China’s health officials look to U.S. health insurance capitalists

By Charles Andrews

U.S. and Chinese capitalism are heading to war over which power will dominate the exploitation of the world’s working people. But this antagonism does not prevent the capitalists of both countries cooperating to suck the blood of Chinese and U.S. workers.

Take the business of healthcare, for example. The American Chamber of Commerce in China brought a group of China’s health officials to the U.S. The purpose? To sell them on the profits to be made out of the Medicare Advantage ripoff.

Multipolarity and BRICS, once more...

By Greg Godels

The debates over “multipolarity” and the significance of an allegedly multipolar BRICS grouping continue. In an opinion piece in People’s Voice (Canada) (“Multipolarity, BRICS+ and the struggle for peace, cooperation, and socialism today”, June 16-30, 2024) writer Garrett Halas mounts an earnest defense of multipolarity and the BRICS+ “as a positive step towards socialism.” 

A routine report on China's economy

By Charles Andrews

Below are excerpts from a routine report in the Western business press on China's economy. The statistics come from the PRC government.

While many U.S. congresspersons, governors, and so on denounce “communist China,” the Western business press has no problem reporting plain facts just as it does for any other capitalist country.

Multipolaristas’ Dugin maneuvers through BRICS contradiction

By Charles Andrews

Aleksander Dugin, a propagandist for Putin’s great-Russian imperialism, has had to maneuver through one of the contradictions within the BRICS association – the unity and contention between China and Russia.

Supposedly a historian and philosopher, Dugin spews reactionary filth going back to feudal times.

“Russian society is very special and needs a ‘father’ type of leader (such as a Tsar) who must also provide security assurances to the whole society.”

 

The open conflict between the USSR and the People's Republic of China in the 1950-1970s

Photo: life.ru

The complex relations between the largest countries where communist parties were in power ran like a red thread through the most important world political events, starting from the second half of the fifties and up to the end of the seventies of the last century. 

 

The fierce polemic and open confrontation between the Communist Party of China and the CPSU caused an unprecedented split in the international communist movement, the echoes of which are still heard. 

 

China’s Stock Market: A Lesson on What Socialism Is Not

By Charles Andrews*

Late in January, the Chinese government arranged for its state-owned companies to put as much as $282 billion into the falling stock market. The companies were told to buy via Hong Kong accounts.

The government is desperate to halt a big slide in the Shanghai Composite Index, which had fallen nearly to its March 2020 low point at the start of the COVID pandemic.

Why does a “socialist” economy have a stock market?

China Plunders Congo, Exploits Miners — "Anti-imperialists” Approve

Photo Credit: Sebastian Meyer

By Charles Andrews*

Late in January Sinohydro Corp and China Railway Group Limited re-negotiated their plunder of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). They hold 68% of Sicomines, a joint copper and cobalt mining venture with a local corporation. The two Chinese corporations will pay a pitiful royalty of 1.2% on gross sales.

The Chinese firms also pledged to invest $7 billion in infrastructure in the Congo during the life of the agreement. However, in the previous contract they had agreed to put in $3 billion but actually invested only $822 million.

Who Understands Civilization — Xi's CPC or Working People?

 By Charles Andrews*

Xi Jinping, chairman of the Communist Party of China (CPC), asks, “Without the 5,000-year-long Chinese civilization, how could we have Chinese characteristics?"(i) 

When Donald Trump visited Beijing in 2017, Xi told him, “The only continuous civilization to continue onwards is China.”(ii)

The KKE will continue raising the banner of Marxism-Leninism and proletarian internationalism

On 22/9, the delegations of Communist Youth and Anti-Imperialist Organizations that visited Athens in the framework of the 49th  KNE-Odigitis Festival had the opportunity to meet with a delegation of the CC of the KKE in order to be informed about the developments in Greece and the action of the KKE. 

 

Eliseos Vagenas, member of the CC of the KKE and head of the International Relations Section of the CC of the KKE, delivered a speech, which reads as follows:

Niger coup: Why West Africa has become the center of inter-imperialist standoff

By Nikos Mottas.

The military coup d'etat of July 26th in Niger, which deposed pro-French President Mohammad Bazoum, is part of the broader imperialist confrontation of the Western powers (USA, NATO, EU) with Russia and China. This time, the imperialist standoff is focused on the resource-rich region of Sahel, activating the decades-old political divisions in West Africa. 

Communist Youth of Denmark: Socialist or Capitalist? The political character of contemporary China

Socialist or Capitalist? Is China an imperialist state? A comprehensive article by the Communist Youth of Denmark (DKU), adopted by its Third General Assembly, on the political character of contemporary China:

The question of whether or not modern China is a socialist country, is one of the most polarizing issues among self-proclaimed Marxist-Leninists today. DKU's position on this question defines our position on a wide range of theoretical, political, philosophical and economic issues that we have to deal with in our daily activities. Therefore, we must give a clear answer to our view on the political character of China.

