We are pleased to republish below three short articles connected with the April 2024 Friends of Socialist China delegation to China, two written by Margaret Kimberley for Black Agenda Report, and one by Graham Harrington for Socialist Voice.
Margaret’s articles – written from China – contrast a confident, forward-looking socialist China with a decadent neoliberal United States. She writes: “The maturity and intelligence of the Chinese state are obvious to anyone who is a serious observer. The recklessness and amateurish nature of the US is also clear to anyone who pays attention.” Domestically, “China feeds its large population, launches satellites, expands a network of high-speed rail, and positions itself as a world leader while the US only knows how to obstruct and steal.” In terms of foreign policy, Margaret compares the US’s reckless devotion to the military-industrial complex with China’s commitment to peace and development. For example, while the US has just committed a further 61 billion dollars to its ill-fated proxy war in Ukraine, “China has offered its services in an effort to end the bloodshed ever since the proxy war began but it has been rebuffed at every turn.”
Margaret encourages people to reject the relentless lies and propaganda about China and instead to see it with their own eyes. “The same system which tries to convince its people that they have no alternative, that there exists nothing else in the world for them to contemplate, vilifies China and any nation which dares to be a good example.”
Graham Harrington’s article, meanwhile, focuses on the delegation’s field trips, including to the Beijing HQ of the 12345 hotline, the Zhejiang Red Boat, the Jiaxing Party-Masses Service Centre and the Siping Battle Memorial Hall. Countering the Western narrative of China as an environmental bad actor, Graham writes: “In all areas, especially Beijing, one could seen the fruits of what the CPC calls ‘Beautiful China’ in the green trees which are almost on every street. Far from the myth of a polluting superpower, China is leading the way in renewable energy. In Jilin province, delegates were told how the province had just developed a hydrogen-powered train, the very first in the world.”
Graham also describes the role of Marxism in Chinese society: “China, the CPC and Chinese people, take Marxism seriously, in the education system, in the state, as well as in public life. People are at the centre of decision-making, not profit. China puts the ‘social’ into socialism with its collective nature, encouraged at all levels.”
We will be hosting a report-back webinar for the delegation on Sunday 16 June. More information will be available soon.
Lessons from China
April 17 (Black Agenda Report) — Socialist China is a powerful economic and diplomatic rival to the United States. Its success must be studied so that liberation may be possible and to prevent the declining U.S. from doing even more damage to humanity.
On a daily basis the corporate media, members of Congress, and courtier pundits who refuse to do a basic internet search, make reference to the non-existent Chinese Communist Party and to a non-existent abbreviation, CCP. There has been a Communist Party of China (CPC) for more than 100 years. The repetition of easily provable misinformation is just one indication of the degree of manufactured hostility towards the People’s Republic of China and of the extraordinarily high levels of ignorance manufactured by the state in the U.S.
This columnist is currently participating in a delegation organized by Friends of Socialist China at the invitation of the China NGO Network of International Exchanges (CNIE) . In the short time that the delegation has been in Beijing, the maturity and intelligence of the Chinese state are obvious to anyone who is a serious observer. The recklessness and amateurish nature of the U.S. is also clear to anyone who pays attention.
While Congress joins with greedy corporate interests to steal TikTok under the false claim that the platform is under the control of the mythical CCP, Joe Biden calls President Xi Jinping to tell him not to work with Russia, its ally, and sends Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to request that China end its economic success with complaints about “over capacity” while the misnomer CCP is in regular use.
The Friends of Socialist China delegation has thus far met with CNIE officers, and visited the Red Building at Beijing University which showcases the history of that institution’s role in the development of the CPC, while also engaging with a publishing house seeking international works for its catalog. The most serious subject for discussion is socialism, its history in China, and the means to develop it around the world.
It is both eye-opening and sobering to leave the United States and visit nations in which socialists have attained state power. Especially in this moment, as a presidential election approaches, we are once again reminded that the U.S. political system will permit no requests for change. The most minimal proposals are rejected outright, while the people’s money is used to continue the failed Ukraine project and to support Israel’s ethnic cleansing campaign in Gaza. The precarity experienced by millions of people is explained away as a figment of their collective imagination or the result of their own stupidity.
