Socialist Action /July 2001
Editorials
Chinese Communist Party to include capitalists
Taking the occasion of the 80th anniversary of
the Chinese Communist Party, on July 1 the CP general secretary and president
of the country, Jiang Zemin, called for welcoming capitalists into the party's
ranks. It was a logical corollary of the policy of restoring capitalism
and of the Chinese Stalinist bureaucracy's attempt to transform itself into
a new capitalist class.
Jiang Zemin's declaration marks the final stage
of the degeneration of a party that was formed 80 years ago to represent
the workers and poor peasants of China and to carry out a revolution in
their interests.
Despite the victory of the Stalinist bureaucratic
faction at the end of the 1920s, the party did continue to defend some fundamental
historical interests of the working class and poor peasantry, such as full
employment and independent industrial development of the country. The CP's
decision to move toward restoring capitalism is eliminating even that.
According to the June issue of October Review,
a Marxist journal published in Hong Kong, some estimate that the real rate
of unemployment in the country is already over 10 percent: "Zhang Zuoji,
head of the Department of Labor and Social Security, said that in the next
five years, an estimated 52 million people will be looking for employment
and 10 million will not be able to find a job."
In these conditions, working people are moving
into confrontation with the party that rules in their name while defending
the interests of native and foreign capitalists. The June October Review
pointed to frequent strikes, involving thousands of workers and direct clashes
with the authorities in the streets.
Clearly the working people of China need a new
Communist Party that will really represent their interests. Such a party
would have no reason to suppress free public discussion and organization.
It would have to fight for maximum democracy, so that the working people
can learn what is really going on in their economic lives and how to organize
to defend themselves and their future.
Patients' rights fraud
The media reporting that the U.S. Senate has passed
a landmark "patient's bill of rights" bill, which would at long
last establish "stringent new federal standards for health insurers,
including HMOs," is a fraud.
Last-minute amendments to the bill exclude 94 percent
of employer insurers from patient lawsuits and require the remainder to
go through an "independent medical review" before filing suit.
The loopholes limit class-action lawsuits and make it clear that insurers
can continue to exclude coverage for specific items.
This bill is part of the Democrats' pretense that
they have some sympathy with the outrage provoked by the HMOs, which has
gone hand in hand with the liquidation of the few public health resources
that existed for the poor and the uninsured. In fact, the capitalist exploitation
of medical needs can only be halted by a fight that would challenge capitalist
principles by taking medical care out of the profit system. .
Cuban agents face U.S. sentencing
Five Cuban intelligence agents whose Miami trial
resulted in a June 8 conviction on U.S. charges of spying have been removed
from the general prison population at the Federal Detention Center in Miami
and placed in a form of solitary confinement.
The five Cubans-Antonio Guerrero, Ramon Labanino,
Gerardo Hernandez, Fernando Gonzalez, and Rene Gonzalez-are awaiting the
sentencing portion of their trial, in which they face prison terms ranging
from 15 years to life.
Their transfer is seen as punishment for their
letter published in Granma, the publication of the Cuban Communist Party,
stating, "We declare ourselves not guilty and simply take comfort in
the fact that we have honored our duty to our people and our homeland."
The convicted Cubans have repeatedly stated that
their activities, including infiltration of the U.S.-backed, Miami-based
terrorist group Brothers to the Rescue and a U.S. military base, were aimed
at preventing terrorism against Cuba.
Cuba has presented voluminous evidence documenting
U.S.-backed terrorist actions spanning 40 years, including blowing up Cuban
passenger planes, assassinations, bombing public buildings, and the use
of biochemical poisons to destroy Cuban agriculture. Several thousand Cubans
have been murdered in these heinous deeds.
Over 50,000 Cubans rallied in Havana on June 23,
chanting, "Free the Five!''
Socialist Action /July 2001 |