this post was submitted on 23 Jul 2023
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Comradeship // Freechat
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It's an instance for Communists, specifically Communists who support AES (actually existing socialism). In short, we think that the USSR and PRC (among others), while not perfect, were legitimate attempts at building Socialism and better than Capitalism as it exists in the West.
Other people don't like that because, to them, Stalin was just Red Hitler and Xi Jinping is literally committing a genocide right now. Neither are true.
I don't know if the user jonathan12345 in the rest of this thread reflects the rest of this community, but they're basically putting words in my mouth and disagreeing with things I'm not even saying. I'm anti capitalism, but that kind of behavior definitely makes me think this isn't a place I want to be a part of.
Lemmygrad is a space for Communists who support AES. If you do not support China, you're probably correct that this instance is not for you.
But I think you'll find it's a fine place to engage as long as you keep questions about the legitimacy of past and present Socialist experiments to the [email protected] comm.
The fact of the matter is that, while China does have billionaires, it is not an Oligarchy in the same way the United States or Russia is because these people do not hold the power in society. In China, the Communist Party does; and while you might say that the CPC overvalues its own bureaucracy and the so-called "Labor Aristocracy", it still more-or-less represents Working Class values. There are laws in place that mandate certain proportions of Communist Party membership and leadership come from certain positions and industries specifically to avoid it becoming beholden to the very-rich.
I'm not pro China, but that doesn't mean I'm not open to learning about why you are pro China. Your response is constructive and brings to the table things I didn't know and can now further research. From the perspective of someone who works for a US corp that does business with China, and who has co workers from China, workers best interests aren't being protected at any reasonable level like they are in say Germany. But I also am aware that even though my working conditions are fine, the awful working conditions for other jobs in the US (some from the same company I work for) are covered up and hidden from the public eye as well
Calling Stalin just red Hitler kind of softens what an absolute monster he was.
I know that’s the US narrative, but I’m not so sure that’s based in fact.
Ah okay I can see how that's controversial, given China is heavy on censorship and control, and in reality they're just another form of capitalism run by a rich oligarchy. Plus with the way the world has changed, I think a new system is needed because we're heading towards enough automation that not everyone should need to work.
I don't know much about the USSR so I won't comment on that
China is not run by a rich ogliarchy. source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIOg_K6Z1fg
I approve of the source, however disagree with the conclusions
Ok but in all honestly, just because there are rich people in China doesn't mean it's a 'capitalist ogliarchy'. Sure, there are billionaires in the party, but they have just as much power as any farmer or worker, no more and no less.
That's not true in the slightest though? I mean the very fact that there are different wages, there's poverty, China invests heavily in foreign companies (both the government and private Chinese corporations), that's all capitalism. The farmer doesn't have any say in what tencent or the China Evergrande Group does. The CCP controls the media and limits free speech, and makes decisions for everyone. Even if you're to somehow convince me that the people who control the CCP aren't rich oligarchs, they're absolutely still in control of the CCP, and it's not communism.
Oh my god there are companies, guess there's no more socialism guys!1!1!!1
Just because there are companies does not mean that China is revisionist. And Tencent and China Evergrande have nothing to do with the government. Why would they?
edit: What do different wages have to do with socialism? Also it's CPC, not CCP.
We're talking about communism here not socialism, I didn't say China doesn't have socialism
I'm confused. Do you expect China to be instantly fully communist without money or class? Do you know that China started as a poor and feudal country and has constantly been under pressure and sanctions from the west?
It's like giving you control of an island full of people with almost no food and enemies thirsting to attack at any moment. Go on, build communism.
No, I'm saying China is a capitalist oligarchy. Currently, right now. I don't believe it can ever become communism with the current people still in power. That can be debatable, but what they are right now is definitely not communism, and that's all I was saying
Yes, it's not communism right now. But Xi Jinping is not a 'capitalist oligarch'. And China has pulled millions out of poverty, build an advanced public transport system, given massive amounts of aid to third-world countries while helping them develop, and has cracked down on corruption. If this is a 'capitalist oligarchy' then I will gladly support it.
