Reflections on the Counter-Revolution in China

Having lived in both Guatemala and China one thing which interests me is comparing the prices. The Guatemalan Quetzal fluctuates between 7 and 8 to the dollar, which is also the range of the Renminbi. So the value of the currency internationally is somewhat similar. A Quetzal (Q) and the Renminbi are very close to equivalent value. On the other wages are somewhat different. Median income in Canton province is much higher than Guatemala. But base wages for a security guard in Guatemala city are about 2,000 Quetzals, whereas baseline wages for say a housecleaner are 1,000 RMB. I don't know the situation for equal types of employment.


What is interesting in light of this is how much less expensive things are here than in Guatemala. Taxis here start at 7 RMB. In Guatemala City a taxi ride is minimum 3 times as much 25Q, 40 after dark. You can eat a meal with variety off of stainless steel plates in a restaurant for 5 RMB, and off styrofoam in the street for 1-2. A restaurant meal in Guatemala starts at twice as much (10-12 Q) and variety, cleanliness, and the attitude of the staff are generally lower. The restaurant I eat at in China offers a buffet including vegetables, mushrooms, fish, chicken, for 5RMB ($0.75) In Guatemala City 10Q restaurants have very little variety, no vegetables, and handmade tortillas are the only culinary artistry. Chinese street food includes dumplings, porridge, stir-fried tofu, sugar cane often sold from the back of three-wheeled bicycles owned by the vendors. And you can eat fairly well for 1-4 RMB. You can eat for 1-4 Q in some Guatemalan villages, but in Guatemala City street food is usually large bulky taco stands where people work on contract and most of the revenue goes to the company which provides the equipment. Consequently prices are higher (10Q), but less of that money ends up in the hand of the person working. Even fried corn, which in Guatemala City costs 3-5 Q is only 1 RMB here. Again prices are lower in Guatemalan villages, but Foshan, and Guatemala City both have about 2 million people, so it is interesting how much more pleasant and affordable things like taxis, restaurants, and beer are here.


Unlike Guatemala I don't speak the language, so with a lot of people here my interaction consists mainly of smiles and laughter. So I don't know much about the economics: rent, supplies, take-home. But the street vendors generally seem happier than those in Guatemala city—and the vibe and friendliness seem to suggest an town much smaller and more intimate.


Another noticeable fact is the absence of guns. In Guatemala City many stores have an armed security guard, and police patrols are a common sight in markets, or on city buses. Buses and taxis are often held up in Guatemala City. My relatives introduced me to a couple who run a successful Chinese restaurant in Guatemala City. They have two armed guards patrolling their parking lot, and usually are driven around by a chauffeur with a gun. My cousin here in China has over the past 8 years built a successful steel business and just finished building a modern 4 story house with antique furniture and flat screen televisions in each room. It isn't as nice as the house in Guatemala City, but he drives by himself and never uses a bodyguard. A student of mine also commented on the lack of guns, saying that while youth gangs exist here, they do their fighting with knives, not guns—which greatly reduces the problem of innocent bystanders dying in drive-by shootings.


Nightlife is variable. Guatemala has a big distillery and beers in restaurants start at 12 Q, though sometimes you may have to pay up to 40Q. Here you can drink on the street for 3 RMB. When I go out with my cousin he may drop 1000s of Renminbi for a fancy karaoke nightclub full of elegantly dressed wait staff and fancy decoration—or I may sit on plastic stools on the sidewalk with my friends and spend 10 RMB. There are lots of people with jobs in fancy nightclubs which would not exist without the disposable income of people like my cousin. In old China probably less than 1% of the people could enjoy the aristocratic pleasures of Chinese cooking in elegant surroundings. In the current economic system perhaps 5-10% of people can enjoy aristocratic pleasures regularly and higher percentage can enjoy them on special occasions. I worked three years in fancy restaurants—it's not a bad job, and more soothing surroundings than a factory—and once the paying customers went home we help sometimes got to pretend like we owned the place.


Compared to Guatemala China seems to be a better place to be on the bottom of the economic ladder: you can eat cheap, sell things from the back of bicycles. It is more conceivable that you will occasionally be able to splurge on a taxi ride or a cellphone. Also being held up, accidentally shot, or dying in a boss crash seems to be less of a problem—though that may also be because there are no tabloid newspapers to drum up those fears. It also seems like a better place to be rich—my cousin doesn't have to pay for bodyguards. In Guatemala City, there are many security guards, and many people from the provinces make a basic living standing around holding a shotgun. But it strikes me that it might be better for the economy if the system demanded jobs which might give them more marketable skills afterward.


Many people forget that the foundation of Bolshevik Communism was contrary to Marx's theory of history. Marx believed that capitalism would first become a world-wide system encompassing all the nations of the world—so that bourgeois management would create the wealth and technology which could be used for the common good after the revolution. "Communist" revolutions have never actually occurred in countries with large proletariats, but rather places like Russia, China, and Cuba, which were agrarian, feudal and pre-capitalist. The Bolshevik idea was that it was possible to bypass capitalism and go from peasants to socialism, whereas Marx did not necessarily see the two as mutually exclusive. Socialism is something which builds on capitalism—not which suppresses capitalism.


Many people now believe that Marxism is a dead end. Neo-Liberals have designed capitalist economies in Russia and Guatemala, and the Chinese Communist party has designed a capitalist economy in China. Asked about the "change" Deng Xiaoping said "It does not matter if the cat is black or white, so long as it catches mice." But it is interesting to compare how the different-colored cats do at catching mice. The capitalism imposed by the neo-Liberals in Russia is dominated by mafiosi, alcoholism, and a fall in life-expectancy of ten years. Crime and violence are also endemic in Guatemala. It strikes me as interesting that in China rich people ride around without bodyguards and poor people can make a living selling things off the back of bicycles. There are many other factors involved—some of the violence in Guatemala is a side-effect of the civil war, and in China most of the new millionaires were on the same level as the poor people 20 years ago, whereas rich people in Guatemala are often the same families who have been ruling the country for centuries. But I think there is some evidence that the Chinese Communist party has designed a better capitalist system for the Chinese people than Neo-Liberals from the US have in Central America and the former Soviet Union.

Happy May Day!