Red Emma’s

In this event, Ralf Ruckus will present the arguments of two recent books. THE COMMUNIST ROAD TO CAPITALISM. HOW SOCIAL UNREST AND CONTAINMENT HAVE PUSHED CHINA’S (R)EVOLUTION SINCE 1949 (PM Press, 2021) provides a history of the social, economic, and political trajectory in China since 1949. Throughout this history, social struggles were met by countermeasures from the Communist Party regime which again triggered social conflicts. This dynamic of struggles and countermeasures was the driving force behind the development not only of China’s socialism from the 1950s on, but also of the reforms and the transition to capitalism after the 1970s and until today.

THE LEFT IN CHINA. A POLITICAL CARTOGRAPHY (Pluto Press, 2023) looks deeper into the social conflicts and struggles in China since 1949 and analyses how they inspired different generations of leftwing opposition. The dialectic of struggles and leftwing movements repeatedly challenged the Communist Party regime and produced subversive critiques and practices directed against the oppressive socialist order and later the capitalist system.

Ralf Ruckus has been focusing on the analysis, and support of workers’, migrants’, and women*’ struggles in China for two decades. This included translations of a series of books by Chinese workers, activists, and leftwing scholars into English and German. Besides publishing the above-mentioned books, Ralf Ruckus recently co-edited CHINA FROM BELOW. CRITICAL ANALYSIS & GRASSROOTS ACTIVISM (gongchao.org, 2023).

Kevin Lin is the managing editor of Asian Labour Review.