Socialism is a necessity as the U.S. faces crises of its own making. Ocean temperatures rise because of continued capitalist fossil fuel production, wages stagnate, and the cost of food and housing continue to rise as corporations price gouge the public. Imperialism continues endangering the world as the U.S. has created a region-wide catastrophe in the Middle East.
As members of Congress outdo one another with calls for attacks on Iran in the wake of its justified response to Israel’s attack on its Syrian consulate, and corporate media regurgitate decades-old vilification of Iran, the Chinese media urge caution. “… all parties involved must exercise restraint and seek diplomatic solutions to prevent further escalation. The crisis highlights the complex dynamics of regional politics and the delicate balance of power in the Middle East. It serves as a reminder of the importance of dialogue, cooperation and conflict resolution to ensure peace and stability in the region.”
The same country that openly calls for bloodshed also engages in unending rhetorical attacks on China. Even proposals to end funding for the Ukraine project are not peace-making efforts. They are a tactic meant to target China instead, and not to bring peace to a country destroyed by U.S. fantasies of weakening Russia.
Claims of a democratic system are just denial of reality, a sad display of wishful thinking. There is no reforming the U.S. which is under the control of a predatory oligarchic class. Of course, the same system which tries to convince its people that they have no alternative, that there exists nothing else in the world for them to contemplate, vilifies China and any nation which dares to be a good example.
The same media that speaks of a CCP shuts out the world from its readers and listeners, lest they conclude they should fight for something else. They don’t want to discuss that housing and education and health care should be considered human rights, and not rewards to be dished out to an ever-shrinking number of fortunate people.
Of course, the historical paths of two different countries cannot be compared and that is why first-hand experiences and study are so important. How can a fundamentally racist, settler colonial superpower become socialist? It must, or it will literally be the death of its own people and of the whole world.
People in the United States are told to minimize their thinking about possibilities instead of broadening them. The result is despair, cynicism, and/or obedience to a failed state. If one has opportunities to travel, those countries demonized by the U.S. should be on the itinerary. Regardless of how well-informed one claims to be, it is life-changing to see people living with care for their human rights and to realize that those rights are consciously diminished and denied by the “democratic” U.S.
No system is without its problems and those must be debated and discussed with honesty and good intentions and not clownish characterizations from people who know better but choose to go along with a dangerous charade. There is no choice but to say clearly that capitalism and imperialism must end. What better way to do that than in a country that has fought against the capitalist and imperialist monster and emerged as a powerful rival? If it hadn’t done so well there would be no made up political party or demands for self-defeat. China has many lessons to teach.
Watching US Fascism in Action from China
April 24 (Black Agenda Report) — The contradictions and embarrassing antics of the fascist war-mongering United States appear with stark clarity when viewed from an outside perspective. Especially from within China, where peace is international policy.
In recent days the United States has once again shown itself to be a rogue state and a fake democracy which is firmly under the control of its oligarchic class. Elected representatives are their tools and the people are indoctrinated into thinking that the duopoly partners in crime are actually different from one another, even as they work in concert.
This columnist joined a delegation in China and from that distance observed a $91 billion giveaway by members of Congress, including $61 billion to the military-industrial complex for the Ukraine proxy war which has already been lost to Russia. The apartheid state of Israel was also a recipient of $26 billion in largesse, and $8 billion was allocated to antagonize China over Taiwan, an island that the U.S. officially acknowledges as being part of China.
The cynicism of the U.S. political class was on full display, as the same Democratic Party which regularly excoriates Donald Trump and his supporters as fascist insurrectionists, suddenly began working in earnest with the people they usually vilify. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries was effusive in his praise. “Traditional conservatives led by Mike Johnson have risen to the occasion.”
