In this analysis of “Dueling Oligarchies,” we examine the power dynamics and political structures that define the elite rule in China and America. By comparing these two nations, we aim to uncover the similarities and differences in how their respective oligarchies operate and influence their societies.
Oligarchic control of government has been a feature of Western civilization since classical antiquity, and the key to this control has been opposition to civil government strong enough to prevent a creditor oligarchy from emerging and monopolizing control of land and wealth, making itself into a hereditary aristocracy, a rentier class living off land rents, interest and monopoly privileges that reduces the population to austerity. Michael Hudson.

The oligarchy that has guided America’s destiny for two centuries is guiding it into a ditch, just when the oligarchy that guided China’s destiny for two millennia is guiding it out of one. Squabbling government factions, ‘parties,’ steered China into a ditch, just as they steered America into the Civil War. But the difference between the two oligarchies is as vast as the difference between their relationship to government.
Anonymous Oligarchies Govern Irresponsibly.
Civilizations on the way down generally fail because elites become so obsessed with maintaining their power and privilege that they forget to address citizens’ needs. America’s oligarchy, its power elite, has so forgotten their citizens’ needs that, today, most have zero net worth and the suffer world’s lowest social mobility.
And our governments don’t care: “In the United States, our findings indicate, the majority does not rule – at least not in the causal sense of actually determining policy outcomes. The preferences of the average American appear to have only a minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy”. Martin Gilens and Benjamin I. Page.
The reason for this is not far to seek, as Disraeli observed, “The world is governed by very different personages from what is imagined by those who are not behind the scenes”. We are now so accustomed to being ruled (sic) by anonymous, unaccountable people –invisible to our media – that we barely notice. But we do notice where they’re leading us.
Our oligarchs encouraged the emergence of a financial oligarchy that now controls most of our land and rent-yielding assets, degraded or sold off our infrastructure, treated money and credit as private goods and made health, education, transportation and communications increasingly unaffordable.
They have so immiserated Americans that the average citizen has zero net worth and her life expectancy is falling, while forty percent of workers cannot afford home ownership and real incomes are unchanged since 1974.
The people who spend billions to gain control of our politicians have been enriching themselves faster than ever since 2019 and show no intention of slackening. Yet we have no way to hold them or our politicians to account.
The oligarch situation is very different in China.
Accountable Oligarchies Govern Responsibly. Who knew?
When real leadership meets real mission, people fall over themselves to join. They want to belong. They believe. They will work for virtually nothing. They will beg to be part of something bigger than themselves. Most Americans have NEVER experienced this. They cannot understand it at a gut level. It is alien to them. Ian Welsh.
China’s oligarchy, the Communist Party of China,
- is a public service body, like Rotary International
- has a real mission: ‘serve the people’
- their oath: “I promise to bear the people’s hardships first, to enjoy its comforts last, and to work selflessly for the public interest”
- people fall all over themselves to join
- members are volunteers
- admission requires three years of study and service
- membership is not heritable
- 20% of applicants are accepted
- it has 100-million members
- all extended families have at least one Party member
- promotion is democratic
- everyone knows senior members’ names and responsibilities
- members contribute $1 billion in annual dues1
- membership raises members’ social status (and stress levels)
- membership does not raise members’ incomes
- members’ code of conduct resembles US Navy officers’
China’s governing oligarchs successfully resisted the emergence of a financial oligarchy controlling land and rent-yielding assets, kept infrastructure in public hands, treated money and credit as public utilities and provided health, education, transportation and communications as basic human rights.
They lifted everyone out of poverty, doubled national life expectancy, gave 96% of folks their own homes and have doubled real incomes every decade for generations. (Their investment in poverty alleviation, $2 trillion, is half what US oligarchs spent on war since 9/11).
Their oligarchy is publicly known, responsible for pretty much everything that goes wrong, and accountable for their policies in perpetuity. Their insistence on equitably sharing economic gains with wage earners requires discipline and persistence that factional governments cannot muster, let alone sustain for generations:
1 Every year, Xi has to scold them to pay their dues on time, like party secretaries everywhere.