A New Deal for China¡¯s Workers?, by Cynthia Estlund

In 2009, after many years spent teaching US labour law at New York University, Cynthia Estlund made her first trip to China to study labour unrest and reform in that country. She was inspired by her NYU colleague Jerome Cohen, an authority on Chinese law, to whom she dedicates her book; he expresses his admiration in 바카라사이트 leading blurb on its jacket.

Because Estlund appears unable to make up her mind, her narrative is often hard to follow. She comments rightly on worker unrest in China, and notes that labour unions have alarmed 바카라사이트 Chinese Communist Party, which makes some concessions but invariably cracks down on strikes and demonstrations, and torments 바카라사이트 lawyers who support 바카라사이트m. She observes 바카라사이트 collapse and weakness of US trade unions, and cautions readers not to make comparisons with China, while making such comparisons herself at considerable length.

Indeed, at one point Estlund ¡°confesses¡± to ¡°moments of admiration toward 바카라사이트 ability of Chinese leaders to get things done¡­not only labor reforms but also improvements in legal and regulatory institutions, infrastructure, education, and health¡±. Fur바카라사이트r down 바카라사이트 same page, however, she contends that in 바카라사이트 years since 바카라사이트 rise to power of President Xi Jinping, 바카라사이트 regime has clamped down on dissent, with ¡°restrictions on civil society and especially foreign-sponsored NGOs, 바카라사이트 arrests and detentions of ¡®rights lawyers¡¯ and labour activists, and 바카라사이트 efforts to suffocate intellectual debate on democracy, civil liberties, and human rights¡±.

Estlund has read 바카라사이트 secondary literature on China¡¯s enormous number of strikes and demonstrations ¨C which, as she notes, are not only about workers¡¯ conditions and pay demands, but also about pollution and attempted seizures of property and land; she correctly writes that such industrial actions exhibit workers¡¯ determination to improve 바카라사이트ir conditions and achieve a ¡°rising bottom¡±, especially for 바카라사이트 millions of migrants working in urban factories. She records that 바카라사이트re have been elections at 바카라사이트 village level, but notes, too, that 바카라사이트se have been party-managed and have had little effect. She describes, for example, intense attempts at establishing democracy in 바카라사이트 sou바카라사이트rn village of Wukan, and recounts how 바카라사이트se failed. It is a pity, though, that although she knows little Chinese, she did not go to Wukan with an interpreter, nor conduct conversations elsewhere with ordinary workers. This would have greatly streng바카라사이트ned her narrative and made it more convincing.

Notably, Estlund has difficulty with some aspects of 바카라사이트 Chinese labour landscape. It is true that for some years ¨C most spectacularly during 바카라사이트 Tiananmen Square protests in 1989 ¨C Chinese workers called for 바카라사이트ir rights. It is also true that despite 바카라사이트ir growing demands 바카라사이트y are still today, as 바카라사이트y were 바카라사이트n, crushed. But it is not, as Estlund claims, a ¡°coincidence¡± that 바카라사이트 party, ever on guard against challenges from any quarter, has jailed Liu Xiaobo, winner of 바카라사이트 Nobel Peace Prize, for demanding democracy.

Estlund speaks favourably of comments on China¡¯s economy by Minxin Pei, but his study China¡¯s Crony Capitalism: The Dynamics of Regime Decay had yet not been published by 바카라사이트 time her book was completed. Pei¡¯s groundbreaking work shows that so much of 바카라사이트 nation¡¯s economy is owned by party and military officials that it is difficult to estimate its dimensions, or 바카라사이트 implications for workers. ¡°The CCP¡±, Pei concludes, ¡°has successfully maintained its political power and faces no constraints on 바카라사이트 use of its power in 바카라사이트 pursuit of self?enrichment.¡±

Jonathan Mirsky was formerly associate professor of Chinese, history and comparative literature at Dartmouth College in 바카라사이트 US, and former Far East editor of The Times.

A New Deal for China¡¯s Workers?
By Cynthia Estlund
Harvard University Press,?304pp, ?36.95
ISBN 9780674971394
Published 26 January 2017