The Left in China

A Political Cartography

by Ralf Ruckus

Deutsch | English

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This book “The Left in China” was published by Pluto Press in April 2023.

Please, see the publishers’ website on the book for more information.

You could also check the book’s contents pages (pdf).

If you are interested in an interview or in organizing a talk, discussion, or other kind of event with the author, please, write to Pluto Press or use the contact form on the blog nqch.org.

The reviews, articles, podcasts, and interviews listed below are (with few exceptions) using the English language.

A list of comments and material on the book in German can be found here.

Reviews, Articles, Podcasts, and Interviews

• Review – Fabio Lanza published review of The Left in China in the International Review of Social History (Volume 69 , Issue 1 , April 2024 , pp. 187–189)

• Interview – Chris Connery facilitated this conversation with Ralf Ruckus on the book The Left in China for the Made in China Journal website.

• Review – Rebecca E. Karl wrote a review of The Left in China for The China Quarterly (Volume 255 , September 2023 , pp. 794–796)

• Podcast – For those of you who understand Italian: Podcast di Gabriele Battaglia e Marco Magnano de Il cielo sopra Pechino con l’autore Ralf Ruckus sul libro The Left in China. A Political Cartography (La sinistra in Cina. Una cartografia politica): Sinistra Cina (17 Giugno 2023).

• Review – A long review of the book by author JN appeared on the website of the Lausan Collective: Falling for the costuming. Ruckus asks leftists, ‘what side of the barricade will you be on?’ (June 14, 2023).

• Review – Reece Goscinski published a review of the book on the website counterfire.org (June 1, 2023).

• Extract – The website Ill Will documented an extract from the book The Left in China including the section “The CCP’s Anti-leftist record”: Mapping the Left in China (May 17, 2023).

• Review – Charlie Hore wrote a book review for the website rs21 on The Left in China (Pluto Press, 2023) and The Communist Road to Capitalism (PM Press, 2021) (April 19, 2023).

• Extract – An abridged extract from the book The Left in China appeared on the Jacobin website: Chinese Workers Are Facing Escalating Repression (April 8, 2023).

• Article – Ralf Ruckus talks discusses leftwing positions on China and the CCP: From False Socialism to Authoritarian Capitalism (nqch.org, March 26, 2023).

• Interview – Ralf Ruckus speaks about the book’s topics: Leftwing Opposition, Feminism, and Repression in China (nqch.org, March 24, 2023).

• Review – Rob Hoveman wrote a book review for the Socialist Worker website (March 9, 2023).

More contributions will be added.

Short book description

Tracing the history of left-wing, subversive, and oppositional forces in the People’s Republic of China over the last seventy years, Ralf Ruckus pulls back the curtain on Chinese politics.

He looks at the labor strikes in the 1950s, the rebel uprising during the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s, the democracy movements in the 1970s and 1980s, the struggles of urban and migrant workers since the 1990s and 2000s, and women’s forms of resistance until today. Each of these struggles inspired left-wing groups and movements that criticized or challenged the regime of the Chinese Communist Party, from Mao Zedong’s rule to the regime under Xi Jinping.

Is the country still socialist today, the Chinese Communist Party a left-wing organization, and the leadership indeed Marxist? The book sorts out the confusion by presenting the fascinating history of social movements and left politics in the People’s Republic up to the present day.