The Communist Road To Capitalism

The Communist Road to Capitalism explores how a dynamic of social struggles from below followed by countermeasures of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regime has pushed the historical evolution of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) since 1949. Under socialism until the mid-1970s, during the ensuing transition until the mid-1990s, and in the capitalist period since, the CCP regime responded to the struggles of workers, peasants, migrants, and women* with a mix of repression, concession, cooptation, and reform. Ralf Ruckus shows that this dynamic took the country into a new phase each time—and eventually all the way from socialism to capitalism: in the 1950s, labor struggles and the Hundred Flowers Movement were followed by the regime’s Great Leap Forward; in the 1960s, the Cultural Revolution led to the CCP’s failed attempt to revitalize socialism; in the 1970s, social unrest and movements for a democratic socialism made room for the regime’s Reform and Opening policies; in the late 1980s, the Tian’anmen Square uprising triggered more radical reforms; in the 1990s, peasant and state worker unrest could not stop the capitalist restructuring; and in the 2000s, migrant worker struggles led to concessions, tightened repression, and the regime’s global capitalist expansion strategy in the 2010s. The Communist Road to Capitalism breaks with established orthodoxies about the PRC’s socialist “successes” and myths on its later rise as an economic power. It combines a historiography of workers’, peasants’, migrants’, and women*’s struggles with a searing critique of exploitation, authoritarian state power and gender discrimination under socialism and capitalism. Drawing lessons from PRC history, Ralf Ruckus finally outlines political aims and methods for the left that avoid past mistakes and allow to fight on for a society free of all forms of exploitation and oppression.

Fifty of today's finest thinkers were asked to let their imaginations run free to advance new ideas on a wide range of social and political issues. They did so as friends, on the occasion of Philippe Van Parijs's sixtieth birthday.

How China Became Capitalist details the extraordinary, and often unanticipated, journey that China has taken over the past thirty five years in transforming itself from a closed agrarian socialist economy to an indomitable economic force in the international arena. The authors revitalise the debate around the rise of the Chinese economy through the use of primary sources, persuasively arguing that the reforms implemented by the Chinese leaders did not represent a concerted attempt to create a capitalist economy, and that it was 'marginal revolutions' that introduced the market and entrepreneurship back to China. Lessons from the West were guided by the traditional Chinese principle of 'seeking truth from facts'. By turning to capitalism, China re-embraced her own cultural roots. How China Became Capitalist challenges received wisdom about the future of the Chinese economy, warning that while China has enormous potential for further growth, the future is clouded by the government's monopoly of ideas and power. Coase and Wang argue that the development of a market for ideas which has a long and revered tradition in China would be integral in bringing about the Chinese dream of social harmony.

Communism, once heralded as the "radiant future" of all humanity, has now become part of Eastern Europe's past. What does the record say about the legacy of communism as an organizational system? Michael Burawoy and Janos Lukacs consider this question from the standpoint of the Hungarian working class. Between 1983 and 1990 the authors carried out intensive studies in two core Hungarian industries, machine building and steel production, to produce the first extended participant-observation study of work and politics in state socialism. "A fascinating and engagingly written eyewitness report on proletarian life in the waning years of goulash communism. . . . A richly rewarding book, one that should interest political scientists in a variety of subfields, from area specialists and comparativists to political economists, as well as those interested in Marxist and post-Marxist theory."—Elizabeth Kiss, American Political Science Review "A very rich book. . . . It does not merely offer another theory of transition, but also presents a clear interpretive scheme, combined with sociological theory and vivid ethnographic description."—Ireneusz Bialecki, Contemporary Sociology "Its informed skepticism of post-Communist liberal euphoria, its concern for workers, and its fine ethnographic details make this work valuable."—"àkos Róna-Tas, American Journal of Sociology

Britain faces huge challenges: inequality, public services under constant pressure, climate change - and in the long term, the impacts of automation and artificial intelligence. At the same time, the political and economic elite seem to have reached an impasse: there is a sense that things can only get worse. In Why Capitalists Need Communists, Charles Seaford demonstrates that this need not be, that radical, progressive change is perfectly possible and that the polarisation and nostalgia afflicting us is not inevitable. History shows that it is precisely when the ruling elite loses confidence – which it has – that significant change happens and that new alliances are formed to take over. Tackling the challenges will take planning, redistribution, re-fashioned business and finance, and a new ideology – one which confirms that we really can create the conditions for more people to flourish. But this is not a pipe-dream. This book sets out just how this can come about, based on interviews with over 50 business people, politicians, analysts and activists. Everyone with an interest in the future should read it.

