I encountered Cheng Enfu from his lectures online and his collaboration work with the “International Manifesto Group”, which contains more familiar Western characters such as John Ross (China’s Great Road), Roland Boer (A Foreigner’s Guide to SWCC) and Carlos Martinez (The East is Still Red). I would consider Enfu to be a leading scholar of modern Chinese Marxism. I haven’t had the opportunity to read any of his books but I have “China’s Economic Dialectic” and both volumes of “The Creation of Value of Living Labor” on order.

He says some interesting things. He said the following in his “Opening Speech at the Fourteenth Forum of the World Association of Political Economy”:

“Sixth, the national bourgeoisie is not the object of class struggle… But on the other hand, under certain conditions, it will shake its position and even have the side effect of damaging socialism with Chinese characteristics, as mentioned above. Therefore, at present the national bourgeoisie as a whole is not the object of class enemies an class struggle, but the main object of the united front and solidarity. The broad masses of the Chinese people can only effectively counter the class struggle initiated by hostile forces at home and abroad against the working class and socialism with Chinese characteristics.”

So here, Enfu is saying that there exists a sort of “alliance” between the proletariat and the national bourgeoisie in China which acts as a counterbalance to Western imperialism. But he also suggests that this alliance may not be permanent. Some day in the future, this united front may no longer exist.

What are your thoughts on this?