Emancipation as an illusion: a review of factory management policies in the Soviet Union and China

ABSTRACTThe emergence of industrial capitalism in the 19th century undoubtedly changed production processes in factories, and mass production theories and practices emerged for the first time in human history. Pioneers, namely Taylor and Ford, had revolutionary factory production and management innovations under industrial capitalism. However, the basic rights of workers, along with those of large factories, have been largely neglected. Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Gramsci began to formulate theories and practices of workers’ emancipation based on the mass production of industrial capitalism. As the two most important socialist countries on Earth, the Soviet Union and China have practiced emancipatory policies at the factory level based on the Marxist ideal. Through a triangular comparison model, this article examines whether the Soviet Union and China have achieved their ideals of worker emancipation. This article proposes a theory of workers’ emancipation, mainly based on the Marxist ideal, while Soviet and Chinese practices are compared horizontally. In the end, the article concludes that both the ideals of the Soviets and Chinese on workers’ emancipation have not been fully achieved despite both having some contributions to worker emancipation; the failure of achieving the emancipatory ideal rendered both countries’ claims on emancipation as mere ‘illusions.’KEYWORDS: Marxismlabor historyworkers emancipationfactory managementthe Soviet UnionChina AcknowledgmentsThe author would like to express special thanks of gratitude to the following scholars and organizations: Prof. Chun Lin, Dr. Hans Steinmuller, Dr. William Matthews, Dr. Andrea Pia at London School of Economics; Prof. Zhouwang Chen, Prof. Zhiguang Yin, Zhiqiang Sun, Shi Quan, Yuhua Li, Zekun Ge, and Dahao Yu at Fudan University; Colleagues of Mang Ren Mo Xiang Committee, editors of Labor History and Taylor & Francis, and above all my beloved girlfriend Mo Xu for their selfless help during drafting, writing and editing of this paper.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1. This is known as the ‘price-wage’ system. Under such system, workers who produce more products would get more wages as rewards. This system will be introduced later in the text.Additional informationFundingThe author reports there is no funding to declare.Notes on contributorsRuiyang HuHu, Ruiyang (the author) is a PhD Candidate at the Department of Political Science, School of International Relations and Public Affairs, Fudan University in Shanghai, People’s Republic of China. His research focuses on labour history of socialist nations, Chinese politics, modern political thought, and Marxism. The author obtained his bachelor’s degree with distinction at University of Toronto in summer 2020. The author obtained his first master degree (Master of Arts) with merit at University College London in winter 2021, and his second master degree (Master of Science) with merit at London School of Economics and Political Science in winter 2022.