Yeah that’s usually the reason behind these sorts of critiques, but I wanted to give a thorough response because I think that this topic deserves it. The issue of unions in China is not that simple, and there are legitimate things you could point out that need improvement in China’s labor system.

I have read some criticisms from Chinese people themselves about things that their unions could do better and ways that labor laws could stand to be improved, and those should not be discounted.

But the fact that unions are not independent is not one of those things that need fixing, quite the opposite, it is a good thing, there is solid Marxist-Leninist theory to support this. And those problems that do currently exist would remain regardless or potentially even worsen if they were independent

I mean look at the state of unions in western countries. For the most part they are either compromised and led by collaborationists who would rather work with the capitalists than against them, or they are largely neutered in what they can even legally do. So it’s not like the western system is better than China’s, it’s clearly not.

Though potentially a useful tool for revolutionaries, trade unions by themselves are not guaranteed to be revolutionary in the absence of a real labor movement and vanguard party, and they can even be reactionary at times.

I think this needs to be understood. Too many western communists are still stuck in this mentality that puts unions on a pedestal.