Speaker Mike Johnson had balked at continuing any aid for Ukraine and for a good reason. His members wanted to stop the endless flow of money. But all that changed when the ruling class, the oligarchs, or the one-percent, call them what you will, began to call the shots. Donald Trump threw Johnson a lifeline by publicly showing support and silencing the more restive Republican members. Senator Lindsey Graham said out loud what astute observers had already figured out. “This would not have passed without President Trump. I want to thank the House Speaker [Mike Johnson] and [Minority Leader] Hakeem Jeffries for working together in a bipartisan fashion to give weapons to Ukraine to fight a fight that matters to us.” If democrats and republicans are thanking each other, the people have gotten the shaft. What is the purpose of having different political parties if they work together against the interests of the people they claim to represent?
After the political sausage had been made, the corporate media joined in the scam. Speaker Johnson had been portrayed as a hapless loser but overnight became a hero because he opposed what his caucus and his voters wanted. “By passing Ukraine aid, the accidental speaker became an unlikely Churchill,” according to CNN anyway. Winston Churchill was a vile man, an imperialist who among other things allowed millions of people in India to starve to death, but when his name is mentioned the implication is usually a positive one. The fix was in from the white house to congress to the media. They were all of one accord and the people be damned.
It was a surreal experience watching the Washington clown show from China. Somehow the distance brought all the ugliness into high relief. While members of congress stupidly referred to the right-wing post-Soviet leader Vladimir Putin as a “Communist KGB thug ” and a “murderous, Marxist, dictator ”, China counseled peace. German Chancellor Olof Scholz met with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who repeated that peace talks are the only reasonable solution to the Ukraine crisis. China has offered its services in an effort to end the bloodshed ever since the proxy war began but it has been rebuffed at every turn. Nations like Germany are firmly under Washington’s grip and dare not act as the independent nations they claim to be.
While Xi expressed common sense, members of the House of Representatives waved Ukrainian flags and patted themselves on the back for ensuring more Ukrainian deaths, an endless windfall for the warmakers, and a theft of public resources. Not one member of the Democratic Party voted against the Ukraine cash flow. Progressives, the Squad, and every single democrat were on the same page with Donald Trump.
The celebration of foolishness was almost always expressed as a sign of American leadership that the entire world wants. Yet neither China or the other global south nations that make up the majority of the world’s population want what Washington is offering. China’s population of 1.4 billion people comprises 18% of the world’s population , yet is dismissed as an irrelevance. If China is mentioned at all it is referred to as a dictatorship where people are oppressed every minute of the day.
Our delegation witnessed a country that continues to plan and to grow its economy. The constant U.S. war propaganda is proof that China is an economic rival and therefore a diplomatic rival too. China feeds its large population, launches satellites, expands a network of high-speed rail, and positions itself as a world leader while the U.S. only knows how to obstruct and steal.
We are told that China is a dystopian, authoritarian hellscape where the people lack all freedoms that Americans allegedly enjoy. But the congressional grand theft also included provisions to end the presence of the TikTok social media platform in the U.S. and to steal its operations because it is said to be controlled by the Chinese government when everyone knows that assertion is simply untrue. Now TikTok may be silenced because Zionists want to end one source of information that can defy their narratives and possibly put funding to Israel at risk.
Joe Biden also reauthorized the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) which allows for warrantless searches of U.S. citizens. Again Mike Johnson changed his own position, opposed his caucus, and did what the deep surveillance state wanted. Apparently China isn’t the only authoritarian state in the world.
We have been told that Trump presents an existential threat and that voting for Biden is of the utmost importance. Yet he agrees with Trump on aid to Ukraine and on the futile effort to end China’s economic prowess. Just like Trump, Biden is proposing increasing tariffs on China’s steel and aluminum, and just like Trump, he will be unable to stop this powerhouse from thriving.
The truth is that fascism is here whether Trump or Biden is in the white house and whether Mike Johnson or Hakeem Jeffries is the House Speaker. Fascism demands acquiescence to corporate interests, to the surveillance state, and to the war makers. All of those interests can be confident of getting what they want. People in the United States can also be confident that getting their needs met will be a rarity. So it is in their “democratic” nation.
