First communist branch for capitalist icon Wal-Mart

IT could be the ultimate marriage of two ideologies. Wal-Mart, the capitalist retailer for the masses, now has its first communist branch.

Earlier this month, Communist Party and Communist Youth League branches and a trade union were set up at a Wal-Mart outlet in the north-eastern industrial city of Shenyang, a staffer in the store’s communications department said yesterday.

A bastion of private business, Wal-Mart Stores has fought efforts to form unions elsewhere in its worldwide operations. But in recent weeks it said it agreed to work with the state-sanctioned labour federation to allow unions in its outlets in China, where it has 30,000 employees.