*----------------------------------------------------------* | | | x x x x x x x xx xxx xxx xxx | | xx xx x xx xx xx x x x x x x Issue #31 | | x x x x x x x x xx x x x xx xxx | | x x x x x x x x x x x x 07/07/87 | | x x x x x x x xx x xxx xxx | | | |----------------------------------------------------------| | Newspaper of the Maoist Internationalist Movement | *----------------------------------------------------------* MIM Meets Korean Resistance ÒIn the past month, MIM interviewed people in South Korea on the political situation there. Of course, students have gained much press attention for fighting police in the streets of South Korean cities. What surprises Marxists is not that the students met repression and even death, but that the repression was so light. One student and one police officer have died in the street fighting. Another student may die from wounds. Indeed, the Chun regime has conceded direct presidential elections to the opposition. The election will be in 1988 before the Olympics. What happened? The external conditions were important. First, South Korea has several billion dollars invested in preparing for the 1988 Olympics. Yet that entire investment and the reputation of Korea would suffer if such street- fighting continued until the Olympics. Even the mere use of tear-gas would potentially spoil the sports environment in Seoul, the capital. Secondly, the U.S. Congress made noises to the effect that it would not tolerate a military solution this time around. Inside S. Korea, MIM found widespread student opinion that fighting police was an appropriate tactic: ÒWe donÕt want it, but it is necessary for us to show our opinion.Ó Even establishment opposition politician Kim Dae Jung had to admit that street-fighting was justified. There was also an anti- U.S. imperialist ferment: ÒWe donÕt want America to participate in our politics,Ó said one student. Most interesting of all, MIM established contact with the self-proclaimed Marxist-Leninist underground which has two organizations--the Constitutional Assembly and the Struggle Committee. The slogans of the groups are ÒDown with dictatorship!Ó and ÒOut with U.S. imperialism!Ó The goals are anti-bourgeois dictatorship and anti-U.S. imperialism. The groups do not claim to uphold Stalin or Mao, only Marx and Lenin. One member stated that Trotsky was considered incorrect, but the membership does study the works of Mao. North KoreaÕs so-called Marxist-Leninism (led by Kim Il Sung) is considered a Òdilemma.Ó According to this underground, there is no Maoist movement in Korea. The members of this group dismiss Mao as inappropriate for Korean conditions and argue that the theory of New Democracy is not a scientific one. Like the Eritrean PeopleÕs Liberation Front and the New PeopleÕs Army, this underground believes in focussing on questions internal to the country and does not take stands on many international questions. The underground activists did say that they believed the New PeopleÕs Army of the Philippines Òis right [as in correct].Ó According to these organizers, however, there is no landlord class in South Korea. They characterize the formation as Òdependent state monopoly capitalism.Ó What will be the effect of direct presidential elections and the move to free speech? ÒThe bourgeois dictatorship will be strengthened.Ó Getting life for stealing watermelon in the PeopleÕs Republic of China One peddler and an unemployed person received life sentences for stealing watermelon. Another six received 2 to 12 years in prison. A robbery costing farmers 14,000 yuan in watermelon (<$4,000) was the incident that led to the life sentences. Seven of the eight convicted supposedly had criminal records, but the China Daily did not elaborate. ÒThe sentences were passed in accordance with ChinaÕs criminal code and the decision of the Standing Committee of the NPC (legislature).Ó (China Daily, 4/13/87, p. 3) Unemployment and peddling, which is officially an occupation designed to alleviate unemployment among other problems, are both up in China as a result of the capitalist social revolution. ChinaÕs ruling class proves quite conscious that the lower classes have to be kept in line for capitalism to survive. Get rich scheme kills 40 Chinese 18 new deaths in a mine in May in Hunan Province brought the total of people killed there to 40. The previous 22 deaths caused provincial authorities to ask an end to the practice of letting farmers take material from the mine. Formerly state-run, the mine was shut down three years ago with iron bars. Local farmers blew up the iron gate and Òlocal officials failed to act, claiming the practice was a way to let local people get rich.Ó ÒOfficials in Furong Township where the accident happened even profited by charging people to enter the dangerous mine. Outsiders were asked to pay five yuan (3.7 yuan=$1) and local residents, 2.5 yuan.