First published 12/22/2006 10:29
by {article_topic_desc}
The CPUSA delegation met with the new union of Wal-Mart workers in China
The delegation, made up of National Chair Sam Webb, Executive Vice Chair Jarvis Tyner, International Secretary Pamella Saffer and Labor Secretary Scott Marshall, visited at the invitation of the Communist Parties of China and Vietnam.
In China, they were hosted by the CPC’s international department and were able to meet with leaders of the All China Women’s Federation, the All China Federation of Trade Unions — including a leader of the now famous Wal-Mart union — and other leaders, party members and everyday citizens.
Saffer said that, although she’d been to China before for a UN conference, this was the fist time she had ever had the chance to “experience” China. While much of the U.S. news media portrays China as a land of freewheeling capitalism and exploitation, Saffer said she was impressed by the country’s socialist construction.
“You have to get out of the mindset that socialism looks a certain way, and that we know what it looks like,” she said. “In China, laws are made to support working people.”
Jarvis Tyner plays ball with some friendly Chinese citizens.
While no one would deny China’s current problems, such as the gap between urban and rural areas, or the hardships faced by migrant workers, Saffer said that the Chinese leadership seemed to be determined to solve them.
This is what CPC leaders mean, she said, when they talk about building a “harmonious society.” She added, “They’re lifting people out of poverty. It’s an enormous task, if you picture the population of 1.3 billion.”
China’s Communist leaders expressed a desire for peace and better state-to-state relations. Saffer added, “The Chinese were pretty clear on that. They’re not into getting into any conflicts or confrontations. They want to develop their own country, continue to lift people up to a better standard of living.”
The entire delegation engaged in cultural activities, such as a visit to the Peking Opera and a visit to the China Folk Cultural Heritage Village, which showcases the culture of China’s 55 minority ethnic groups.
The CPUSA delegation visits Vietnam.
The delegation then traveled on to Vietnam. While the CPUSA has sent people to Vietnamese party congresses, and Tyner himself had visited Vietnam in 1972 while bombs were falling, this was the first official CPUSA delegation to ever visit. They described it as a moving experience.
“All of us were of the generation that had opposed the Vietnam War,” Saffer said. “It’s astonishing, the progress that Vietnam has made. One of the things that was very clear to me, and very moving, was how they have always made a distinction between the government that dropped bombs and Agent Orange on their people, on the one hand, and the American people, on the other.”
Sam Webb and Noc Duc Manh (CP Vietnam General Secretary).
“One of the challenges for Vietnam is how they are taking care of victims of Agent Orange, and their children,” she said. “These are disabled people. How do they fit them into society, to be contributing members of society? This is a challenge.”
Saffer noted Vietnam’s stunning progress since the war. It has been able, despite immense destruction wrought by the U.S. during the 1960s and 70s, to become one of the most economically dynamic nations in the world. In doing so, it has brought huge swaths of its population out of poverty — and has plans to eradicate all poverty within a few decades.
Sam Webb meets with children at Friendship Village, a joint project between Vietnamese and American war veterans to house and care for victims of the Vietnam war and agent orange.
Saffer and Webb both said that relations with between the CPUSA and the Chinese and Vietnamese parties had been further strengthened, and they look forward to building even stronger relations in the future.
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Nice atrticle. I have been living in Shanghai, China for 3 years and I must admit I appreciate the accuracy of this article.
I hope more comrades can experience socialism throughout the world. Perhaps next time the delegation will invite other members to accompany them especially some comrades from outside the NYC area, for example California or Chicago.
Closer relations are a must. Every country that realizes socialism is a step closer to the ultimate goal.
The PRC is a pseudo-socialist, fascist society in which barbaric repression is visited upon those who challenge the ruling "Communist" party. Let us not forget that China scuttled the unity of the World Communist Movement in the aftermath of Stalin's death, that it invaded Vietnam and propped up the butcher Pol Pot, and aligned itself with fascists throughout the world, including South African apartheid and the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. Down with the PRC! China is not a socialist state!
> The PRC is a pseudo-socialist, fascist society in which
> barbaric repression is visited upon those who challenge the
> ruling "Communist" party. Let us not forget that China
> scuttled the unity of the World Communist Movement in the
> aftermath of Stalin's death, that it invaded Vietnam and
> propped up the butcher Pol Pot, and aligned itself with
> fascists throughout the world, including South African
> apartheid and the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. Down
> with the PRC! China is not a socialist state!
i have to agree. China shouldn't be an ally for anyone who belives in peace until its human rights violations are addressed. No sociallism can be reality if there is oppression of the very people the government is supossed to be representing.
> The PRC is a pseudo-socialist, fascist society in which
> barbaric repression is visited upon those who challenge the
> ruling "Communist" party. Let us not forget that China
> scuttled the unity of the World Communist Movement in the
> aftermath of Stalin's death, that it invaded Vietnam and
> propped up the butcher Pol Pot, and aligned itself with
> fascists throughout the world, including South African
> apartheid and the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. Down
> with the PRC! China is not a socialist state!
I disagree Christain S., you are taking things out of context and you don't realize the current situation of the world at the moment. If you did know the current situation, you would understand that under the conditions and circumstances they are doing the best they can.
I am in Hanoi,Vietnam right now as I write you this, and I must say that Beijing has Hanoi beat 3x over. Generally speaking, in modern Chinese cities you will be able to live pretty well and equally with a normal Chinese citizen, but in Hanoi, there is not such equality, but two prices to everything, the citizen's price and the "outsider's" price. So because of the colour of my skin and because I don't have a Vietnamese passport, people charge me 3x as much for something as simple as bottled water! Also in the city, it is common to have power grid black outs, meaning Hanoi cannot fulfill one basic need of 21st century man..... electricity...
