- by Graham Holton
- The Guardian
- Issue #2181
Shanghai multilevel junction. Photo: Denys Nevozhai – public domain
On 21 February David Matters led a forum on Multipolarity and Chinese Modernisation: A synopsis of nation state and class. These distinct concepts are inextricably intertwined. The big banks in Europe and the USA had financed colonial empires, spreading capitalism amongst the colonised peoples. The Russian Revolution of 1917 opened up a new era, with the proletarian revolution finding allies in the landless peasants and oppressed nationalities. The Soviet Union was the first nation in which national minorities came together voluntarily to build a new world order that challenged the colonial empires.
During the Cold War the Non-Aligned Movement was a response by the developing countries to the ‘bi-polarised’ world – a world with two superpowers, with US imperialism and its allies attacking the socialist world. In response multipolarity asserted national independence as a counter to the USA and its imperialist allies, engaging with China. The development of the world economy increased global interdependence. Today China attempts to break the US monopoly over advanced technologies.
US imperialism attempted to halt independence movements shaped by conflicts. Former colonial powers waged wars to regain control of their former colonies. The US State Department and the CIA financed and took part in dozens of coups and military interventions in the developing world. This led to the creation of neocolonialism which held countries such as Namibia, Mozambique, and Angola in bondage to the former colonial powers. Australia did the same in Papua New Guinea, Fiji, and other island states.
China is undergoing a cultural renaissance as a result of growing material wealth. China has the largest urbanisation in human history, with its proletariat no longer a small minority. The city and country are being united and rural isolation bought to an end. The imperialist governments are trying to “decouple” China from the world economy, making extra efforts to engage India as an alternative to China.
At present governments in Europe, Canada, Australia, Japan, and Taiwan are spending billions to rearm. This is while imperialism is unable to solve the problems of climate extremes, increasing wars, social degradation and cultural loss amongst peasant and Indigenous peoples. As socialism develops, the productive forces released move the socially necessary labour time towards absolute zero.
The talk was opened up to discussions on banks and finance, multipolarity, African GDP and new designs by imperialist powers. Green energy is progressing in developing countries. More research is needed from a Marxist perspective.