Ó (China Daily, 6/17/87, p. 3) China Daily goes onto report that private and small collective mining has cut back efficiency and caused the theft of precious minerals such as gold. 846 cases of gold smuggling and 173.5 kg of gold turned up. (Ibid; 6/15/87, p. 2) Private traders in disrepute 412 people suffered poisoning from salt bought from private traders in South China. (China Daily, Beijing, 6/18/87, p. 3) Of course, salt so traded is illegal. An illegal alcohol maker also killed 24 people in Guizhou. The state executed the trader. (China Daily, 6/15/87, p. 3) Unfortunately, law applied after the fact of death does not help the victims of profit-seeking practices that would not even exist under socialism. Bank concentration due U.S. Treasury officials and Federal Reserve Chair Alan Greenspan support the merger of several American banks. Currently, several regulations prevent this from happening. Ò30 years ago the United States had 15 of the worldÕs largest banks, but today only two, Citicorp and Bank America, rank in the worldÕs 25 biggest banks.Ó (China Daily, 6/8/87, p. 2) One treasury official said he believed larger U.S. banks were necessary to compete with foreign banks in large ventures. (Ibid.) Past issues of MIM Notes have noted the difficulties of U.S. banks, how their profit margins have been squeezed. It would be quite natural for a shakeout to reduce the competition in the field and increase profits. China: Competitive bidding and enterprise leasing next? According to Economic Information (in China), Òbidding in capital construction is a good form of competition.... Competition helps to promote talented people and encourages telling the truth. The worry that leasing enterprises to individuals smacks of capitalism is an outdated view.Ó (China Daily, 6/8/87) Struggle in India ÒIn the worst caste-related violence since India gained independence from Britain in 1947, Maoist peasants and untouchables slaughtered Raiput landlords, women and children in the villages about 130 km south of Patna, the impoverished state of Bihar, late last week.Ó (South China Morning Post, 6/3/87, p. 27) Deng takes a new tack Under Hua Guofeng, China said it would catch up with the current West by the year 2000. Lately, Deng has focussed on saying that China will only become a medium-industrial power @2050. He says that the superiority of socialism can not be proven till then. This view which is circulating now to combat a slight left wing eddy before the fallÕs party congress, dovetails nicely with the views of many young intellectuals in China: The reasoning goes like this: ÒThe U.S. and Japan are rich; the Soviet Union and China are poor. Therefore, capitalism is superior.Ó (Most Chinese youth seem to think China and Russia are equally poor.) MIM asks its readers, is it true that socialism does not demonstrate its superiority until after it out-produces the most advanced capitalist countries? Please write your answers. Indications of small trend toward left form of state capitalism in China College graduates will have to work in factories or farms before taking up government or education jobs according to the Chinese State Education Commission. (South China Morning Post, Hong Kong, 6/16/87, p. 1) This summer students will also supposedly take part in manual labor. The new policy has two purposes. One is to remind students that their privileged position is not guaranteed if they demonstrate against the state. Secondly, the announcement implied that studentsÕ views on democracy were out of touch with those of the common laborers. Workers not masters in China According to WorkersÕ Daily, ÒworkersÕ status as the ÔmastersÕ has not been safeguarded.Ó The contract responsibility system Òhas dampened their [workersÕ] initiative.Ó (China Daily, 6/17/87, p. 4) Again this is evidence of a left-wind blowing in China. ÒAgreement to spur profitsÓ ÒIndustrial enterprises in Beijing are being pushed to increase their profit earnings and raise funds to improve their out-of-date equipment.... The agreements will force these enterprises [Òfour major industrial groupsÓ] to increase earnings year by year. They can retain 70 per cent of the profits outside the set quota.Ó (China Daily, Beijing, 6/17/87, p. 2) Rural prosperity in China Peasant income grew by a real 3.2% in 1986. But non- productive spending rose 8.3%. Non-productive spending includes traditionally bankrupting funeral and marriage ceremonies, religious rites, jewelry and dowries. Housing is the second largest category of non-productive spending. Private rural spending on housing grew 8.6 times between 1978-85. 