One theory I’ve heard about the accelerating of the worsening conditions of western proletariat is that the USSR used to provide a bulwark against things getting too bad. People would point at the USSR and the illusion that capitalism was better for individual prosperity would collapse in comparison. Then, with the USSR gone things have been deteriorating for the past ~30 years.
If that is true, even somewhat, why haven’t we seen a similar effect from China’s example? Is the theory simply wrong? Maybe western capitalism is just unable to even offer scraps from the table at this point. Maybe people are unaware of how things are in China? Could we dare to expect that China’s example will force a lifting of the boot from our necks?
Because there is no working class movement in the west. Concessions were the result of decades of fighting by several organized workers movements, they weren’t just granted willingly.
Obviously westerners are just not voting hard enough. If USians vote REALLY hard for the Democrats, this time it will work.
they don’t need to concede anything because the general public of western nations is still convinced china has 90% of their population in gulags and any wins they have is because of the gulags
i think that theory falls apart in modern times because of the severe ideological differences between then and now. socialism back then, even in the west, was regarded as legitimate and a viable alternative. now, in western countries, socialism is 100% tried and failed. it’s irredeemable, so any benefits other countries see from it are 100% because of the gulags.
Not just the general public, the average “”“leftist”“” has been convinced China a capitalist hellscape with all jobs being sweatshops and the like.
It’s always the same like three or four talking points too, every single time. They aren’t even particularly compelling ones.
It’s not like China is a perfect country that cannot be criticized whatsoever, but their arguments always boil down to “Oh yeah, social credit and winnie the pooh! TAKE THAT WUMAO”
With China becoming a holiday destination, with Visa free travel for several European states. Do you expect any effect at all in the future?
in near future, no. based on anecdotal evidence of interacting with west europeans, fear mongering about china has seeped to much, won’t shrug off anytime soon, specially with multiple crises and tensions rising in the world and the role china has on the global stage.
my guess is this effect will be seen in the global south, as china is delivering infrastructure and investments in africa and latin america.
Alongside the other points people have made- distance, Orientalism, racism, and the (heavily propagandized) notion that China is “just as capitalist”- and the fact that socialism and the left has been thoroughly demonized and rooted out in the west at this point- I think another factor is that the corruption, arrogance, and neoliberal financialization- in other words, the various contradictions of the western system- have set in too deep to be simply waved away as concessions, even in the most pathetic band-aids of measures.
That’s not to say we can be complacent- the contradictions have run their course before IMO, in the Great Depression and its impacts across the west (particularly the US and Weimar Germany) and we all know how that turned out. But IMO it will take a similar shock to make the west break out of its liberal (hell, worse than that- neoliberal) orthodoxy, what with all interests enforcing it to its fullest extent- and even then, the fascism button is always easier, more tolerable to capital, than even the slightest hint of concessions.
The ruling class was overly confident of their victory in the 90s over communism. They are high on their own supply to this day and think China will collapse any time now. Essentially, they don’t believe they need to give significant concessions because, in their view, there is no alternative, and workers have no choice other than capitalism. It’s not just our politicians who think there is no alternative, but many ordinary people as well.
Because the concessions occurred because the communists were at the gates. Socialism was seen as valid, popular, etc. They also hadn’t had decades to make propaganda and red scare counter narratives. In light of that and the fall of the Soviet Union plus different global circumstances (in the 50s there was still plenty of the global south subject to barely disguised open plunder profits from which were high enough that they felt they not only had to but could afford to buy off the working class of the imperial core).
