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Thoughts?

Is this imperialism by China, a country which is supposed to be left-wing? Leftists are normally anti-imperialism. Wouldn't it be better to let Taiwan democratically decide whether they want to be part of China or not?

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[-] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

China isn't technically communist. The Communist Party of China is technically communist in ideology. They have implemented a type of a mixed state that has both socialist and capitalist parts, decently described by the term - socialist market economy. Or socialism with Chinese characteristics as it's been called in the past. Why socialism? Because the socialist part controls the capitalist part of the economy. Why socialist? Because it's controlled by the CPC/CCP which has over 100M members and growing, which means the wider society is decently represented within the party that controls the state.

[-] pivot_root@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

A horse can call itself a duck, but that doesn't make it a duck; it's still a horse.

Likewise, a country that calls itself communist while practicing capitalism under a hierarchical ruling party isn't communist. Even if every member of the CCP had equal say in the country's policies and direction, 8% of the total population is far from representing the working class, let alone being led by them.

They're not communist, correct. They're capitalist.

[-] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

8% of the total population is far from representing the working class, let alone being led by them.

Yup, it can and it should be much larger. I saw a chart showing membership growth of 2-3% per year. That said even at the present numbers it means every third family or so has a party member.

Again, China isn't calling itself communist. And I don't think they're. That said capital is subordinate to state control, which is subordinate to an org that most people can participate in, so personally I grant them the socialist (market economy) label that they tend to use. But I do understand why not everyone does.

To be clear, if you're not communist, it doesn't mean you're capitalist. There's a lot in between and it's often a matter of degree of one thing or another. Feudalism didn't turn into capitalism the moment the fist capitalist firm formed. It transitioned to capitalism as more and more production became capitalist, at some point becoming the dominant mode of production.

[-] ruuster13@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 month ago

Nice deflection, as all discussion of economic policy is nothing more. Authoritarianism (coercion through power) is right wing by definition.

[-] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 month ago

Isn't any democratic structure performing coercion through power on people who comprise the minority opinion, by doing what the majority decides?

[-] ruuster13@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 month ago

Sure, when the conservatniks are in power. Some of us still fight for progress for them and for you, even though you try endlessly to destabilize us from afar.

[-] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

What the hell are you talking about? Who is "us" and who is "you" and who's destabilizing who, and from where?

[-] Aljernon@lemmy.today 1 points 1 month ago

Authoritarianism (and all Right Wing politics) is about the minority performing coercion on the Majority. A political elite makes decisions. The further Right you go, the smaller the minority.

[-] ChicoSuave@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

socialism with Chinese characteristics

It's literally the same functional mechanics as free market capitalization EXCEPT that the state owns a part of every company. The people don't. The state does. And only uses it for authoritarian control, which is the Chinese characteristic. China is functionally a capitalist market with state owned companies.

If China controlled the 3rd party companies in the country then maybe it could be construed as socialist but they own nothing about Apple or NVidia yet billions of dollars flow through them. China is an open market that uses subsidies to offset poor management in those companies. Basically the same thing America did to failing companies in 2008 (looking at you GM).

[-] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

China has a large fully state-owned sector which tends to operate key industries. They also have outsized control over private firms because the banks doling out capital are state-owned. It's how they can effectively direct the private sector to build EVs, chips or whatever other strategic commodity is desired, in addition to having partial ownership in large private firms. Yes Apple and NVIDIA aren't state-owned. You can read about the state owned sector and how it affects the economy. The structure is very differrnt than the US today. It resembles somewhat FDR's US in the 1940s but with even more state control and direction.

[-] Aljernon@lemmy.today 1 points 1 month ago

So it's like a merger of state and corporate power?

this post was submitted on 31 Dec 2025
58 points (93.9% liked)

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