3.2 billion square meters of housing went up between 1980-85. With the growth in housing in recent years we can expect a transformation of family and sexual practices in China as more and more people find themselves living in less crowded conditions.. Perhaps less heartening is the fact that housing is eating up 670,000 acres of cultivated land a year. Also, with the revival of Confucian burials, peasants are making graves which take up land and make mechanical plowing impossible. Emphasis on unproductive spending generally also results in a depletion of soil fertility and soil erosion. (China Daily, 6/15/87, p. 4) Aquino worries about land problem Corazon AquinoÕs cabinet has had 18-hour meetings to discuss how to implement land reform. So far she has not implemented any sweeping land reform, but it is apparent that she wishes to avoid semi-Maoist revolution in the countryside. (South China Morning Post, Hong Kong, 6/5/87, p. 13) CITICORP SELLS S. AFRICA SUBSIDIARY TO FIRST NATIONAL OF S.A. (China Daily 6/18/87, p. 8.) Students form Marx study groups At Fudan U., Jiaotong U. and East China Normal University, small groups of students have formed to study Marx independently. According to China Daily, students have often boycotted political study classes established by the government as boring and dogmatic. Some students cited the demonstrations last December as kindling their interest in political theory and debate.Ó (China Daily, 6/18/87, p. 4) Unproductive work up in China 10,000, 50,000 and 80,000 people worked in advertising in China in 1981, 1984 and 1987 respectively. (South China Morning Post, 6/14/87, p. 4 ÒMoneyÓ) Rural housing conditions better Between 1949 and 1985, China built housing averaging 6.36 square meters of floor space per urban resident. At the end of 1985, rural residents averaged 17.8 square meters of floor space. (China Daily, 6/12/87, p. 1) Soviet enterprises to go self-sufficient As proclaimed in previous long-range policy statements, the Politburo of the Soviet Communist Party Òannounced plans to make all state enterprises self-sufficient by the end of the decade.Ó (China Daily, 6/13/87, p. 8) Already 1,500 to 2,000 are financially self-sufficient. (Ibid.) The plan is to make all units able to run themselves without government financing. This implies that firms should produce what makes a profit, not what seems a political or need-based priority. As Marx would have said, the Soviets are chasing exchange- value, and not producing use-values. Deng puts together leadership group With the political fall of General Secretary Hu Yaobang and the serious illness of Politburo standing committee person Chen Yun, Deng has put together a new group of people to lead China. The CCP will have a National Congress in the fall. The group of five ÒreformistsÓ include ÒMr. Zhao Ziyang, acting party General-Secretary and Prime Minister, Mr. Wan Li, senior Vice Premier; Mr. Hu Qili, a party Secretariat member; Mr. Bo Yibo, permanent vice-chairman of the Central Advisory Commission; and Mr. Yang Shangkun, permanent vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission.Ó According to the South China Morning PostÕs Terry Cheng, the five Òhave succeeded in halting the swing to the leftÓ of the political elite in China. It is difficult to assess this analysis. According to Bo Yibo, the CCP has only purged 33,869 members in the last 3 and one-half years. Many thought that more ÒleftistsÓ would have been purged since the CCP has 44 million members. (South China Morning Post, Hong Kong, 6/3/87, p. 1,2) Book Review Shenfan, William Hinton, 1984, Vintage Books, 790 pages. This is the sequel to Fanshen which was about the liberation of China from landlord and Japanese imperialist rule. Shenfan is primarily about the Great Leap through the Cultural Revolution. There is a sprinkling of material both before and after this time period. William Hinton stands out above other China scholars for the length of time he has spent in China. He has lived in one village called Long Bow at various time periods for years at a time. The work is dense with empirical detail and insights into everyday concerns of Chinese peasants. Aside from his descriptions, HintonÕs interviews and reporting of conversation is excellent. He reports what the peasants say, what the Communist Party says and what the highest government officials say. By asking his questions at different time periods, he manages to obtain different answers from different people for each question. Even within each time period, he shows the lines of controversy. Hinton is of Marxist inspiration and has some strong words for the current regime. On the other hand, he spends several hundred pages detailing the Cultural Revolution as a merely opportunist power struggle among individuals and ultimately factions of millions of people. This book is not appropriate for special distribution efforts. His analysis of power struggle is rather too simple and does not offer an alternative. Still, Shenfan is very valuable for the reader interested in China.