You forget that the Chinese government just recently and literally forced Wal-Mart Corporation to allow worker's union, a first in Wal-Mart history.....
Comparing China over the past 50 years with other countries, I think they are doing a pretty good job at keeping 1.35 billion people fed and in pretty good health.....
> > The PRC is a pseudo-socialist, fascist society in which
> > barbaric repression is visited upon those who challenge
> the
> > ruling "Communist" party. Let us not forget that China
> > scuttled the unity of the World Communist Movement in
> the
> > aftermath of Stalin's death, that it invaded Vietnam and
> > propped up the butcher Pol Pot, and aligned itself with
> > fascists throughout the world, including South African
> > apartheid and the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.
> Down
> > with the PRC! China is not a socialist state!
>
>
>
> I disagree Christain S., you are taking things out of
> context and you don't realize the current situation of the
> world at the moment. If you did know the current
> situation, you would understand that under the conditions
> and circumstances they are doing the best they can.
>
> I am in Hanoi,Vietnam right now as I write you this, and I
> must say that Beijing has Hanoi beat 3x over. Generally
> speaking, in modern Chinese cities you will be able to live
> pretty well and equally with a normal Chinese citizen, but
> in Hanoi, there is not such equality, but two prices to
> everything, the citizen's price and the "outsider's" price.
> So because of the colour of my skin and because I don't
> have a Vietnamese passport, people charge me 3x as much for
> something as simple as bottled water! Also in the city, it
> is common to have power grid black outs, meaning Hanoi
> cannot fulfill one basic need of 21st century man.....
> electricity...
>
> You forget that the Chinese government just recently and
> literally forced Wal-Mart Corporation to allow worker's
> union, a first in Wal-Mart history.....
>
> Comparing China over the past 50 years with other
> countries, I think they are doing a pretty good job at
> keeping 1.35 billion people fed and in pretty good
> health.....
>
Your pro-China chauvinism is chilling. China's alignment with U.S. imperialism and hostility to the Soviet Union and the socialist camp enabled Amerikkka to commit horrible atrocities throughout the world, particularly in Angola, Vietnam and Chile, to name just a few nations in which Mao and company openly colluded with fascist elements. Throughout its 70+ year history the CPSU alligned itself with freedom-loving peoples all over the globe and actively supported their struggles for national liberation. The Chinese CP did the exact opposite. Today, China's "mixed" economy incorporates all the most savage effects of capitalism (horrible environmental pollution, the disenfranchisment of millions of peasants in the countryside, a vast network of prisons that furnish the state with a seemingly inexhaustible supply of slave labor) even as they pay lip service to Marxism-Leninism as the nation's guiding ideology. The PRC deserves only our contempt. I am shocked that the CPUSA would align itself with that country, especially given its vociferous (and wholely justified) condemnation of the CCP when the socialist community of nations existed.
> Nice atrticle. I have been living in Shanghai, China for 3
> years and I must admit I appreciate the accuracy of this
> article.
>
> I hope more comrades can experience socialism throughout
> the world. Perhaps next time the delegation will invite
> other members to accompany them especially some comrades
> from outside the NYC area, for example California or
> Chicago.
dear comrade i follow tthis site from germany and i have also apreciated the above article .as i have noticed you live in shangai may be you have an idea how i can reach some academic marxist recent philosopy works from chinese authors but i can only read engkish and german i have problems to reach any book store or institute dealing such books.
your interest will do much help
best wishes
>
> Closer relations are a must. Every country that realizes
> socialism is a step closer to the ultimate goal.
> > Nice atrticle. I have been living in Shanghai, China for
> 3
> > years and I must admit I appreciate the accuracy of this
> > article.
> >
> > I hope more comrades can experience socialism throughout
> > the world. Perhaps next time the delegation will invite
> > other members to accompany them especially some comrades
> > from outside the NYC area, for example California or
> > Chicago.
> dear comrade i follow tthis site from germany and i have
> also apreciated the above article .as i have noticed you
> live in shangai may be you have an idea how i can reach
> some academic marxist recent philosopy works from chinese
> authors but i can only read engkish and german i have
> problems to reach any book store or institute dealing such
> books.
> your interest will do much help
> best wishes
> >
> > Closer relations are a must. Every country that
> realizes
> > socialism is a step closer to the ultimate goal.
>
In response to Cem of Germany, I am currently in Vietnam this month and will return to China next month.
Books are available which are written on one side in Mandarin and on the other side in English. The Beijing Foreign Press Publishers usually are in charge of translations of such texts, and the best part about their books is the price. Most books they publish cost about 1 euro for an average sized paperback.
The book I read and enjoyed was the "Constitution of the Communist Party of China" , in which it cleary states one of it's key principles is Marxism-Leninism.
If you could be more specific about the books you want, I could perhaps work something out with you. So you want books about current economic policy or what like Deng Xiao Ping theory??? Please be specific.
I'm really interested in learning more about Chinese and Vietnamese socialism and their mixed economies. It seems that all you read here in the US is that China is communist in name only and that capitalism, exploitation, and corruption run rampant there.
One of the few positive things that have leaked through into the corporate press here about China is their recent passage of new labor laws that protect worker's rights there in the private sector and strengthen unions and collective bargaining and limits the private sector's ability to fire at will. Of course the American press reported on that negatively - the multinationals are none to happy about workers rights in China!
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