China has many problems, and now we can also add a possible food shortage to the list.
Xi, like Mao, is pushing a program of “agricultural control” that will see hundreds of thousands (or even millions) of bureaucrats and job seekers, who are now state-sanctioned, become “agriculture managers” or “enforcers”, in rural areas, for the CCP. This would be a nightmare for farmers.
They have caused a lot of resentment in rural areas. One instance that was shared on Chinese social media earlier this year involved agricultural managers threatening to uproot backyard vegetable and fruit plots in a “beautification campaign” for rural areas.
A notice posted in a village in the north of Xian stated that “planting climbing vegetables such as beans, melons, and squashes on the front lawn and in the backyard is strictly prohibited.” The local CCP committee had to change its mind after receiving a lot of criticism.
This was just one of many arbitrary and capricious restrictions imposed by Xi’s army of rural enforcers. As part of the “rural beauty” campaign, another policy prohibits farmers from using ropes to tie quilts to trees outside their homes because “they spoil view.”
Several reports claim that a farmer who kills a pork without asking permission from the CCP manager in his area can be punished with beatings and fines of up to three months’ salary. Party officials steal livestock and sell it on the blackmarket.
It’s not a new thing, at least in socialist countries. When there is a clash between reality and ideology, the ideology always wins. It’s what Mao did, it’s what Xi does, and… it’s not working very well. A nation the size of China is a mess, and even Communists cannot bring it down in a day.
Though it seems that Xi has given everything he had,
Dr. Song Yongyi is a former Red Guard, Maoist, and professor of Cultural Revolution at the University of California. He has warned against a repetition of the Cultural Revolution’s suffering. Mao’s “farming reforms” caused the Great Famine, which resulted in millions of deaths. Estimates range from 15 million to 55 million.
Dr. Song also pointed out that Mao’s reforms – which Xi seems to be reproducing – sparked a great deal of hatred in the Chinese population, leading to an open class war. In one of the most horrifying cases Dr. Song described, revolutionaries motivated by “class warfare” ate people’s livers and hearts, believing it would extend their lives.
Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose.
The problem with Communism and socialism, of which Communism forms a part, is exactly as stated above: it places ideology over reality. It ignores the human nature, and even represses it. Socialism has a fatal flaw: people will always strive to make money. Bill Gates started Microsoft in order to make money. Steve Jobs also founded Apple in order to make money. Both became billionaires. Both created products that revolutionized the technological world. They both generated wealth by creating demand for products that did not exist before. This never happens in socialist system. China doesn’t copy, but they do not innovate.
China is trying to earn hard currency in every way possible, including, it appears, the drug trade.
