|
|
Class and class struggle in China today
Gilbert, Simon
http://isj.org.uk/class-and-class-struggle-in-china-today/Date Written: 2017-06-29 Publisher: International Socialism Year Published: 2017 Resource Type: Article Cx Number: CX21140 An examination of the transformed economy in China and the consequent changes in class relations, and how the Communist Party has managed to maintain its rule. Abstract: -- Excerpt: The enormous social and economic changes in the decades since Mao's death have produced equally dramatic shifts in the country's class structure. A wealthy business class has emerged from nothing and merged with the upper echelons of state officialdom adding a private capitalist dimension to the old state capitalist ruling class. Millions of former state workers have lost their jobs in the old industrial centres, while millions more have migrated from the countryside to form a new, and combative, working class in the sweatshops concentrated in the south-east. The size of the new middle class is often debated, nevertheless it is substantial on any measure. Subject Headings |