As part of our Radical Reads series, we speak to Eli Friedman and Kevin Lin about their new book, China in Global Capitalism: Building International Solidarity Against Imperial Rivalry.
Radical Reads is our new Patreon-only series where we discuss political texts – both old and new – that have either influenced the WCH project, or texts that we generally think that people involved in radical and working-class movements should be engaging with, discussing, and using to inform their activism.
As rivalry between the US and China heats up in the context of Trump’s tariffs and trade wars, the question arises of what the Chinese state is, and how workers around the world should relate to it. It is always difficult to develop an independent working-class perspective on a nation’s geopolitical rivals in a context of geopolitical tension. The support of European socialist parties for participating in the slaughter of World War I is the most famous example, but the same problem is present in the current period of US-China rivalry.
Eli Friedman and Kevin Lin’s book (co-written with Rosa Liu and Ashley Smith) does an excellent job of doing just that: looking at the actions of the Chinese state from the perspective of workers and marginalised groups to produce a picture of a capitalist nation that is not simply ‘the same’ as other nations, but not all that different either.
This episode is out longest Radical Read yet, and covers a range of topics from the conditions and struggles of China’s working class both inside and out of the workplace, to women’s and LGBT+ rights. We also talk about China’s relationship to its “internal peripheries” of Tibet and Xinjiang, as well as those abroad such as in Africa, Israel and, of course, with the US. We also discuss what building international solidarity from below might look like in the current context.
Episode
Listen to a 28-minute preview of the episode here:
E106: [TEASER] Radical Reads – China in Global Capitalism – Working Class History
More information
- Buy China in Global Capitalism from an independent bookshop
- You can also buy Eli’s previous book, China on Strike: Narratives of Workers’ Refusal
- Check out our excellent collection of books about Chinese history and politics in our online store
- Listen to a three-part series about Chinese migrant worker poetry by our sister-podcast, Working Class Literature
Sources
- Karmel, Ariel. “China’s ambassador: ‘The war is not the theme of Israel-China bilateral relations'”. CTech, 12 March 2025. Available at: https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/hyezqaaiyx (accessed 23 May 2025)
- Kille, Richard and Jacob Zimba. “A river ‘died’ overnight in Zambia after an acidic waste spill at a Chinese-owned mine”, AP News, 15 March 2025. Available at: https://apnews.com/article/mining-pollution-china-zambia-environment-93ee91d1156471aaf9a7ebd6f51333c1 (accessed 23 May 2025)
- Langan, Mark. Neo-Colonialism and the Poverty of ‘Development’ in Africa. Palgrave Macmillan, 2017.
Acknowledgements
- Thanks to our patreon supporters for making this podcast possible. Special thanks to Jazz Hands, Fernando Lopez Ojeda, Nick Williams and Old Norm.
- The episode image is of the G.Tech Technology Factory in Zhuhai, China. Credit: Chris (with additional design by WCH). CC BY-SA 2.0.
- Edited by Tyler Hill
- Our theme tune is Montaigne’s version of the classic labour movement anthem, ‘Bread and Roses’, performed by Montaigne and Nick Harriott, and mixed by Wave Racer. Download the song here, with all proceeds going to Medical Aid for Palestinians. More from Montaigne: website, Instagram, YouTube
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