Roland Boer's Blog, page 23

Believing in Ghosts: Unravelling the ‘China Threat’ Narrative

In a small number of countries, one has to face from time to time the ‘China threat’ narrative, although it is best to avoid such nonsense. It is a classic case of spinning a certain narrative and then fitting bits and pieces into that narrative, while ignoring most others. Compare it to a belief in … Continue reading Believing in Ghosts: Unravelling the ‘China Threat’ Narrative

Xi Jinping on Marxism: Reading the Speech from Marx’s 200th Anniversary

Xi Jinping’s most important speech to date was delivered at the celebration of the 200th anniversary of Marx’s birth (5 May, 2018). Xi’s many other writings address a range of issues, but this one – as yet untranslated – goes to the heart of Chinese Marxism, or more properly, the sinification of Marxism. Given that the speech is not yet available in other languages, the following provides primarily an exposition of the speech, although my perspective emerges at certain points. In particula...

The Emperor has no clothes: The myth of United States military might

‘The emperor has no clothes’ – this is the assessment of more and more parts of the world concerning the United States.

It is most notable on the Korean Peninsula, where the two parts have been actively working towards reunification and leaving the USA out of the loop. But one can find it throughout eastern, central and western Asia, as they work out their own regional problems. Russia, Eastern Europe, Africa, Latin America, even the Pacific increasingly have the same sense. This leaves a ver...

The socialist road of the reform and opening up (Deng Xiaoping)

In the 1980s, Deng Xiaoping made many statements concerning the reform and opening up, which had begun only a few years earlier. As he points out again and again, its core purpose was and is to liberate the forces of production – inescapable for socialism – in order to improve the socio-economic lives of everyone. And he is also clear that the reform and opening up is following the socialist road. For example, this talk from 21 August, 1985, points out:

People abroad are making two kinds of c...

Book Outline: Friedrich Engels and the Basis of Socialist Governance

This work began as a chapter in my book, The Socialist State: Philosophical Foundations, but it eventually became a monograph in its own right. Why? Engels provides some of the key bases for understanding later developments of socialist governance. This is the outline of the book:

Friedrich Engels and the Basis of Socialist Governance

The argument of this book is that Friedrich Engels (more than Marx) provides the philosophical seeds for understanding the later development of socialist govern...

The Socialist Market Economy: Philosophical Foundations (updated)

This is the text of a paper, to be delivered at a conference in 2019. It is the fullest expression of my thoughts on a socialist market economy, forming the framework for an eventual monograph. Let me begin with a personal narrative for a moment: my background is steeped in the Western European tradition. Apart … Continue reading The Socialist Market Economy: Philosophical Foundations (updated)

The Socialist Market Economy: Philosophical Foundations

This is the text of a paper, to be delivered at a conference in a month or so. It is the fullest expression of my thoughts on a socialist market economy, forming the framework for an eventual monograph.

A personal example, to begin with: in 2018, I purchased a Xiaomi laptop and a second Xiaomi phone. It soon became apparent that the laptop was far superior to my earlier Apple Macbook (that I had unfortunately come to use) and that the phone was simply a better device than any Apple or indeed...

A Christmas message … from the Communist Party of Great Britain (updated)

As part of the ‘Culture Matters’ project of the Communist Party of Great Britain, a long interview with me, called ‘Capitalism, Communism, Christianity – and Christmas‘. A Christmas message, of sorts.

A shorter and more concise version can now be found at The Morning Star, called ‘Where do communism and Christianity overlap?‘

And the ebooklet, Christian Communism, is also now available.

If you would like to know more about the Cultural Democracy movement in the UK, please read the piece by Mi...

A Christmas message … from the Communist Party of Great Britain

As part of the ‘Culture Matters’ project of the Communist Party of Great Britain, a long interview with me, called ‘Capitalism, Communism, Christianity – and Christmas‘. A Christmas message, of sorts.

And the ebooklet, Christian Communism, is also now available.

If you would like to know more about the Cultural Democracy movement in the UK, please read the piece by Mike Quille and others, called ‘Culture for the Many, Not for the Few‘.

Is the kidnapping of Meng Wanzhou (from Huawei) a turning point?

Is the kidnapping of Meng Wanzhou, a senior executive of Huawei, a turning point?

Let us leave aside the cowardly Canadians bending to the capricious will of a declining United States, or the increasingly ineffective sanctions that the USA slaps on all and sundry, and consider what I have elsewhere called China’s dialectical leap into the future.

Huawei’s technological breakthroughs are only one – albeit important – aspect of a much larger process. Having been the first to test successfully a...