u/jmattchew - originally from r/GenZhou
Question is in the title. I know that everything is more complicated than this, but is it a fair shorthand assessment or not? Could it be too simple to say that feudalism -> capitalism -> socialism, or is this actually the right way to look at it? Did the USSR fail because it went straight from feudalism to socialism and then introduced the wrong reforms?
u/dimlimsimlim - originally from r/GenZhouChina should be defined in a way that makes it clear that it’s in the transitionary phase between capitalism and socialism. (Lower stage communism) within this phase of development, China claims itself to be in the primary stage of socialism. It had a New Democratic phase for 7 years, which was state capitalism under the people’s government. In 1956, China completed the basic socialist transformations in agriculture, handicrafts, industry and commerce, and officially entered the primary stage of socialism and completed the socialist transformation of the ownership of the means of production.
What some people don’t realise is that China never entered lower stage communism (what some here may describe as the advanced stage of socialism, or what Marx/Lenin would’ve just called “socialism”.) For example, in Mao era China, although there was a workpoint system, money was still circulated around, and used by communes to invest in equipment, and by the state to buy commodities like grain. The state was still the appropriator of surplus, etc.
So based on a popular graph from Cheng Enfu that I’ve seen here, I shall put it like this.
Primary stage of socialism/intermediate stage of socialism = Transitionary Phase
Advanced stage of socialism = Lower stage communism (socialism)
Then comes communism.
In conclusion, China is and always was from 1956 in the primary stage of socialism, part of the transitionary phase between capitalism and communism. China’s New Democratic era lasted 7 years, which was cut short, years before it was planned to end. As you might expect to see in the transitionary phase, China still has the capitalist mode of production, which we call state capitalist, as nationalising the means of production even under a DOTP doesn’t equal to them being socialised. It’s important to keep that in mind.
In my opinion, China still has a long way to go in order to reach the lower stage of communism, and that is, to have wage labour abolished, the means of production to have been completely socialised, and that is, to have society rationally allot the products of the means of production efficiently, beyond seizing and confiscating it from the bourgeoisie.