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The Unmaking of the Chinese Working Class
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An unrivalled account of China’s transition from a poor agrarian economy to a global economic powerhouse
This groundbreaking book tells the story of China’s economic rise from the establishment of the People’s Republic to the present. Since the reforms in the late 1970s, China has grown at an extraordinary rate. This transformation did not signify the state’s retreat from the economy. Indeed, it was China’s communist foundation that enabled this astounding development. Yet at the same time, those reforms saw China give up on the idea of equality, unmaking a working class that the revolution had forged. Teemu Ruskola’s engaging and accessible account focuses on the organization of land and labor as the key to understanding China’s rise, explaining how their commodification has remade not only the Chinese nation-state but global capitalism itself.
Reviews
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While the West is still debating the essence of the "China model," Teemu Ruskola's The Unmaking of the Chinese Working Class dissects the deep-seated structures of the world's second-largest economy with surgical precision. This groundbreaking work spanning history, sociology, and political economy traces the transformation of China's working class from "socialist labor aristocracy" to "global proletariat" starting from 1949. It not only reshapes our understanding of the fate of China's working and peasant classes but also reveals how China achieved the monumental transition from an agrarian to an industrial society through dual stages of "primitive socialist accumulation" and "primitive capitalist accumulation." Ruskola innovatively juxtaposes China's rural land reform with Britain's Enclosure Movement, exposing their striking similarities and fundamental differences: Britain spurred the Industrial Revolution through violent land expropriation of peasants, while China accomplished capital accumulation in a more covert manner via "land finance" and "new urbanization." The book directly addresses the plight of "landless peasants," warning that capitalism's unchecked expansion is approaching dual ecological and social limits. This work is not only a record of a nation's class transformation but also a profound reflection on human development models: When developmentalism meets ecological crises, and when "common prosperity" collides with capitalist logic, can we find a new path beyond capitalism?
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A compelling refutation of the prevailing assumption that China’s rise to global economic prominence emanates exclusively from its embrace of capitalism, Teemu Ruskola’s The Unmaking of the Chinese Working Class tells an intriguing story about globalization from below. His account of the decisive role of migrant workers in China urges us to also think more deeply about migrant workers in the US, Europe and elsewhere. Ultimately, the story Ruskola tells is about the very future of our planet