Bridging the Division of Labour? The Case of China

The work of Marx (and subsequent marxists) provides both a critique of the division of labour in capitalist societies and a fairly clear idea of the trends he expected in a transition to a communist society. China is a society in which there have been a variety of attempts to put these ideas into practice during this century and, at certain stages, to develop an alternative to the forms of work organization in both the West and the USSR as part of a more general 'Maoist' strategy for economic development. These organizational innovations are outlined, as are the conflicts over their implementation. Finally, some conclusions are drawn regarding the specific features of Chinese development and the extent to which such policies are more generally applicable.