China passes law to protect private property

China's National People's Congress, its highest legislative body, passed a new law that gives protection to all “lawful” forms of private property, on a par with state and collective property. This is the first time since the Chinese Revolution of 1949 that such a comprehensive law legitimizing and protecting private property has been proclaimed in China.

This new law reflects the reality in China today, where in the name of a “socialist market economy”, capitalism has been vigorously flourishing, making China the envy of the imperialist bourgeoisie of the whole world. Both foreign and domestic capital have been rapidly extending their sway over the Chinese economy. Private capitalist enterprises today account for over 65% of China's GDP and 70% of its tax revenues. The state and party structures are also very closely linked with the capitalist elements in the town and countryside. Together, the party and state officialdom and the private capitalists have seen to the dismantling of the huge state industries that were set up after the Revolution, and the take over of their assets by thinly disguised loot and robbery. Overnight, businessmen and top cadres have become millionaires through this process. The new law will undoubtedly give a boost to this process of wholesale privatisation of the resources and enterprises of China. It will provide legitimacy to the claims of the local and foreign carpet baggers and give state protection to the Chinese bourgeoisie and the foreign imperialist bourgeoisie in plundering the land and labour of the Chinese people.

The current developments are a logical consequence of the whole flawed process of building socialism in China. Although the Revolution of 1949 liberated the Chinese people from feudal and imperialist oppression, and although measures of a thoroughgoing democratic and even socialist character were undertaken, socialism was never established in China. After the reforms to launch China on the path of capitalist globalization and privatization were launched by the leadership of the Communist Party in 1978, China has proceeded steadily in the direction of total integration with the global capitalist economy. The trajectory China has pursued has been to emerge as a world class imperialist power in rivalry with the US and other imperialist powers.

The 1988 constitutional amendments to the Constitution of the PRC legitimised the existence of the private economy as a "complement" to the public economy, while in 1999, the role of the private sector was upgraded to make it an "essential part" of the “socialist market economy”. In 2002, the ruling Communist Party went so far as to open its membership to private capitalists. This just shows the extent to which capitalism has entrenched itself in the economy, state and even the party in China.

The course of development on which China has headed has received praise from the bourgeoisie around the world for having accelerated “growth”. In India, the Chinese "model" is often quoted by the ruling class as something to emulate. However, this course has been revealed as being completely against the interests of the Chinese working class and peasantry who had fought and sacrificed so long and hard for their emancipation.

Lakhs of Chinese workers have been thrown out their jobs, while others toil in the sweatshops of the big coastal cities with hardly any rights and protection. Thousands of coal miners have died in horrific mine disasters which are a consequence of the drive of the Chinese ruling bourgeoisie to grow rich at the fastest possible pace at the expense of the working class and people. Agriculture is in a deep crisis and rural unrest has been steadily mounting. According to the government's own statistics, there were more than 87,000 recorded protests in China last year. The passing of the new property law itself took over 14 years because of the strong objections raised from various quarters. A leading professor of Beijing University denounced the government for “copying capitalist law like slaves”. As the current leadership of China sends the country hurtling down the path of capitalist development, the opposition and protests are likely to mount.