In this essay, extracted from the book The Purity Fetish and the Crisis of Western Marxism, Carlos Garrido takes a detailed look at China’s socialist market economy and seeks to understand why so much of the Western left insistently misunderstands it. Carlos discusses the assorted tropes about China’s ‘authoritarianism’ and ‘totalitarianism’, as well as the … Continue reading China and the purity fetish of Western Marxism
In capitalist countries the markets are in command. Even though locking down was the obviously rational and scientific choice, the rest of the world simply couldn’t do it because markets demand growth at all costs. The market commanded us all to die for the money line.
There was a chance workers would infect the upper classes in the West but they took that risk because they must obey the market too. If the worst happened and the virus mutated into something apocalyptic, they could flee to New Zealand as the designated bunker nation.
In China, the Party could actually make the rational choice to lock down because politics are still in command. Even if the worst had happened and a new mutant strain started wiping out countries, I believe China would have weathered it because they were actually prepared. They were the only mainland country to take the pandemic seriously because they were the only one that even could.
Here’s how I understand it:
In capitalist countries the markets are in command. Even though locking down was the obviously rational and scientific choice, the rest of the world simply couldn’t do it because markets demand growth at all costs. The market commanded us all to die for the money line.
There was a chance workers would infect the upper classes in the West but they took that risk because they must obey the market too. If the worst happened and the virus mutated into something apocalyptic, they could flee to New Zealand as the designated bunker nation.
In China, the Party could actually make the rational choice to lock down because politics are still in command. Even if the worst had happened and a new mutant strain started wiping out countries, I believe China would have weathered it because they were actually prepared. They were the only mainland country to take the pandemic seriously because they were the only one that even could.