Ralf Ruckus

Tracing the fascinating history of left-wing, subversive and oppositional forces in China over the last 70 years, Ralf Ruckus pulls back the curtain on Chinese politics.

He looks at the interconnected movements since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, drawing out the main actors, ideas and actions. Taking us through the Hundred Flowers Movement in the 1950s, the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s, the democracy movements of the 1970s and 1980s and the workers’ movements that accompanied these events, he draws a clear picture of the political currents of China, its ruling party, and leaders through to Xi Jinping with a spotlight on contemporary struggles.

Is the country still socialist, the Chinese Communist Party a left-wing organisation, and the leadership indeed Marxist? The book will sort out the confusion, present the true history of social movements and left politics in China up to the present day.

Ralf Ruckus has been studying the social, economic, and political situ­ation in the People’s Republic of China for almost twenty years. He co-founded the collective gongchao.org that investigates and documents social unrest and movements in China with a focus on the struggles of workers, migrants, and women.

Speaking with Ralf Ruckus will be Tim Pringle. Pringle is a Reader in Development Studies at SOAS and editor of The China Quarterly. His research focuses on labour movements, industrial relations and trade union reform in China and Vietnam.

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