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| x   x x x   x   x  x  xx  xxx xxx  xxx                   |
| xx xx x xx xx   xx x x  x  x  x   x       Issue #31      |
| x x x x x x x   x xx x  x  x  xx   xxx                   |
| x   x x x   x   x  x x  x  x  x       x   07/07/87       |
| x   x x x   x   x  x  xx   x  xxx  xxx                   |
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|    Newspaper of the Maoist Internationalist Movement     |
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   MIM Meets Korean Resistance
   ÒIn the past month, MIM interviewed people in South Korea 
on the political situation there. Of course, students have 
gained much press attention for fighting police in the 
streets of South Korean cities. What surprises Marxists is 
not that the students met repression and even death, but that 
the repression was so light. One student and one police 
officer have died in the street fighting. Another student may 
die from wounds. Indeed, the Chun regime has conceded direct 
presidential elections to the opposition. The election will 
be in 1988 before the Olympics.
   What happened? The external conditions were important. 
First, South Korea has several billion dollars invested in 
preparing for the 1988 Olympics. Yet that entire investment 
and the reputation of Korea would suffer if such street-
fighting continued until the Olympics. Even the mere use of 
tear-gas would potentially spoil the sports environment in 
Seoul, the capital.
   Secondly, the U.S. Congress made noises to the effect that 
it would not tolerate a military solution this time around. 
Inside S. Korea, MIM found widespread student opinion that 
fighting police was an appropriate tactic: ÒWe donÕt want it, 
but it is necessary for us to show our opinion.Ó Even 
establishment opposition politician Kim Dae Jung had to admit 
that street-fighting was justified. There was also an anti-
U.S. imperialist ferment: ÒWe donÕt want America to 
participate in our politics,Ó said one student.
   Most interesting of all, MIM established contact with the 
self-proclaimed Marxist-Leninist underground which has two 
organizations--the Constitutional Assembly and the Struggle 
Committee. The slogans of the groups are ÒDown with 
dictatorship!Ó and ÒOut with U.S. imperialism!Ó The goals are 
anti-bourgeois dictatorship and anti-U.S. imperialism.
   The groups do not claim to uphold Stalin or Mao, only Marx 
and Lenin. One member stated that Trotsky was considered 
incorrect, but the membership does study the works of Mao. 
North KoreaÕs so-called Marxist-Leninism (led by Kim Il Sung) 
is considered a Òdilemma.Ó
   According to this underground, there is no Maoist movement 
in Korea. The members of this group dismiss Mao as 
inappropriate for Korean conditions and argue that the theory 
of New Democracy is not a scientific one. Like the Eritrean 
PeopleÕs Liberation Front and the New PeopleÕs Army, this 
underground believes in focussing on questions internal to 
the country and does not take stands on many international 
questions. The underground activists did say that they 
believed the New PeopleÕs Army of the Philippines Òis right 
[as in correct].Ó According to these organizers, however, 
there is no landlord class in South Korea. They characterize 
the formation as Òdependent state monopoly capitalism.Ó
   What will be the effect of direct presidential elections 
and the move to free speech? ÒThe bourgeois dictatorship will 
be strengthened.Ó
   
   Getting life for stealing watermelon in the PeopleÕs 
Republic of China
   One peddler and an unemployed person received life 
sentences for stealing watermelon. Another six received 2 to 
12 years in prison. A robbery costing farmers 14,000 yuan in 
watermelon (<$4,000) was the incident that led to the life 
sentences. Seven of the eight convicted supposedly had 
criminal records, but the China Daily did not elaborate. ÒThe 
sentences were passed in accordance with ChinaÕs criminal 
code and the decision of the Standing Committee of the NPC 
(legislature).Ó (China Daily, 4/13/87, p. 3)
   Unemployment and peddling, which is officially an 
occupation designed to alleviate unemployment among other 
problems, are both up in China as a result of the capitalist 
social revolution. ChinaÕs ruling class proves quite 
conscious that the lower classes have to be kept in line for 
capitalism to survive.
   
