad a shape, i.e., for those benefitting from the reforms especially but not solely). By not seeing any grey here, you end up giving way too much credit to the CCP for its alleged "achievements, " just as you point to its brutal repressions as sadly necessary (or "objective necessity"?!) to preserve the revolution and/or to prevent chaos. No one, anywhere, is talking about revolution or overthrow, with perhaps the exception of Wei Jingsheng, and very few ppl see or desire imminent collapse. Therefore I dont know why I, of all ppl, need to identify an organized social force to over throw the CP and stave off Great Game Imperialism. The various crackdowns, incl of the fledgling CDP (demo party) and of labor activists, as well as of Uighars, and for that matter falun gong, etc., the prison labor system, etc are not needed to maintain its rule. (Never mind the economic pogroms on SOEs, the utter commodification of VTEs, the production of landless laborers, etc). It could be a much kinder, gentler CP. Therefore, we ought to be talking about something else, and you are in the wrong problematic.
Youve no idea how closely your logic mirrors that of the CCP and the bad nationalism it relies on (I say "bad" b/c clearly some of it is "good"). This isnt guilt by assoc, its more like ignorance of the law is no excuse. In short, you've referred to "socialist opponents," an undifferentiated "Chinese mass" (please beware this kind of diction, as there are no Chinese masses), the "blessing of smart & nationalist technocrats" (name one?), an "obvious" homology with both Russia and Yugoslavia (not Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, Indonesia in a word anything regional?), un-named "neighbor's problems," an "obvious" comparative advantange over India and South Africa (a/c to who?, for whom?), and, again, "Chinese masses including women" whom are "relatively well fed and literate" (which must be news to the enormous, deracinated, homeless, and jobless populations-- c.f. Michael Dutton on this for one). And yet *none* of this is obvious, and *none* of it reflects any kind of study, and on *any* objective account, the rosy picture doesnt wash.
Dan
------------------------------------------------------ Daniel F. Vukovich Dept. of English; The Unit for Criticism University of Illinois Urbana, IL 61801 ------------------------------------------------------