Michael Roberts stellte eine Buchbesprechung "Views on China" in seinem Blog vor, dem sich eine lange und kontroverse Diskussion anschloss.
Ich meldete mich zweimal zu Wort:
1) The discussion here revolves around methods and means: state economy or private sector, plan or market, power and role of the CP, etc. What is neglected here are the goals sought – the goals of the Chinese communists as well as the goals of the Chinese people. When I came to work in China as a communist at the age of 35, I was dismayed and frustrated to discover that neither the people nor the organized communists shared my vision of socialism and communism. The longer I lived in China (it became more than 10 years and I also learned the language), the more insecure and cautious I became with my judgment about China and the Chinese. They had much closer goals than I did: a chicken in the pot and a formidable state in a hostile international environment.
All those who criticize or even condemn China and the Chinese Communist Party behave like a new Comintern that wants to prescribe a single development model for all of the world. But we will not be able to solve China’s problems, and China will not be able to solve our problems in Europe. We should break away from our “inner Comintern” and we should part with the idea that we can slip into the role of the world spirit and can find the only suitable answer to all world problems.
2) For people who orient themselves towards Karl Marx, it is clear that a more humane post-capitalist society must preserve and perpetuate all the positive achievements of capitalism. This applies above all to the shortening of the necessary working hours through increased productivity and also to the high level of education of all members of society.
For people who orient themselves to Karl Marx, it is clear that neither the historical Soviet Union nor today’s China can provide a model or a future picture for the wage workers in the capitalist metropolises. The dispute over whether China is “socialist” or not is splitting hairs.
A completely different question is what positive role the communists in the Soviet Union or in China play or have played for their country.
