• Cowbee [he/him]@lemmy.ml
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    2 months ago

    Nobody said they achieved Communism, just that they are authentically working towards it through Socialism.

    Socialism with Chinese Characteristics is Marxism-Leninism applied to the PRC’s present productive forces and material conditions. They have not reached Communism, but they are firmly on their way to full socialization of the economy. The only way you could think they have abandoned Communism as a goal is if you have never read Marx, Engels, or Lenin, and therefore have never studied Historical Materialism.

    The reason it’s painfully obvious that you haven’t studied Historical Materialism is because you clearly believe Communism is something that develops through decree, not degree, that the goal of Communism is to immediately socialize all production. This is absurd, and Utopian. Marx believed Socialism to come after Capitalism because Capitalism turns itself into a status ripe for socialism as markets coalesce into few monopolist syndicates, ripe for central planning. If the productive forces aren’t ready, then Communism can’t be achieved without struggles.

    In Question 17 of The Principles of Communism, Engels makes this clear:

    Will it be possible for private property to be abolished at one stroke?

    No, no more than existing forces of production can at one stroke be multiplied to the extent necessary for the creation of a communal society.

    In all probability, the proletarian revolution will transform existing society gradually and will be able to abolish private property only when the means of production are available in sufficient quantity.

    What happened in China, is that Mao tried to jump to Communism before the productive forces had naturally socialized themselves, which led to unstable growth and recessions. Deng stepped in and created a Socialist Market Economy by luring in foreign Capital, which both smoothed economic growth and eliminated recessions. This was not an abandonment of Communism, but a return to Marxism from Ultraleft Maoism.

    Today, China has over 50% of the economy in the public sector. About a 10th of the economy is in the cooperative sector, and the rest is private. The majority of the economy is centrally planned and publicly owned! Do you call the US Socialist because of the Post Office? Absurd.

    Moreover, the private sector is centrally planned in a birdcage model, Capital runs by the CPC’s rules. As the markets give way to said monopolist syndicates, the CPC increases control and ownership, folding them into the public sector. This is how Marx envisioned Communism to be established in the first place! Via a DotP, and by degree, not decree! The role of the DotP is to wrest Capital as it socializes and centrally plan it, not to establish Communism through fiat.

    Read Socialism Developed China, Not Capitalism, and read Marx himself before you act like an authority without even understanding Historical Materialism.

    • XNX@slrpnk.net
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      2 months ago

      I didnt say they werent working towards it tho. i said they arent communist and i listed obvious examples they are not distributing power and money equally nor horizontally

      • Cowbee [he/him]@lemmy.ml
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        2 months ago

        They are led by Communists that are working towards Communism along Marxist lines. What do you mean when you say they aren’t Communist? That they haven’t achieved upper-stage Communism?

        • tiredturtle@lemmy.ml
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          2 months ago

          Not the commenter but tbh some see it as a continuation of Lenin’s ideology which broke away from Marxist lines

          Lenin started something like a reactionary coup of the concept, forming into a fundamental shift. Sure it can be explained by the situation if one wants to have justification for it

          While Lenin claimed to apply Marxism, he introduced significant changes to diverge from Marx’s vision.

          • Cowbee [he/him]@lemmy.ml
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            2 months ago

            Lenin didn’t break away from Marxism, he returned the broader Communist international to Marxism from opportunism and revisionism, and then applied Marxist analysis to his present conditions.