For Helen's family, the 1920s were turbulent but full of hope. A revolution overthrew the Qing Dynasty. China entered the "Golden Age of Capitalism." Helen's uncle founded a bank when he and Helen's father were in their thirties. They worked hard and expanded the business. After fifteen years, it became one of China's largest private banks... Helen and her siblings received a Western education in their teenage years. She met her love, George, while studying in the wartime college. George and his brothers pursued the idea of "industry saving China." They studied science and technology in the U.S. and returned to China... After 1949, they suffered abuse in various "movements." ... When Mao's Cultural Revolution began in 1966, Helen's children were in high school. They witnessed chaos and violence. The Communists sent them to remote farms... At first, the reforms in China inspired Helen's children. They went overseas in the 1980s and tried to do their part to change China. Yet China remained a country ruled by the Communists... Maggie Zheng is the third-generation member of the family described in this memoir. In 1991, she graduated from the UW-Madison with a PhD in science. Maggie was born in 1949. That was the same year the Communists took over mainland China. When she grew up, Maggie witnessed social changes in China. The Communists sent her to work on farms for nine years after high school. Maggie graduated from college after Mao died. Coming to the U.S. in the 1980s, she studied and worked here. Maggie went to Shanghai to set up a production facility for repairing gas turbine blades in 2004. She came back to the United States in 2019. Reviewed by Linda, a former Dartmouth College composition consultant (ABT) ... I believe yours is a very important book for young people in particular, as they need to read more stories like yours about families who actually lived history. ... I think your book should definitely gain readership and impress many... Reviewed by Jack, an Amazon reader Many books on China either read like a scroll of ideological bullet points or a hitchhiker's guide to scenic sights and hidden wonders. This book affords the reader no such luxury and immediately rolls into the life of a family that is easily relatable surviving China's most tumultuous years. ...as the author's family moves back and forth between China and the U.S. through the decades, the book became an excellent reflection of the cross-cultural experience, with observations that can only be made from a perspective that can house the contradictory roles of native and foreigner at the same time. This was particularly evident in the later chapters. Reviewed by Jitendra, a NetGalley reviewer Before reading this book, I never knew that China was once a capitalist state, which was eventually taken over by the Communists in 1949. In addition, what tactics the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) used - ... The book talks a lot about Shanghai. Shanghai was a city where people from various countries could freely come and do business before the 1940s. ... I also found that Shanghai accommodated around 25K JEWs who were persecuted in Europe, and, from Shanghai, they moved to Palestine, US and other safe places... Reviewed by Linda, a former Dartmouth College composition consultant (ABT) Reviewed by Linda, a former Dartmouth College composition consultant (ABT) ... I believe yours is a very important book for young people in particular, as they need to read more stories like yours about families who actually lived history. ... I think your book should definitely gain readership and impress many... Reviewed by Jack, an Amazon reader Many books on China either read like a scroll of ideological bullet points or a hitchhiker's guide to scenic sights and hidden wonders. This book affords the reader no such luxury and immediately rolls into the life of a family that is easily relatable surviving China's most tumultuous years. ...as the author's family moves back and forth between China and the U.S. through the decades, the book became an excellent reflection of the cross-cultural experience, with observations that can only be made from a perspective that can house the contradictory roles of native and foreigner at the same time. This was particularly evident in the later chapters. Reviewed by Jitendra, a NetGalley reviewer Before reading this book, I never knew that China was once a capitalist state, which was eventually taken over by the Communists in 1949. In addition, what tactics the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) used - ... The book talks a lot about Shanghai. Shanghai was a city where people from various countries could freely come and do business before the 1940s. ... I also found that Shanghai accommodated around 25K JEWs who were persecuted in Europe, and, from Shanghai, they moved to Palestine, US and other safe places...

In the 1990s, all eyes turned to the momentous changes in Russia, as the world's largest country was transformed into the world's newest democracy. But the heroic images of Boris Yeltsin atop a tank in front of Moscow's White House soon turned to grim new realities: a currency in freefall and a war in Chechnya; on the street, flashy new money and a vicious Russian mafia contrasted with doctors and teachers not receiving salaries for months at a time. If this was what capitalism brought, many Russians wondered if they weren't better off under the communists. This new society did not just appear ready-made: it was created by a handful of powerful men who came to be known as the oligarchs and the young reformers. The oligarchs were fast-talking businessmen who laid claim to Russia's vast natural resources. The young reformers were an elite group of egghead economists who got to put their wild theories into action, with results that were sometimes inspiring, sometimes devastating. With unparalleled access and acute insight, Chrystia Freeland takes us behind the scenes and shows us how these two groups misused a historic opportunity to build a new Russia. Their achievements were considerable, but their mistakes will deform Russian society for generations to come. Along with a gripping account of the incredible events in Russia's corridors of power, Freeland gives us a vivid sense of the buzz and hustle of the new Russia, and inside stories of the businesses that have beaten the odds and become successful and profitable. She also exposes the conflicts and compromises that developed when red directors of old Soviet firms and factories yielded to -- or fought -- the radically new ways of doing business. She delves into the loophole economy, where anyone who knows how to manipulate the new rules can make a fast buck. Sale of the Century is a fascinating fly-on-the-wall economic thriller -- an astonishing and essential account of who really controls Russia's new frontier.

In 1989 the Berlin Wall came down. Two years later the Soviet Union disintegrated. The collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union discredited the idea of socialism for generations to come. It was seen as representing the final and irreversible victory of capitalism. This triumphal dominance was barely challenged until the 2008 financial crisis threw the Western world into a state of turmoil. Through analysis of post-socialist Russia and Central and Eastern Europe, as well as of the United Kingdom, China and the United States, Socialism, Capitalism and Alternatives confronts the difficulty we face in articulating alternatives to capitalism, socialism and threatening populist regimes. Beginning with accounts of the impact of capitalism on countries left behind by the planned economies, the volume moves on to consider how China has become a beacon of dynamic economic growth, aggressively expanding its global influence. The final section of the volume poses alternatives to the ideological dominance of neoliberalism in the West. Since the 2008 financial crisis, demands for social change have erupted across the world. Exposing the failure of neoliberalism in the United Kingdom and examining recent social movements in Europe and the United States, the closing chapters identify how elements of past ideas are re-emerging, among them Keynesianism and radical socialism. As those chapters indicate, these ideas might well have potential to mobilise support and challenge the dominance of neoliberalism.