I mean, I would also call the US a capitalist oligarchy, wouldn't call Biden an oligarch, and would say they've done the same in the past, so yeah I would still call it that personally. That's generally how industrialisation under capitalism goes. I'd even go as far as to say the US and UK had a lot of influence on it getting where it is in the first place, and it's very difficult to do trade with the west in this world without shifting towards capitalism. (Not impossible, but difficult)
Edit: In the definition of oligarchy, a small group of people hold power. I take that as relatively small, so maybe I'm mis using the term. Aristocracy might be a better term, but it's somewhere in the middle
The US has not eliminated poverty. Where did you get that from? In addition, the US has done nothing to help 3rd world countries at all, only to exploit them for resources. Before you say that's what China is doing too, it's not.
I did not say the US eliminated poverty and you didn't say China has eliminated poverty?
The US has indeed exploited countries for resources, but that does mean they haven't also helped in some cases, even if it's a minority of cases
China has eliminated poverty. And China helped in every case, while the US exploited in every case. I don't see how those two are similar.
You're splitting hairs at this point, I don't understand why
How is that "splitting hairs"? If I go to your house and help you build it, is that really the same as blasting it down with explosives?
No, I'm saying you took one small piece of what I said and latched on to it. Let's say the US has never helped another country before for sake of argument. It doesn't change the fact that I see both countries as capitalist aristocracies
Even if China is a capitalist aristocracy, it's done mostly good for the world. Besides, having rich people does not make a country an aristocracy.
I did not say having rich people makes a country an aristocracy, not did I say China has done no good for the world. You assumed that.
Alright, so your point is that China is run by capitalists, therefore it is revisionist and not true communism?
here
My point is that China has a capitalist market economy, and therefore it's not communism. Nothing to do with revisionism. Li's definition of capitalism seems to be narrow, I know it as the ability to own the means of production. If you can own a private company in China, and if that company can profit off of the work of people working for wages, I consider that capitalism. Xu Jiayin of Evergrande Group absolutely benefits from the work of people below him, and they are exchanging their labor for less than it generates. If you consider that to be a feature of communism, then we must have different definitions of communism
It's not communism, yes. But China is on the way to communism, and with what has happened already I am confident it will carry through.
https://lemmygrad.ml/comment/264733
also here
Thank you, I will take a look at these. There is certainly a lot I don't know about China's government
I also want to add, I feel like I was legitimately trying to engage with you and you've become defensive/lumped me in with others, which isn't really fair
Not the person you replied to, but we get a decent amount of bad faith posters here from other instances, and you were repeating some of those points. I don’t think there was ill intent by either of you, but I can understand the confusion.
I hope we don’t feel like a hostile place and I hope you learned something!
In my country like three completely unnacountable megacorporations control the media and limit free speech. The CPC at least gives a shit about public health and safety
I don't remember being consulted on the decision to invade Iraq, continue the illegal blockade of Cuba, send missiles to Nazis in Ukraine, make food twice as expensive, have the sky turn blood red from fire every couple years, be watched by police snipers at a football game, live in an endless pandemic, or drink microplastics for the rest of my life.
To the first part, to my knowledge they only care about health and safety in specific cases, but they allow for working conditions with things like lead, asbestos, toxic chemicals, etc. Foxconn is the first example that pops into my head, where workers were searches and beaten, and some were committing suicide. And back when China was buying US E waste, workers would be scavenging through dangerous phosphors and mercury, plus some mild lead exposure.
To the second part, I am not comparing China to the US, I don't believe the US government is good either, so that's irrelevant
Foxconn is a Taiwanese company, headquartered in Taipei. While China has a ways to go on working conditions, the overall trend (as with pretty much every other metric) is that their conditions continue to improve due to increasing regulation, ours continue to decline in the dearch for increasing profits. I'm definitely hoping they achieve a better work/life balancr, although having been to Taiwan, I'll say they certainly can't throw any stones in that department either lol
Yes foxconn is taiwanese, but the factories I'm talking about are in Shenzhen China, therefore subject to Chinese labor laws. I do agree that things are improving over there, but they have a long way to go before I would say the country cares about health and safety of everyone