   Get rich scheme kills 40 Chinese 
   18 new deaths in a mine in May in Hunan Province brought 
the total of people killed there to 40. The previous 22 
deaths caused provincial authorities to ask an end to the 
practice of letting farmers take material from the mine. 
Formerly state-run, the mine was shut down three years ago 
with iron bars. Local farmers blew up the iron gate and 
Òlocal officials failed to act, claiming the practice was a 
way to let local people get rich.Ó
   ÒOfficials in Furong Township where the accident happened 
even profited by charging people to enter the dangerous mine. 
Outsiders were asked to pay five yuan (3.7 yuan=$1) and local 
residents, 2.5 yuan.Ó (China Daily, 6/17/87, p. 3) China 
Daily goes onto report that private and small collective 
mining has cut back efficiency and caused the theft of 
precious minerals such as gold. 846 cases of gold smuggling 
and 173.5 kg of gold turned up. (Ibid; 6/15/87, p. 2)
   
   Private traders in disrepute
   412 people suffered poisoning from salt bought from 
private traders in South China. (China Daily, Beijing, 
6/18/87, p. 3) Of course, salt so traded is illegal. An 
illegal alcohol maker also killed 24 people in Guizhou. The 
state executed the trader. (China Daily, 6/15/87, p. 3) 
Unfortunately, law applied after the fact of death does not 
help the victims of profit-seeking practices that would not 
even exist under socialism.
   
   Bank concentration due
   U.S. Treasury officials and Federal Reserve Chair Alan 
Greenspan support the merger of several American banks. 
Currently, several regulations prevent this from happening. 
Ò30 years ago the United States had 15 of the worldÕs largest 
banks, but today only two, Citicorp and Bank America, rank in 
the worldÕs 25 biggest banks.Ó (China Daily, 6/8/87, p. 2)
   One treasury official said he believed larger U.S. banks 
were necessary to compete with foreign banks in large 
ventures. (Ibid.) Past issues of MIM Notes have noted the 
difficulties of U.S. banks, how their profit margins have 
been squeezed. It would be quite natural for a shakeout to 
reduce the competition in the field and increase profits.
   
   China: Competitive bidding and enterprise leasing next?
   According to Economic Information (in China), Òbidding in 
capital construction is a good form of competition.... 
Competition helps to promote talented people and encourages 
telling the truth. The worry that leasing enterprises to 
individuals smacks of capitalism is an outdated view.Ó (China 
Daily, 6/8/87)
   
   Struggle in India
   ÒIn the worst caste-related violence since India gained 
independence from Britain in 1947, Maoist peasants and 
untouchables slaughtered Raiput landlords, women and children 
in the villages about 130 km south of Patna, the impoverished 
state of Bihar, late last week.Ó (South China Morning Post, 
6/3/87, p. 27)
   
   Deng takes a new tack
   Under Hua Guofeng, China said it would catch up with the 
current West by the year 2000. Lately, Deng has focussed on 
saying that China will only become a medium-industrial power 
@2050. He says that the superiority of socialism can not be 
proven till then. This view which is circulating now to 
combat a slight left wing eddy before the fallÕs party 
congress, dovetails nicely with the views of many young 
intellectuals in China: The reasoning goes like this: ÒThe 
U.S. and Japan are rich; the Soviet Union and China are poor. 
Therefore, capitalism is superior.Ó (Most Chinese youth seem 
to think China and Russia are equally poor.) MIM asks its 
readers, is it true that socialism does not demonstrate its 
superiority until after it out-produces the most advanced 
capitalist countries? Please write your answers.
   
   Indications of small trend toward left form of state 
capitalism in China
   College graduates will have to work in factories or farms 
before taking up government or education jobs according to 
the Chinese State Education Commission. (South China Morning 
Post, Hong Kong, 6/16/87, p. 1) This summer students will 
also supposedly take part in manual labor.
   The new policy has two purposes. One is to remind students 
that their privileged position is not guaranteed if they 
demonstrate against the state. Secondly, the announcement 
implied that studentsÕ views on democracy were out of touch 
with those of the common laborers.
   
   Workers not masters in China
   According to WorkersÕ Daily, ÒworkersÕ status as the 
ÔmastersÕ has not been safeguarded.Ó The contract 
responsibility system Òhas dampened their [workersÕ] 
initiative.Ó (China Daily, 6/17/87, p. 4) Again this is 
evidence of a left-wind blowing in China.
   
   ÒAgreement to spur profitsÓ
   ÒIndustrial enterprises in Beijing are being pushed to 
increase their profit earnings and raise funds to improve 
their out-of-date equipment.... The agreements will force 
these enterprises [Òfour major industrial groupsÓ] to 
increase earnings year by year. They can retain 70 per cent 
of the profits outside the set quota.Ó (China Daily, Beijing, 
6/17/87, p. 2)
   
   Rural prosperity in China
   Peasant income grew by a real 3.2% in 1986. But non-
productive spending rose 8.3%. Non-productive spending 
includes traditionally bankrupting funeral and marriage 
ceremonies, religious rites, jewelry and dowries.
   Housing is the second largest category of non-productive 
spending. Private rural spending on housing grew 8.6 times 
between 1978-85. 3.2 billion square meters of housing went up 
between 1980-85. With the growth in housing in recent years 
we can expect a transformation of family and sexual practices 
in China as more and more people find themselves living in 
less crowded conditions..
   Perhaps less heartening is the fact that housing is eating 
up 670,000 acres of cultivated land a year. Also, with the 
revival of Confucian burials, peasants are making graves 
which take up land and make mechanical plowing impossible. 
Emphasis on unproductive spending generally also results in a 
depletion of soil fertility and soil erosion. (China Daily, 
6/15/87, p. 4)
   
