I’m trying to get to how it’s democratic and worker-controlled in your eyes because it’s hard to see for me, as people don’t seem to get to choose much in the system as designed. What’s the mechanism for average people to change a government policy that they disagree with? If the party does start to lose touch with what the workers need or start working against their interests, how do the workers course-correct it?
But this doesn’t answer my question, the only mechanism for people’s input seems to be elections and polling, and it conspicuously omits the fact that elections only allow party-approved candidates. Maybe the powers-that-be have a great track record of listening and respecting the will of the people, and are beloved by all as a result, but that doesn’t actually put the people in control, it just means the ones actually in control are being nice. When the government and the people have a fundamental disagreement about the path forward, what piece am I missing that makes the government the one to back down?
I’m not sure I follow, what do you imagine would happen? What’s an example? COVID is a quick example I can think of of the central government wanting more strict policies, but folding due to public pressure against it (even though the government ended up being correct).
The CPC doesn’t have a mandate from heaven, it has 100 million members in a country of 1.4 billion. It’s a party thoroughly embedded in production, local jurisdictions, and gets its policies directly from the people. Five Year Plans are the result of mass polling, as an example. When the party sepparates from the masses, it loses support, and mass protest occurs and production halts. This is rare, because the CPC is good at what it does.
Right, that’s a good example of it going the way you describe, and I’m curious what would’ve happened if the government hadn’t folded. If the people really are making the decisions, they would get their way eventually, what does that look like?
Like I said, mass protest and huge issues with the economy. The PRC isn’t a capitalist country where the state is an extension of the capitalist class, the state in the PRC is an extension of the working class, as public ownership is the principle aspect of the economy. For example, the USSR was dissolved through reform, it wasn’t a competing political party that destroyed socialism, it was caused by complex and myriad factors that the CPC has largely learned from.
I’m trying to get to how it’s democratic and worker-controlled in your eyes because it’s hard to see for me, as people don’t seem to get to choose much in the system as designed. What’s the mechanism for average people to change a government policy that they disagree with? If the party does start to lose touch with what the workers need or start working against their interests, how do the workers course-correct it?
Here’s a good overview of how China’s democracy works. The CPC adheres to the mass line, policies come from the people, and the CPC gets support for carrying that out.
But this doesn’t answer my question, the only mechanism for people’s input seems to be elections and polling, and it conspicuously omits the fact that elections only allow party-approved candidates. Maybe the powers-that-be have a great track record of listening and respecting the will of the people, and are beloved by all as a result, but that doesn’t actually put the people in control, it just means the ones actually in control are being nice. When the government and the people have a fundamental disagreement about the path forward, what piece am I missing that makes the government the one to back down?
I’m not sure I follow, what do you imagine would happen? What’s an example? COVID is a quick example I can think of of the central government wanting more strict policies, but folding due to public pressure against it (even though the government ended up being correct).
The CPC doesn’t have a mandate from heaven, it has 100 million members in a country of 1.4 billion. It’s a party thoroughly embedded in production, local jurisdictions, and gets its policies directly from the people. Five Year Plans are the result of mass polling, as an example. When the party sepparates from the masses, it loses support, and mass protest occurs and production halts. This is rare, because the CPC is good at what it does.
Right, that’s a good example of it going the way you describe, and I’m curious what would’ve happened if the government hadn’t folded. If the people really are making the decisions, they would get their way eventually, what does that look like?
Like I said, mass protest and huge issues with the economy. The PRC isn’t a capitalist country where the state is an extension of the capitalist class, the state in the PRC is an extension of the working class, as public ownership is the principle aspect of the economy. For example, the USSR was dissolved through reform, it wasn’t a competing political party that destroyed socialism, it was caused by complex and myriad factors that the CPC has largely learned from.