Communist Youth of Denmark: On the opportunist character of the "World Anti-imperialist Platform"

The Executive Committee of the Communist Youth of Denmark (DKU) issued a statement on the so-called "World Anti-imperialist Platform", accusing it as an opportunist formation that every principled communist must condemn:

"The World Anti-imperialist Platform (WAP) is the latest addition to the consolidation of opportunist forces in this period. 

Cuba rejects Wall Street Journal publication on alleged Chinese military base

The Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cuba, Carlos Fernández de Cossío, rejected the publication of the US newspaper The Wall Street Journal about an alleged agreement between the governments of China and Cuba to establish a Chinese military base in Cuban territory to intercept communications in the United States.

In a statement, Carlos Fernández de Cossio pointed out:

 

On the political economy of contemporary imperialism: The concept of the “imperialist pyramid” and its critics

By Thanasis Spanidis

Summary in short theses: 

1. In the Programmatic Theses of Kommunistische Organisation (KO) we find (in broad outline) a clear orientation for the analysis of imperialism. The theoretical conception developed therein has now been rejected in a number of contributions to the discussion (Klara Bina, Alexander Kiknadze, to a lesser extent Paul Oswald). 

2. The assertion that the imperialist world system is characterized by a “unipolar world order” led by the USA cannot be confirmed by the available data. Both the economic and military balance of power at the top of the imperialist world order refute the picture of singular U.S. domination. 

KKE: On the so-called World Anti-Imperialist Platform and its damaging and disorienting position

Article by the International Relations Section of the CC of the KKE

The outbreak of the imperialist war in Ukraine has sharpened the contradictions within the international communist movement around serious ideological-political issues that have been plaguing it for years and express the opportunist influence in its ranks. Naturally, the focus was on the stance towards the imperialist character of the war that is being waged between the USA-NATO-EU and capitalist Russia on the territory of Ukraine, the stance towards the bourgeoisie and its political representatives such as social democracy, the problematic analyses of the imperialist system and the position of China and Russia, and other issues, more deeply connected with the question of the erroneous strategy of stages towards socialism, of support for and participation in bourgeois governments.

Material Forces that Turn Socialism into Capitalism

Nikita Khrushchev and Deng Xiaoping.

By Charles Andrews.

The Soviet Union and China proved that people can build socialism. They also showed that apparently firm socialist countries can fall to capitalism – from within and from the top of the communist party.

Should we give up on socialism, or shall we solve a problem: how do we keep on the communist road to a society of no rich and no poor, securing common prosperity for everyone, and with full development of our humanity in work?

KKE: On the war in Ukraine and China’s “proposals for peace”

On the war in Ukraine and China’s “proposals for peace”" 

Their peace is being built upon the ashes and in the fire of the imperialist war

“Those at the top say:
Peace and war
Are of different substance.
But their peace and their war
Are like wind and storm.
War grows from their peace
Like son from his mother.
He bears
Her frightful features.”

— B. Brecht, From A German War Primer

Note on the "World Anti-Imperialist Platform" Meeting in Caracas

In a statement about the meeting of the so-called "World Anti-Imperialist Platform" in Caracas, Venezuela, the International Relations Section of the CC of the Communist Party of Mexico (PCM) notes:

"On March 3, the third meeting of the "World Anti-Imperialist Platform" begins, which amalgamates confused forces unknown until recently, together with strange to the communist movement political groups. Some exist only in the computers and minds of their spokespersons, such as the non-existent "Collective of Struggle for the Revolutionary Unification of Humanity" or the "Platform for Independence" of Greece. 

Former Chinese President Jiang Zemin dies at 96

Former Chinese President Jiang Zemin died on Wednesday, as a result of leukemia and multiple organ failure, Xinhua news agency announced. He was 96 years old .

Jiang served as President from 1993 to 2003 with a policy focusing on the further liberalization of China's capitalist economy and the attraction of foreign investments. He is often credited by western media for successfully integrating China into the “international community”. 

Marxism, Marxism-Leninism, and Xi Jinping's Report to 20th Congress

By Charles Andrews.

Facts count more than words. Xi Jinping says, "China respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries." A couple of days later, the Chinese Consul General in Manchester stepped onto UK territory outside the consulate gate. He grabbed a demonstrator from a noisy but peaceful rally, dragged him into the consulate compound, and had his staff beat the man up.

However, for those persons still wedded to evaluating the PRC by its words, let us look at how Xi Jinping's report to the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) uses "Marxism" and "Marxism-Leninism." His 25,000-word speech contains exactly one mention of Lenin or Leninism: