this is richard wolff from democracy at
work
responding to another ask prof wolf
question from our patreon community this
one comes from dan testin
and refers to china and particularly
to the
accusation the criticism the comment
often made that china
has either relied on stealing
western technology
or somehow
weaponizing
uh greed in the west to its own
advantage
thoughts like that
i have been in turn quite critical of
that way of thinking
and i'm going to make the case now
briefly but i think
in a way that should resolve the matter
first a bit of history
every country that we have
record of every region of the world
that entered a period
when it envied
the further economic development of
another part of the world
chose sooner or later
to
catch up and hopefully surpass the other
area
by adapting adopting
copying
learning
the advanced technology
of whatever they were trying to catch up
to and surpass
there is nothing new
or
shocking
or strange
or exceptional about this
i'll give you examples
because modern capitalism developed
first in england
back in the 17th and 18th century
the rest of europe
copied english
technology
sometimes it was literally stolen
other times it was purchased still still
other times arrangements were made to
learn it or to copy it or to partner
with it
many mechanisms the united states as a
fledgling country did that in
relationship to the more advanced
economy
of the british empire
the germans copied the british
then the japanese copied
western europe and the united states
and the copying has always gone on
in multiple forms
so what the chinese are accused of doing
is something that most of the accusers
will find likewise in the past
of their own countries or regions
making this sort of criticism
old-fashioned
out of fashion
nowhere near the shocking surprise
it's often presented to be
now let's turn to the chinese
version of this
i have no doubt that in some instances
there were or could be found to be
examples where chinese citizens
literally
stole
western technology when they were in a
position
to do so
since it has happened everywhere else
there's really no reason
to think it wouldn't happen in this case
but even if it did
it accounts for a relatively small
portion as best we can tell
and the reason we can tell this is that
we know quite well
how the basic transfer
of western
technology
to china was accomplished particularly
over the last 30 or so years
so let me explain to you how that was
done
over those 30 years china step by step
became
the surprising the dynamic
the success
story
of the quote less developed world
their emergence from being one of the
poorest country with the bad luck of
also being one of the largest countries
by population meant that they were not
expected to do real well
in terms of catching up to western
europe north america japan the developed
parts of the world
but they did so
they did so under the leadership and
directorship of the chinese
communist party
a party begun back in the early parts of
the 20th century
building slowly
to make a revolution
after
1945
and to win a civil war that emerged out
of that revolution
in 1949
and they have been that is the chinese
communist party
in the in charge of in leading position
in the people's republic of china ever
since
coming on to
75 years very soon
during that time they accomplished a
record-breaking
pace
and scope of economic development
without western foreign aid
with western hostility
political military ideological you name
it despite all of that
they grew
the working class of that country over
the last 75 years has seen the average
real wage
go up five six
seven times
far beyond
anything
achieved in the united states
or anywhere else in the rest of the
world over that same period of time
in short
china
achieved
two things of enormous importance
number one
they developed out of a poor backward
agrarian culture and society
a modern
rich
well-educated
skilled working class
willing and able to work at wages
far below
comparable work
in western europe north america and
japan
also because they raised the standard of
living of masses hundreds of millions
of people
the chinese market for all manner of
consumer goods took off in the last 30
years making china
a remarkable place
wages way lower than in western
capitalism
and the market
bigger and growing faster than western
capitalism
could
compete with
and this
made
western capitalists realize that their
well-being
the growth of their profits their
success as corporations
meant they had to get in
on the advantages offered by china
basically
low wages
advantageous working conditions and a
fast fast-growing market
the key ingredients to successful
capitalist enterprise
so american british french japanese
canadian
corporations when they could
and to make more money
invested in china
they set up factories they partnered
with chinese businesses with state
businesses and with private chinese
businesses
they got in
on the low wages and the exploding
market
but the chinese under the leadership of
the communist party demanded something
in exchange for opening their country to
capitalists which they otherwise
wouldn't have wanted to do
providing cheap labor and a market where
the western capitalists could compete
against
chinese companies both state and private
here's what they demanded
you have lots of technology that we
want to share
we want to learn
and so the deal was done
you american companies for example you
get low wages
good working conditions and a fast
growing market
we get
partnering in on your learning from your
technology
no one held a gun to the american
corporation's head no one required them
to come to china to make deals in china
to profit from china they did that
because they chose to it's how
capitalism works
it's not about greed it's not about
weaponizing anything it's normal
capitalist business
and to call it after you've made the
deal
which you made voluntarily to call it
stealing
is something about which you shouldn't
be angry
you should be ashamed
this is richard wolff for democracy at
work