• T_Doug [he/him]
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    4 years ago

    Is Jack Ma a worker?

    Here's the CPC's own occupation breakdown of the party (Translated)

    Occupation of a party member. There are 6.445 million workers, 25.561 million farmers, herders and fishermen, 14.403 million professional and technical personnel in enterprises, public institutions and social organizations, 10.104 million management personnel in enterprises, public institutions and social organizations, and 7.678 million staff in party and government agencies There are 1.960 million students, 7.104 million other professional staff, and 18.661 million retirees.

    So no, the PMC in the CPC are not actually Uber drivers, and regardless 27.5% of the Chinese Labour force are industrial workers so even by the most reductive definition for "Workers" possible, which is not the definition that the CPC uses, CPC membership is still vastly non-representative of the Chinese working class. It is however, like the National People's Congress, disproportionally representative of Chinese billionaires, which I fail to see as a good thing in a purportedly "Communist" party. That certainly isn't Marxism.

    But if you find evidence that the CPC is actually including millions of Uber drivers and corner store owners in their definitions of Managers, and Professionals, I'd be happy to hear it.

    I support the PRC, but this dosen't mean I'm blind to the composition of the CPC.

    • DornerBros [he/him]
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      4 years ago

      I stand by my definition of "the working class" as anyone who makes their livelihood through labor rather than capital gains. Jack Ma could never work another day in his life and still make more money than 99.999% of the population so I think he fits squarely in the latter category.

      It states right there in your quote "7.104 million people employed in other fields" (其他职业人员710.4万名). It doesn't imply that they're PMC, only that they're employed in fields that don't qualify them as workers, farmers, professional/technical personnel, or managers. Given that there are millions of "petit-bourgeois" delivery drivers alone in China, I don't see why you find the idea that some of them are members of the party to be absurd.

      The CPC definition of worker (工人) is also fairly restrictive and applies only to industrial workers, although the inclusion of skilled and technical workers (工勤技能人员) means it includes people like welders. It absolutely does not apply to taxi drivers.

      Honestly I'm not quite sure what you're arguing, I never once said CPC membership perfectly represented the class and strata breakdown within the PRC, only that it's a working class party and most party members are working class. The vast majority of party members are not billionaires and only a small fraction are managers, most are or were working class people.

      I think you could make a strong argument that the CPC is not (or should be) a working class party but a "whole of society" party given its priority of economic development but that requires a much more in-depth and nuanced discussion than looking at party membership and calling anyone who isn't a worker or peasant bourgeois.

      • T_Doug [he/him]
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        4 years ago

        My argument is that the CPC is unrepresenatative of the Chinese labour force, given its underrepresenation of industrial workers, peasants, and almost certainly other informal workers, and overrepresentation of Professionals, Capitaliststs, and Managers.

        This is a fact, even if the CPC is not wholly dominated by the latter, membership is still disproportionately held (in comparision to their share if the overall population) by those who are opposed to the interests of the working class.

        The construction of the CPC as an elitist and exclusionary organisation is bad, and should be changed such that it's genuinely a force for socialism that is not undermined by its membership including figures like Jack MA.

    • RedDawn [he/him]
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      4 years ago

      There are zero capitalists in the politburo