Roland Boer's Blog, page 49

Between socialist poverty and socialist wealth

Related to my interest in a Chinese Marxist approach to human rights, I am also interested (via Losurdo) on the distinction between socialist populism, in which everyone is equally poor, and the socialist unleashing of the forces of production to improve the lives of all.

Imagine my surprise when I reread Stalin’s important report to the 17th congress in 1934. Among other items, he talks about Marxist equality, which I quote in full here:

These people evidently think that socialism calls for...

Red Tour Documentary (preliminary version)

The film crew from the ‘Red Tour’ of November 2016 has put together a short documentary of the experience. It came through wechat, but I have copied the link here. The documentary is a little way into the page, but the page also contains some photographs. We are discussing a longer documentary that will include the national day in Tiananmen on 1 October.

Once again, Chairman Xi Jinping invokes Mao (now on literature and art)

Something is definitely afoot here in China. A few years ago I gained the distinct sense that China was at a crossroads. Many possible paths were open, which people discussed endlessly. Such times are both dangerous and potentially creative. Now there is a greater sense of purpose and the path seems to be clarifying. More later, but let me note a few points here.

First, the anti-corruption campaign has been invoking Mao’s directives for cadres and leaders to live simple lives, without seeking...

Chinese theory and practice of human rights

I have just completed eight amazing days of filming for the ‘Chinese Marxism’ MOOC that will be ready early in the new year. We travelled by plane, hard-seat train, bus and foot to get to what are still relatively remote places: Shaoshan (Mao’s birthplace), Ruijin (centre of the first soviet) and Yan’an (where the government was based for more than 10 years before 1949). Plenty of good footage to use.

However, one topic in the course concerns human rights. This may be regarded as a ‘sensitive...

The Chinese response to the US election

Says it all, really, including the Chinese appreciation of Xi Jinping

Chinese Marxism at the Melbourne Trades Hall

Last night I had the opportunity to speak and engage in discussion at the International Bookshop (at Melbourne Trades Hall) on the subject of Chinese Marxism. I talked about contradiction (socialism and capitalism), socialist democracy, a Chinese Marxist approach to human rights, and the form of the state, but our discussion ranged over much else.

As expected, a few among the group took the well-known position that China is a Stalinist state, with the CPC hell-bent on lining their own pockets...

And the rest of the world breathes a sigh of relief

Obviously, I am referring to Donald Trump’s victory in the US elections, which I risked suggesting back in Julyhe would win. I refer not to the parts of the world that relied on the myth ofpax americana. I mean the many parts of the world that have been bullied by the USA for too long. Trump’s turn will clearly be inward, retreating from US efforts to dominate many parts of the world where it had no business whatsoever. To be sure, declining empires never decline gracefully. They do so angril...

Europe from east to west by train: Day 2 – Bucharest to Vienna

Useful article from Xinhua News on the 2016 US election

This article from Xinhua News is worth a read, since it does not take the path of seeing Trump as an anomaly in the US elections of 2016. Instead, the dreadful option between Trump or Clinton is bad news all round. However, I like best the closing lines:

Yet the election is not all bad, particularly in that it has revealed some inborn defects of the so-called liberal democracy preached by the United States.

The electoral politics in the United States, which plumbed new depths of nastiness thi...

Europe from East to West by train: Day 1 – Romania

From Baia Mare to Bucharest, overnight