Reposted from 闯 Chuǎng.

Part 1 of a 7 part series recording a short excursion into the lives of dagongzai and dagongmei at the beginning of China’s working year.

It was a few days after the lunar new year when I first got here. The 5th, by that calendar. As I soon found out, it was too early yet for hiring. But peak hiring time would start on the 8th, just a few days later. Here is one of the many industrial areas of Shenzhen, where factories amassed over the once-rural landscape of Shenzhen…

Michael (or Cathy) sent this article on the strike at Yue Yuen (Yùyuán 裕元):
Ashok Kumar: 5 reasons the strike in China is terrifying! (to transnational capitalism) (Communists in situ, 25 April 2014)
1. It’s the largest strike in modern China…
2. Chinese state repression is tempered…
3. It’s too big to cut-and-run…
4. The price of consumer durables is rising…
5. It’s gone global…
There’s a debate whether the strike was a success. Daniel sent this interview:
与裕元一位老工人的深度访谈 (公平社，27 April 2014)
小邱：这次罢工失败的原因是什么？这次罢工之后会不会裁一批工人？
裕友：主要原因是：1.政府强力打压，甚至警察封住厂门不让员工出来，到车间强迫工人复工。2.部分工人受前述情况影响，产生悲观、畏惧和失败情绪，觉得反正搞不赢了，捞了230元，见好就收，无奈复工。
裁人很难说。我们25日才正式复工，台湾佬就宣布以后控制加班，周末只有确实很急的工作才可以报加班。果然不出所料，台湾佬要秋后算帐了。控制加班明显是秋后算账。加班成了他们手里的一根骨头。
小邱：今天（26日）复工了，这次“12天的休假”结束了，大家是什么心情？复工后又有什么情况？经过大罢工后，工人有什么新的想法？
裕友：大家虽然复工了，但心里都憋着一股怨气。今天大家心里都特别难受，感到很屈辱。表面看来，罢工已平息，但矛盾仍然存在，问题没解决，员工怨气很大。尤其是对政府强势介入打压员工非常不满。所有人都感觉到愤怒，尤其是被强迫劳动！
听说老三厂25日有些人复工，下班后听说是有强迫复工的干部被打了，组长级别以上的干部下班都有警察护送。26日警察就到各厂找积极分子问话，据我所知，G3模具厂有个钳工就被问话了，并且在问话记录上按了手印，还要了他的QQ号。YY3模具厂有三个积极分子被叫到写字楼问话，被警告，鞋厂很多员工被叫到写字楼问话，被警告。（小邱：你不算积极分子吧？）很可惜，我还算不上。罢工期间我曾在网上指责警察强迫员工复工，不晓得会不会找我？
这次罢工只是在强势打压下被迫复工的，问题依然没得到解决。本来只是单纯的劳资纠纷，却由于政府的强势打压，导致更多人对政府和资方的不满。可说，这次罢工事件是三败俱伤，员工被打压，资方需付出几十亿的补偿和罚款/滞纳金，政府的威信下降。
小邱：但是你想过没有，这次罢工也使许多工人觉醒。之前那种对官方包括总工会、甚至对警察的幻想，现在都破灭了，这种觉悟会让下次斗争更有力量，至少思想上不再那么软弱。
裕友：是的。这次罢工的前期，员工还企望政府协调，当工会介入后镇压加剧，员工看清了政府的真正面目，他们就是资方的打手和走狗。
可以说，只是明火被扑灭了，仍有暗藏的火种，下次遇到诱因，可能会更加爆发！而且经过这次的洗礼，下次的罢工，肯定会更有组织性和战斗力！
Heiko on the other hand sent these links:
Stephanie Won, Ben Livesey, John Lear: Yue Yuen Says 80% …

Au Loong yu: The Significance of Taiwan’s Anti-Service Trade Agreement Movement (China Labour Net)
On Thursday, Taiwan’s anti service trade agreement movement will leave the Legislative Yuan and the occupation will come to an end. Some of its participants think that the movement has not achieved its aims and do not want to leave. As outsiders it is difficult for us to judge. However, although the objectives of the movement were already set very low[1], which has had the advantage of being able to unite the masses through a common denominator, …

In February, the China Study Group Europe held a workshop in Vienna (Austria):
Zur Lage der arbeitenden Klasse in China (“The condition of the working class in China”; Vienna University). Among the speakers were Theodor Bergmann (Stuttgart), Can Cui (崔粲, Hamburg), Hermann Dworczak (Vienna), Daniel Fuchs (Vienna), Rolf Geffken (Hamburg), Thomas Immervoll (Vienna), Heiko Khoo (London) and Felix Wemheuer (Vienna). The workshop was organised by the China Study Group Europe, with support of the Marx-Engels-Stiftung (Wuppertal, Germany), transform!europe and transform!at.

Videos of some of the talks now available on YouTube:
Thomas Immervoll: Die …

Peter Lee: China’s defense zone creates a flap (Asia Times)
Bonnie Glaser gets it about right regarding China’s newly announced Air Defense Identification Zone, or ADIZ: “I don’t know that this is specifically directed against Japan, so much as it is the Chinese feeling that every modern country should have an Air Defense Identification Zone.”
Just to make it clear. An ADIZ is not a “no fly zone” or extension of sovereignty. It is defined by the speed of modern enemy jets and the amount of time needed to challenge, identify hostile …

杜建国：十八届三中全会不会有大动作（新浪博客）
“十八届三中全会将会在经济改革方面有大动作”，这是一年来（十八大以来）“自由派”掌控的中国主流媒体和部分国外媒体（如华尔街日报、英国金融时报）的宣传工作的重点。不过相对于这一鼓噪而言，即将于11月召开的三中全会肯定是雷声大、雨点小，不会有大动作出台。
何谓大动作？在笔者看来，媒体所宣扬的大动作，无非是两条：第一，对庞大的国有资产进行重大改革，即私有化；第二，金融改革，包括对外和对内两方面。掠夺资本——即“自由派”资本——企图通过这两项措施将中国高速发展三十多年的成果都装进自己口袋里。笔者认为，在这两个领域，三中全会不会有大动作。先谈谈金融方面。中国政府肯定不会允许资本自由流动，1997年亚洲金融危机的教训历历在目，中国政府岂能重蹈覆辙？国内方面，中国政府今年已经做出了促进私人资本成立银行的决定，这是“自由派”的胜利，不过自由派欲壑难填，还企图有进一步的要求。自由派不仅要求放开私人银行的限制，相反还要求进一步的优惠或特权，比如降低保证金门槛等，这无异于玩火，政府肯定不会予以支持。另一个是放纵非法集资与集资诈骗，即让吴英、曾成杰们为所欲为，对此政府也不会答应。
Minxin Pei: What’s the real test to Xi Jinping and the Communist Party at the Third Plenum? (South China Morning Post)
There is something odd and disturbing about the conventional wisdom surrounding the upcoming Third Plenum of the 18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). As the November 9-12 conclave draws near, the international community’s attention seems to be focused mainly on technocratic policy changes deemed essential to restructuring China’s state-dominated economy and reenergising growth.
Will the government liberalise interest rates or loosen capital controls? How will the fiscal system …