• Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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    1 day ago

    The PRC is leaps and bounds better than the US, and it isn’t close. Further, socialism isn’t when “no exports,” lol.

    • basiclemmon98@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1 day ago

      Can we be honest and acknowledge the fact that if you’re doing socialism or communism correctly, your exports are going to be severely lower than capitalist shitholes like China and the USA? A system that values the workers is not going to have as much force behind it economically as a system that just uses as many laborers as possible as wage slaves. So China having a large export implies that they are not actually doing communism in any real way. Any claims that china is actually communist and it supports it’s peoples wellbeing is literally an American left wing conspiracy theory.

      • m532@lemmygrad.ml
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        19 hours ago

        If you’re doing communism correctly, you lift millions out of poverty while standing strong against the empire

      • ShimmeringKoi [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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        1 day ago

        Can you be honest and acknowledge the fact that you don’t seem to know what socialism or communism are? Communism is when low production? What Hearts of Iron mod convinced you of that, and how can we get you reading something real instead?

      • freagle@lemmygrad.ml
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        1 day ago

        This is puritanism brain worms. Your position is that socialism done correctly is subsistence living. What a terrible vision.

      • BurgerPunk [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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        1 day ago

        Any claims that china is actually communist and it supports it’s peoples wellbeing is literally an American left wing conspiracy theory.

        Chinese people that like their government are part of an American left wing conspiracy I guess michael-laugh

        You’re a clown. Talk to people that live there instead of other USians

      • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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        1 day ago

        No, we can’t, because that’s an absurd premise.

        1. Socialism is a mode of production. It isn’t when you import more than you export, or vice-versa. In the PRC, the large firms and key industries are publicly owned, while medium and small firms have diverse forms of ownership like private, cooperative, and joint-stock. It’s in the primary stage of socialism.

        2. The idea that the PRC isn’t socialist is a “left” wing fallacy among Statesians. In the PRC, socialist countries like Cuba and Vietnam, and among major communist orgs, the PRC’s status as a developing socialist country is not in question.

        You haven’t made any arguments as to why China is capitalist, just that it exports, but in reality it is import driven economies that are the most capitalist, and that isn’t even a rule, just a generalization.

        • zeezee@slrpnk.net
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          12 minutes ago

          Didn’t Mao do the Cultural Revolution specifically to prevent (not that it was implemented well or that it worked) what he saw the USSR was becoming and wanted to prevent China from following in the same capitalistic footsteps?

          As in do you believe the person who said

          (2) The imperialist powers have forced China to sign numerous unequal treaties by which they have acquired the right to station land and sea forces and exercise consular jurisdiction in China, [17] and they have carved up the whole country into imperialist spheres of influence. [18]

          (3) The imperialist powers have gained control of all the important trading ports in China by these unequal treaties and have marked off areas in many of these ports as concessions under their direct administration.[19] They have also gained control of China’s customs, foreign trade and communications (sea, land, inland water and air). Thus they have been able to dump their goods in China, turn her into a market for their industrial products, and at the same time subordinate her agriculture to their imperialist needs

          would approve of the belt and road debt trap or the actual 99 year lease China used to take over the port of Colombo in Sri Lanka ?

          Or is it fine to exploit other countries if the people in your country benefit?

          Even then you believe they’re socialist when Deng Xiaoping says (and Xi repeats this “common prosperity” rhetoric) that

          “Our policy is to let some people and some regions get rich first, in order to drive and help the backward regions, and it is an obligation for the advanced regions to help the backward regions.”

          So you recognize the failure of neoliberal “trickle down” economics but refuse to accept that if the same capital accumulation happens in a “socialist” country its suddenly not a problem?

          And you really think that Jack Ma and his family won’t fight tooth and nail to keep their private jets and offshore million dollar houses instead of forgoing them voluntarily for the good of the socialist project? please…

        • basiclemmon98@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          1 day ago

          https://www.ie.edu/insights/articles/is-china-a-communist-country/

          Though you’ll probably deny this article as valid because it harms your perception of China being a Communist state, and usually people do not like they’re conspiracy theories to be challenged by actual fact.

          Additionally, besides the argument of whether it’s communist or not, it is not a good country and if that’s what communism looks like, then I actually want no part in communism. They have no ability for free speech or even protests. Say what you want about it’s economics, but that is not how humans should be forced to live.

          • ShimmeringKoi [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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            1 day ago

            They have no ability for free speech or even protests.

            Dawg what.

