Among other topics, it covers the following:
* How foreign direct investment (FDI) has allowed non-Chinese enterprises to purchase and run formerly state owned enterprises (SOEs)
* The profoundly negative impact the absorption of SOEs into the world capitalist system has had upon the situation of most Chinese workers
* The near collapse of the safety net system as China’s market reforms have rolled along
* The instabilities created by China becoming an exporter whose product and service offerings overlap with other Asian economies that are also export-dependent
* The way progressives have misinterpreted this as a success story and an example of “market socialism”.
The last point is the most intriguing to me at the moment (though the implications of the structural analysis is a very close second). Specifically, I’ve noted – in myself and others – a tendency to view each data point indicating greater capitalist penetration into one developing market after another (headlines for example, like *Intel Builds Plant In Shanghai* or *Microsoft Opens Software Dev Center in Bangalore*) as net gains for the populace of each country.
After all, why shouldn't’ workers in China, India, the Philippines and so on enjoy the modernization effects and material benefits (tenuous though they may be) capitalism offers? The questions I’ve never stopped to ask (and I feel quite stupid for missing this basic bit of analysis) are a.) How widely dispersed are these benefits? and b.) What structural adjustments in favor of capital that erode workers’ position are being made to welcome this FDI?
How should progressives of all types – but folks with socialist and communist aspirations in particular – interpret these events, which are often applauded as signs of progress?
MR site - http://www.monthlyreview.org/0704intro.htm
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