Insurgency Trap: Labor Politics in Postsocialist China

231 Pages·2014·2.31 MB·English

by  Eli Friedman

INSURGENCY TRAP

INSURGENCY
TRAP
Labor Politics in Postsocialist China
Eli Friedman
ILR PRESS
AN IMPRINT OF
CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS ITHACA AND LONDON
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Publication grant from the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International
Scholarly Exchange (USA), which generously assisted in the publication of
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First published 2014 by Cornell University Press
First printing, Cornell Paperbacks, 2014
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Friedman, Eli, author.
Insurgency trap : labor politics in postsocialist China / Eli Friedman.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8014-5269-7 (cloth : alk. paper) –
ISBN 978-0-8014-7931-1 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Labor unions—China—History. 2. Labor unions and socialism—China.
I. Title.
HD6837.F77 2014
322'.20951—dc23 2013046810
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Cloth printing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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To my parents

Contents
List of Tables and Figures ix
Acknowledgments xi
Abbreviations xiii
1. Labor Politics and Capitalist Industrialization 1
2. The History and Structure of the ACFTU 29
3. Guangzhou: At the Forefront of Union Reform? 61
4. Oligarchic Decommodification? Sectoral Unions
and Crises of Representation 92
5. Worker Insurgency and the Evolving Political Economy
of the Pearl River Delta 131
6. Chinese Labor Politics and the Global Economy 161
Notes 181
Bibliography 193
Index 207

Tables and Figures
T ables
1. 2012 insurance participation rates among migrant workers 12
2. Legal activities of unions, 2002–2007 50
3. Foreign investment in Zhejiang, 2007 98
4. Wage-only collective contracts, 2006 104
Figures
1. Labor disputes in China, 1996–2012 4
2. Health care spending in China, 1978–2009 9
3. Education expenditures, 1992–2009 10
4. G overnment expenditures on education as
a share of GDP, 1992–2009 10
5. G overnment expenditures on social security
and employment, 1978–2010 11
6. Schematic of countermovements 22
7. Number of workers per dispute, 1996–2009 50
8. U nion organization and the system of “dual control” 58
9. Translation: “If you don’t work hard today, you will
work hard looking for a job tomorrow.” 83
10. Location of Zhejiang and Guangdong provinces in China 94
11. Zhejiang province 97
12. Percentage of workforce in manufacturing 170
ix