I posted that one comment from another thread on lemmygrad on the reddit thread, an analysis of why China is socialist. I’ll put it in the comments.
I posted that one comment from another thread on lemmygrad on the reddit thread, an analysis of why China is socialist. I’ll put it in the comments.
When were these socialist states supposed to wither away? Would these uhhhhh ‘autonomous territories’ (not a state somehow) be left alone by the rest of the world except to provide them with beneficial and fair trade? The capitalist world they would presumably have had to do a domestic revolt against to make their 'Consensus Based Free Occupation Zone (not a state btw). After they do an anarchism there it will exist perpetually and self sustaining in a global vacuum until the rest of the world does a critical mass. Fucking Adam Sandler in Uncut Gems would say that’s a risky fucking gamble. Cause it’s guaranteed to fail as a demonstrated fact. Consolidation or dispersal of power has been the constant ebb and flow of history and switching from one to the other has generally been how new phases of history form. Tribalism to consolidated slave empires to diffuse manorialism to consolidated mercantilisim to diffuse modern capitalism I don’t think it’s some woo predestination thing, it’s just how one status quo is replaced by another, one is the others weakness to be exploited and that do be the cycle. Communism at least anticipates it’s own diffusion and hopes for it.
All you gotta do is ask an anarchist how they would protect their revolution once they’ve overthrown the capitalist regime. And if they are unwilling to admit that whatever state experiment they’ve constructed is in fact a state, then they’re not worth discussing with anymore.
How this convo usually goes:
A: “Its not a STATE!!! Its an autonomous federated syndicated collective for mutual …” [goes on for 10 minutes]
M: Okay, then what prevents literally anyone (other anarchists especially) from calling your “collective” a state, and you an authoritarian redfash tankie?
A: “SHUT UP”
They’ll say they don’t need to because they’ll have the Perfect Riot that makes everyone be on their side. Then we can have no states or corporations but the idea of both really fresh in everyone’s mind and no centralized authority to stop anyone from practicing it even more brutally than before. To be an anarchist under capitalism is to be an anarcho capitalist whether you like it or not.
From what I see the criticism is that China isn’t doing enough to assist the workers of the world in overthrowing their own governments and replacing them with socialist ones. I’m afraid that they’ve devolved into ‘peaceful coexistence’ same as the Soviet Union, which will build internal contradictions and ultimately cause them them to backslide into capitalism just like it did the Soviets.
So yeah government/vanguard cannot either while they’re surrounded by enemies, but they’re not doing enough to eliminate those enemies either
You can disagree with China’s strict non-interventionism, and its refusal to get involved in war-quagmires and export revolution like the USSR did (that ultimately proved to be a massive drain on the USSR’s economy via the cold-war-arms-race), but it doesn’t make them any less socialist.
The CPC underwent tremendous struggle to liberate China from foreign domination, and they believe it’s the responsibility of each country to do that same difficult work of liberating themselves.
I do disagree. Like, to me the basic philosophy that underpins socialism is that if someone needs help you should do your best to help them… as opposed to talking about how it’s their own responsibility to help themselves
How many socialist countries that the Soviet Union once fully supported still exist?People don’t cherish what they are given, they only cherish what they gain through struggle.
“people don’t cherish what they are given” isn’t this a classic right wing talking point tho. like, bootstraps ideology
This is reality. The difference between left and right It lies in people’s subjective behavior rather than denying objective existence.