For the People – CPI Delegation to China
May 7 (Socialist Voice) — The Communist Party of Ireland (CPI) recently had the opportunity of joining the Friends of Socialist China in a delegation to the People’s Republic of China. The visit took in Beijing as well as several cities in Zhejiang and Jilin provinces. Much of the visit focused on the founding mission of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and how it relates to China’s socialist modernisation in the new era.
The delegation visited the Beijing HQ of the 12345 hotline. The 24-hour service allows people to ring or text in a question, issue or even make a complaint. Calls can vary from being about litter, noise complaints, traffic, amenities, or, as on our visit, complaints about pandas in a zoo not receiving enough bamboo! The focus is on addressing any and all issues that the people face, with a regular collation of the trending issues sent to local officials.
All provinces in China have the service, with a very high satisfaction rating across the board, and services available in several languages. Almost all phone operators, managers and admin staff are members of the Communist Party. It is but one example of how the Party serves the people.
We also had the opportunity to visit the famous “Red Boat” in Jiaxing city in Zhejiang province. This was where 12 people founded the Communist Party of China in 1921 – after their original meeting in Shanghai was disrupted by police. Accompanying the boat itself was the impressive South Lake Revolutionary Memorial Hall which contained exhibits on the CPC’s early years and development from a dozen members to nearly 100 million today.
There was another impressive visit to the Jiaxing Party-Masses Service Centre. It provides meeting spaces for community organisations and allows local people to avail of medical consultations on-site free of charge. The centre facilitates mental health services including counselling – again, free of charge. While still a pilot program, the plan is for other service centres to learn from and emulate the Jiaxing centre.
On several occasions, delegates participated in sessions with Chinese comrades on topics related to China’s modernisation. China met its centennial goal of eliminating absolute poverty in 2021. It has taken important steps to implement Common Prosperity and the reduction of the income gap between rich and poor, including between rich and poor regions. This includes the rolling out of universal health insurance policies such as a new rural co-operative medical system which covers 60-80% of health costs for just 10-20 dollars a year. The remaining costs are covered by insurance provided by state insurance companies.
In all areas, especially Beijing, one could seen the fruits of what the CPC calls “Beautiful China” in the green trees which are almost on every street. Far from the myth of a polluting superpower, China is leading the way in renewable energy. In Jilin province, delegates were told how the province had just developed a hydrogen-powered train, the very first in the world.
Jilin is an industrial heartland of the north-east. Common Prosperity has seen Jilin become revitalised in recent years, with growth in several important areas coming above the national average. Of significance is that the emphasis is on clean energy and eco-friendly industry in that revitalisation.
Delegates got to visit the city of Siping, a major site in the Chinese Civil War. After visiting the local museum, delegates got to admire the local revolutionary monuments in the public square as well as to observe the sight of elderly people enjoying themselves in the public open-air gym. It says a lot when those of us coming from individualist anti-social countries are genuinely astounded at a sight which is normal for all parks and public spaces in China. We also got to visit a co-operative in Jilin province as well as have an interesting exchange with staff and students at the School of Marxism in Jilin University.
This is but a small overview of the delegation’s experience, and does not cover everything. China, the CPC and Chinese people, take Marxism seriously, in the education system, in the state, as well as in public life. People are at the centre of decision-making, not profit. China puts the “social” into socialism with its collective nature, encouraged at all levels.
In China one can see clear evidence of the above in the lack of crime, the absence of homelessness, the absence of addiction in public spaces and the green trees all around. China’s modernisation can be best summed up in a quote by President Xi Jinping:
“Western modernisation was fraught with bloody crimes such as war, slave trade, colonisation and plunder which inflicted untold misery on developing countries. Having suffered from aggression, bullying and humiliation by Western powers, we Chinese are keenly aware of the value of peace and will never follow the beaten path of the West. We should never oppress other nations or loot the wealth and resources of other countries in any form.”
