Much, much more than we think..
We don’t want even one politically unqualified person sneaking into the Party, fishing for profits. Xi Jinping.
Of one billion applicants for membership in the Communist Party of China, 907 million have been rejected. Jacky Chan for marital indiscretion, and VC Eric X Li for over-exposure to the West, he suspects.
In other words, the majority of Chinese would take the Party’s oath–to endure the people’s ordeals first and enjoy their fruits last–and subject themselves to its scrutiny if admitted to membership, and 94 million do so.
Founded in 1921, the CPC became the ruling party in 1949 after 300,000 members gave their lives in the war. Membership increased from 4.5 million in 1949–one percent of the population– to 94 million today, or ten percent of the adult population. Membership is prestigious, as I saw wandering around Shenzhen with a French Communist who had only to produce his French Party membership card to draw an admiring throng.Yet, overall, members do not benefit financially:
We estimate the returns to membership of the Communist Party of China using unique twin data we collected from China. Our OLS estimate shows a Party premium of 10%, but the within-twin-pair estimate becomes zero. One interpretation is that the OLS premium is due to omitted ability and family background. This interpretation suggests that Party members fare well not because of their political status but because of the superior ability that made them Party members. The estimates are also consistent with another interpretation that Party membership not only has its own effect but also has an external effect on siblings.
Members’ average age is thirty years and, because membership involves much volunteer work, only twenty-five percent are women. Twenty-eight percent are farmers, herders, and fishermen, and ethnic minorities are overrepresented. But how communist is China itself? In The Communist Manifesto, Marx and Engels provide a ten-point test:
One: Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes. Land reform was completed in 1953. All land is owned in common. 98% of people own their homes.
Two: A heavy progressive or graduated income tax. Individual Income Tax runs from 3 percent to 45 percent. Income tax rates will remain unchanged until a property tax, currently meeting stiff resistance, becomes law.
Three: Abolition of all rights of inheritance. There is no inheritance tax at present but, once a property tax is legislated, an inheritance tax might follow. Private wealth is well distributed, as this chart suggests:
Four: Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels. This was accomplished by 1960. Beijing is now the preferred domicile for most billionaires.
Five: Centralisation of credit in the hands of the State by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly. Mao founded the world’s richest bank, the People’s Bank of China, and the (publicly owned) Big Four commercial banks are the world’s largest and most valuable.
Six: Centralisation of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State. China’s government-owned media are the most trusted on earth.
Seven: Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State; the bringing into cultivation of wastelands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan. Soil improvement has been ongoing for seventy years and crop yields continue climbing steadily.
Eight: Equal liability of all to labour. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture. Used effectively in the early years, this has been phased out in favor of mechanised agriculture.
Nine: Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country, by a more equitable distribution of the population over the country. The combination of agriculture and manufacturing was successfully implemented during the Cultural Revolution and the dispersion of manufacturing is still prioritized. Urban hukou are issued to those who want them and the population is being redistributed.
Ten: Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children’s factory labour in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, &c. The OECD says, “[China’s PISA] test results showed the resilience of pupils to succeed despite tough backgrounds – and the high levels of equity between rich and poor pupils”.
Control of the Means of Production
China controls the means of production through collective ownership of all banks, insurance companies, media, the health system, and defense industries–ensuring that all act, in concert, for the general good. As a result, there are more hungry children, drug addicts, suicides and executions, more homeless, poor, and imprisoned people in America than in China.
Godfree wrote Why China Leads the World: Talent at the Top, Data in the Middle, Democracy at the Bottom, and publishes the newsletter, Here Comes China
