As mentioned, this discussion and related other ones on the list call into question why many of us spent a lifetime organizing and agitating for public ownership of our economies and defending the USSR, the PRC, Vietnam, Cuba, Nicaragua etc. from US imperialism. If all we have to show for the result is a retreat to capitalism in these societies, was it worth it?
In fact, polls show that the current generation of Chinese workers and peasants would answer in the affirmative since, despite the growth of inequality, the turn to the market at home and abroad has spectacularly lifted them from poverty. Russia's less-successful embrace of capitalism occurred with the passive consent of the working class the former Soviet Union claimed to represent. There is no evidence that the working class in Russia or China has since agitated for a return to the system which prevailed under Stalin and Mao. Those on the list eager to demonstrate that both China and Russia are now capitalist and imperialist powers may not appreciate what a repudiation it is of their Marxist-Leninist politics which can only be described, given the historical record, as utopian. I’ll look forward with genuine interest to replies by Hari and other thoughtful list contributors. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#29706): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/29706 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/105142448/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
