Land Reform

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

China's early landlord reminded be of the slave mastery of American history. They both profitted off the blood and sweat of their poor workers who received almost nothing in return.
The landowners and slaveowners alike, needed their workers to be submissive to make such large numbers of people easier to control.
It could be a good lesson to have students compare and contrast slave owners and the Chinese landowners.
I always have a negative association with the Communist party but I was pleased to learn that they helped the peasant stand up for themselves against the landowners and become involved in governmental affairs.

[Anonymous]

Good lesson for students. Maybe the lesson can span across times periods and include "hacienda" owners of Mexico and their abuse on peasant workers and which led to the Mexican Revolution.

[Anonymous]

I know, I thought I was a staunch capitalist these last ten years or so, but I find myself really questioning it. I mean, if a whole system is based on making profit (with the ideals of Democracy the Shintoism of our capitalism?) what is the logical limit? Whenever I worked in private industry I saw this limitless squeezing of the employee. If we were willing to work 8 hours- how about 9 or 10 here or there? If they could get us to work 9-10 hours in a day, why not 11-12 in an, "emergency,"?? then the "emergency became a normal, continual state of existence. To have limits or need time off to be with family was ridiculed with the epithet of, "part-timer!" while it was constantly pointed out that everyone else was doing it so it wouldn't really be fair of me not not do it.
Never did anyone question why management didn't simply hire new workers. "Why do that when you can control the sheep so easily?" I would sullenly think to myself. Trips out of town usually required 16 hour days for some unspoken reason. And the trips would INEVITIBLY pop up a day or two before a long planned evening out with a friend, concert tickets already bought and paid for....
In short- my life was owned and operated by my pig dog capitalist scum bosses!
I mean, why SHOULD my bosses care? As long as they can get more and more out of their employees- isn't making money kind of a religion in America? It's respected above all else. Capitalism- it's a point of pride for us! The logical limit to unfettered capitalism is when the big dogs have swallowed the small dogs whole and left not a scrap for any one else. And then one day, the small dogs won't be able to take it any more....
Is this sedition here? Oh my.....as long as I am not advocating the violent overthrow of the government the FBI will NEVER surreptitiously investigate me, right!? After all, it's a constitutionally protected right! (The right to free speech + I think there's something in the constitution about the government is not supposed to treat law abiding citizens as criminals and enemies- ie, THEY are supposed to be working for US)
Yes, I have digressed, but I just can't help thinking about all this as we get the, "big picture," of a lot of recent world history here!

[Anonymous]

This does sound like a great lesson for students. It easier for them to learn a new topic when they have something to compare it to. I think its important for our students to learn about what happens all over the world to prevent the same thing from happening again. I also think this applies to the Japanese internment camps. Some student are shockingly unaware of what has happened in their own country.

[Anonymous]

Excellent, excellent idea! Being African-American, I usually teach my students about the Middle Passage so they can have a little perspective of how the majority of African-Americans came to be in the United States. Since the majority of my students are latino (Mexican to exact), tying the plight of peasants working for hacienda owners and the landlord abuse of poor Chinesen workers will show them how people have suffered throughout history regardless to race and culture. We cannot change the future until we learn from the mistakes of the past. Perhaps I will produce some human rights activists from this assignment and help bridge the race and culture gap, we are all people!

[Anonymous]

Being told by a government what you can own, how you can use it, where you can live, what you can do for a living seems so unjust to us here now. Lets not rush to judgement. Lets remember what others have already mentioned as students of history. We here in America used people as slaves. Indian natives were subject to the belief that, "the only good Indian, is a dead Indian". Human rights is something novel. Lets not forget the lessons of history!

[Anonymous]

Oooh and how about the mission systems and the abuse and slavery of Native American populations. And the rights of migrant workers in the United Stated and abroad could also be tied in.

One of the big questions is can China modernize at the pace it desires if it begins to protect the rights of it's people?
Isn't interesting how one's ties to land are truly significant in regards to one's opportunities in life. Did the hunter gatherers have it right? Will our global society ever be egalitarian again?

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