            Literally the reason the government ended the covid lockdowns, despite that being the correct course of action that saved shitloads of lives, is because people got tired of it and protested, and the government listened.

            Meanwhile here in the states, every protest I’ve ever been part of has been stomped down by riot cops and had it’s demands ignored.

            Say what you want about it’s economics, but that is not how humans should be forced to live.

            I’m sure they’re all crying and cursing their doubled lifespans

          • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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            1 day ago

            That’s an opinion piece by a non-Marxist that makes the incredibly basic error of confusing the developing stage of socialism with the characteristics of the advanced stage of communism. You’re incredibly arrogant for someone who clearly has done very little reading of Marx.

            I’ve written frequently on the PRC’s model of socialism, such as this summary from a few days ago, including resources for further reading. You can even shortcut to my Read Theory, Darn it! introductory Marxist-Leninist reading list, though it’s getting some revisions.

            The people of China have freedom of speech, capitalists and businesses do not. The people of China do not protest often, because the system works:

            It’s time for you to turn off Fox News.

            • basiclemmon98@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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              1 day ago

              I will admit, I have not read the source theory, but I engage often with communists (most of my immidiate sphere are communists) enough to get a lot of it (I am actually an Anarcho-Communist, just to note). But my problem, as always, with a lot of you people who are obsessed with trying to use China as an example of communism, is the fact that theory and practice are two very different things. Very few places if any even follow your own theory from what I have gleaned from other comrades.

              It is also really easy to pressure people to give the answers you want to for those kind of questions if you are an authoritarian state. Also from the cyber security sector, most citizens of China desperately try and get their hands on vpns or use tor in order to be able to actually access the external world, which is never a good sign and does not scream “We’re free!” to me.

              Also fox news is abhorant, as is all American backed official news outlets. I use lemmy, did you really think that I watch state provided news? Or was that an ad hominim because people here dislike Fox specifically?

              • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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                1 day ago

                Marxist-Leninist theory and practice are united in the PRC. As you admit, you have not read much theory, and are commiting the same error as the person you linked: a non-Marxist judging a socialist state in the primary stage by the characteristics applicable to an advanced communist society. I linked you some good starting points so you can correct these misunderstandings, but if you are going to continue to insist on being right about theory you admitted you haven’t even read, then there isn’t much room for constructive discussion.

                As for the dismissal of consistent hard data on the grounds that Chinese citizens are “pressured,” this data is from western orgs surveying Chinese citizens, unaffiliated with the CPC. Western orgs have been trying to understand CPC resilliance because they wish to undermine it, and as such have been trying to best understand why the CPC is beloved. Spoiler: it’s socialism.

                The Fox News bit was a tongue-in-cheek jab referencing the fact that you are repeating right-wing talking points about the PRC near-identical to mainstream media. I apologize for the jab, but I consider it fair after you opened with jabs and condescension yourself.


                A bit on the “stages of socialism” I referenced, a table from Cheng Enfu:

                • basiclemmon98@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                  1 day ago

                  I appreciate the apology for the jab and i as well apologize for seeming somewhat resistant and bitter. Most of my problem with china comes from how they handle the digital front and has kind of left a bad taste in my mouth for how they treat their citizens, so it’s really hard for me to imagine they’re doing socialism correctly. I will probably go and look into the sources you linked.

                  • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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                    1 day ago

                    Apology accepted!

                    For the PRC, specifically with respect to the “Great Firewall,” it’s largely a two-fold measure.

                    1. It forces internal internet development, rather than relying on the present system flooded by western capital. This forces self-reliance.

                    2. The west has huge amounts of money and a near total control on information, and has historically used it in “Radio Free X” news stations to propagandize against and undermine socialism in the real world. It keeps control out of the hands of capitalists in the PRC, which is critical in a country where class struggle is very much alive and constant.

                    The people use VPNs if they want to, it isn’t very strictly enforced against. Ultimately, what’s important is that, in the information age, China has sovereignty over its own infrastructure and the working class is in charge. This is directly shown in huge approval rates, and rapid development from democratically decided Five Year Plans. China has taken a scientific approach to production and development, and while they have a long way to go, they’ve come farther than anyone else in far shorter of an amount of time.

                    I’m not saying you have to abandon anarcho-communism (though I once was an anarchist myself), I just encourage you to take a sympathetic approach rather than an antagonistic one when trying to understand the system the people of China have fought and died for, and work day in and day out with pride to continue building up.