   Aquino worries about land problem
   Corazon AquinoÕs cabinet has had 18-hour meetings to 
discuss how to implement land reform. So far she has not 
implemented any sweeping land reform, but it is apparent that 
she wishes to avoid semi-Maoist revolution in the 
countryside. (South China Morning Post, Hong Kong, 6/5/87, p. 
13)
   
   CITICORP SELLS S. AFRICA SUBSIDIARY TO FIRST NATIONAL OF 
S.A. (China Daily 6/18/87, p. 8.)
   
   Students form Marx study groups
   At Fudan U., Jiaotong U. and East China Normal University, 
small groups of students have formed to study Marx 
independently. According to China Daily, students have often 
boycotted political study classes established by the 
government as boring and dogmatic. Some students cited the 
demonstrations last December as kindling their interest in 
political theory and debate.Ó (China Daily, 6/18/87, p. 4)
   
   Unproductive work up in China
   10,000, 50,000 and 80,000 people worked in advertising in 
China in 1981, 1984 and 1987 respectively. (South China 
Morning Post, 6/14/87, p. 4 ÒMoneyÓ)
   
   Rural housing conditions better
   Between 1949 and 1985, China built housing averaging 6.36 
square meters of floor space per urban resident. At the end 
of 1985, rural residents averaged 17.8 square meters of floor 
space. (China Daily, 6/12/87, p. 1)
   
   Soviet enterprises to go self-sufficient
   As proclaimed in previous long-range policy statements, 
the Politburo of the Soviet Communist Party Òannounced plans 
to make all state enterprises self-sufficient by the end of 
the decade.Ó (China Daily, 6/13/87, p. 8) Already 1,500 to 
2,000 are financially self-sufficient. (Ibid.) The plan is to 
make all units able to run themselves without government 
financing. This implies that firms should produce what makes 
a profit, not what seems a political or need-based priority. 
As Marx would have said, the Soviets are chasing exchange-
value, and not producing use-values.
   
   Deng puts together leadership group
   With the political fall of General Secretary Hu Yaobang 
and the serious illness of Politburo standing committee 
person Chen Yun, Deng has put together a new group of people 
to lead China. The CCP will have a National Congress in the 
fall. The group of five ÒreformistsÓ include ÒMr. Zhao 
Ziyang, acting party General-Secretary and Prime Minister, 
Mr. Wan Li, senior Vice Premier; Mr. Hu Qili, a party 
Secretariat member; Mr. Bo Yibo, permanent vice-chairman of 
the Central Advisory Commission; and Mr. Yang Shangkun, 
permanent vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission.Ó
   According to the South China Morning PostÕs Terry Cheng, 
the five Òhave succeeded in halting the swing to the leftÓ of 
the political elite in China. It is difficult to assess this 
analysis. According to Bo Yibo, the CCP has only purged 
33,869 members in the last 3 and one-half years. Many thought 
that more ÒleftistsÓ would have been purged since the CCP has 
44 million members. (South China Morning Post, Hong Kong, 
6/3/87, p. 1,2)
   
   Book Review
   Shenfan, William Hinton, 1984, Vintage Books, 790 pages.
   This is the sequel to Fanshen which was about the 
liberation of China from landlord and Japanese imperialist 
rule. Shenfan is primarily about the Great Leap through the 
Cultural Revolution. There is a sprinkling of material both 
before and after this time period. William Hinton stands out 
above other China scholars for the length of time he has 
spent in China. He has lived in one village called Long Bow 
at various time periods for years at a time.
   The work is dense with empirical detail and insights into 
everyday concerns of Chinese peasants. Aside from his 
descriptions, HintonÕs interviews and reporting of 
conversation is excellent. He reports what the peasants say, 
what the Communist Party says and what the highest government 
officials say. By asking his questions at different time 
periods, he manages to obtain different answers from 
different people for each question. Even within each time 
period, he shows the lines of controversy.
   Hinton is of Marxist inspiration and has some strong words 
for the current regime. On the other hand, he spends several 
hundred pages detailing the Cultural Revolution as a merely 
opportunist power struggle among individuals and ultimately 
factions of millions of people. This book is not appropriate 
for special distribution efforts. His analysis of power 
struggle is rather too simple and does not offer an 
alternative. Still, Shenfan is very valuable for the reader 
interested in China.