Ep. 94 #linegoesdown (3.1) w/ PostCyborg
Added 2020-04-29 14:16:43 +0000 UTCWith China in the news we decided to dive deep into the history and political economy of East Asia with an eye towards how the fates of China and the United States became so intertwined:
Why did China decline as a historic world power? What role did imperialism play? Why was Japan's development different? How did the balance of class forces determine the unique road that China took to great power status? And why did Mao's Chinese Communist Party arise as it did when it did?
This first part of the series covers the history of China from the ancient period up to 1949 revolution. The next (to be released in several weeks) will examine the developmental regime up until the historic convergence of the Chinese and American economies in the 1990s. The concluding episode will situate the recent trade wars, the Belt and Road initiative, and the rise of China as a world capitalist power at the expense of American hegemony. Stay tuned!
Theme: Frank Crumit - Tale of the Ticker
Outro: Carsick Cars - Zhi Yuan De Ren
Comments
Was there ever a part 2 to this?
Sebastian Wittekindt
2021-01-18 05:33:58 +0000 UTCI commented a little earlier but I don't think it posted for some reason. I really enjoy this podcast. I was a little skeptical of how terms like "feudalism" and "middle class" were being used in this episode though. I'm not a specialist in Chinese history or anything, but it's important noting that China alternated between, or simultaneously had both a "feudal" but also an "imperial" system, and that these entailed different types of class relations (especially with the imperial system's central exams). On the same note, the Meiji restoration doesn't represent the rise of a "middle class", so much as coup executed by one branch of the ruling elite or aristocracy against another branch (why there was a famous debate in the late 1920s over whether the Meiji restoration could be considered a "bourgeois" revolution or not). The notion of an emergent middle class really sets in Japan during and after WWI. Hope I don't sound nit-picky, but I think the argument in this episode would be stronger if you subjected the Marxist framework you're working with to more of an internal critique.
uegusa333
2020-05-18 18:55:58 +0000 UTCthanks, we're here for you as always!
The Antifada
2020-05-04 04:30:11 +0000 UTCReally looking forward to the linegoesdown series on China. I've never really heard a materialist history perspective of Chinese history
Cardboard
2020-04-30 05:16:05 +0000 UTCHappy daaay
Alex
2020-04-29 14:17:32 +0000 UTC
