Ralf Ruckus studied in Berlin and London in the 1980s but refused to start an academic career and worked in proletarian jobs instead while engaging in social movements—from squatting to migrant and labour struggles. After militant inquiries on construction sites and in call centres in the 1990s, Ralf has since supported workers’ struggles in factories and warehouses in Europe and East Asia. In the 2000s, analysis and support of workers’, migrants’, and women’s struggles in China became Ralf’s focus. After setting up the platform gongchao.org and translating a series of books written by Chinese workers, activists, and left-wing scholars into English and German, Ralf recently published The Communist Road to Capitalism: How Social Unrest and Containment Have Pushed China’s (R)evolution since 1949 (PM Press, 2021) and The Left in China: A Political Cartography (Pluto Press, 2023).
In The Left in China: A Political Cartography (Pluto Press, 2023), Ralf Ruckus traces the fascinating history of left-wing, subversive, and oppositional forces in China over the past 70 years. 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. […]
Made in China publications are open access and always available as a free download. To subscribe to email alerts for each issue of the Journal, newly published books, and information about upcoming events, please provide your contact information below.
