this post was submitted on 13 Aug 2023
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I'm going to attempt to reply to this earnestly.
This rhetoric is common with actually existing socialist (AES) states. The reality is the world is very complex and transitions from one system to another can sometimes take centuries.
Here is a brief video from Prof. Richard Wolff that explains some things about China and it's system over the last few decades:
https://youtu.be/_nY3VSmA-l8
Also if you're going to mention the Democratic Republic of the Congo, do you know about Patrice Lumumba?
I've seen all of this over the years, I'm not ignorant to Prof. Wolff nor the repeated claims that the socialism with Chinese characteristics is some 4-dimensional chess to deliver communism within some inspecific timeframe.
But even in the CCPs own language and actions, it's clear they're much more interested in entrenching capitalism with a welfare state than they are transitioning to socialism.
For a "socialist" state they seem very keen on repressing the Filipino maoist insurgencies, propping up the fascist Russian regime, and maintaining a domestic system of capital accumulation that was introduced as an infamous regression from socialist principles established after their numerous revolutions.
China is objectively a lot better than many countries on dozens of metrics but calling it "actually existing socialism" is to misunderstand all three constituent words in that infamous acronym.
Respond or not, I don't expect to turn anyone's mind here. Just sad that being a different brand of capitalism that is marginally more concerned with social development than its competitors is somehow the bar for socialism among some circles.
Then why do you come here and offer only platitudes? There are plenty of things to criticize about China, about the USSR, etc. We could have nuanced discussions about these topics.
Why do you believe the things you say? What is shaping your worldview? Can you point to a government you think is doing thing well currently, or at least heading in the right direction?
Because they are here to tell us that they are the only PURE and TRUE Marxist around, the noble Maoist, here to tell us ignorant revisionists how wrong we are for supporting a country that has undertaken the greatest poverty alleviation effort in human history. If Xi was really communist, he would've just pressed the big red communism button already! People's QOL doesn't improve over time, it's a binary, you either have it or you don't! And China clearly don't! Love me, I'm a ~~liberal~~ Maoist!
No one ever responds to these real questions lol you ask for sources they disappear, you ask why they believe what they believe they check right the fuck out
It's largely because they haven't actually thought about these things.
On the state capitalism myth: https://chinareporting.blogspot.com/2009/11/class-nature-of-chinese-state-critique_26.html?m=1
On SWCC: https://www.qiaocollective.com/education/socialism-with-chinese-characteristics?rq=Socialism%20with%20Chinese%20characteristics
On international cooperation: https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202305/1291329.shtml
I've often suspected that libs and maoists tend to say exactly the same shit about China, though granted, Maoists tend to at least understand what they're talking about. Still strikes me as a little weird that this attitude has more in common with a liberal one than an ML one.
Almost like a westerner lambasting China for not being communist enough does nothing but reinforce the average westerner's perception of the place as an "evil hellhole."