this post was submitted on 17 Apr 2025
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Late Stage Capitalism

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[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 8 points 5 days ago (1 children)

The currently Socialist countries governed by Communist parties are the PRC, Cuba, DPRK, Vietnam, and Laos, and all are doing pretty well if we take into consideration harsh economic sanctions and embargoes or other unique characteristics inflicted upon them from the outside. Out of all of them, the PRC is doing particularly well and is the most developed, though Vietnam is rising very quickly, especially thanks to an excellent response to COVID that allowed manufacturing to shift towards it for production.

[–] rumba@lemmy.zip -4 points 5 days ago (2 children)

and all are doing pretty well

China, hmm, so Taiwan, Hong Kong, The Uyghurs control production so they are in charge? Doesn't look like it. Civil unrest over lack of representation shouldn't be a thing in a working communism right?

NK is a dictatorship and we all know it, it doesn't matter what they call themselves. Also, from ANY journalism that has made it outside the boarders, I think it would be grossly unfair to call them even OK.

I might give you a couple of points for Cuba being throttled, but damn things aren't good there.

I don't have a lot of expertise in LAOS or Vietnam, things don't look very rosey

https://www.voanews.com/a/laotian-workers-facing-poor-economic-conditions-seek-work-elsewhere-/7597775.html

https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/laos-migrant-workers-brave-exploitation-unsafe-working-conditions-in-thailand/

Worldwide human-rights watches also don't paint things well in Vietnam.

Even if you claim that's all propaganda, places like Finland, Sweden, United Kingdom, and Europe don't seem to have any where near the tumult over any of the countries you mentioned.

To be clear, I don't think communism can't work. But I also don't think any of these countries really take communism seriously. Each of these should be overwhelmingly by the people for the people, but there seem to be serious issues about people and work.

The current state of capitalism is fucked too. You have to find places that aren't being pillaged by the oligarchs no matter where you go, and that's becoming harder and harder no matter your governmental structure.

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 6 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Alright, there are a lot of claims you threw out with sources including "we all know it," so I'll break them down into their claims and address each.

  1. Taiwan

By far "maintaining the status quo" is the number 1 preference in Taiwan, neither preferring independence nor reunification. I am especially curious to see how this changes in the coming months due to the trade war, and the US backing off of Taiwan.

  1. Hong Kong

Hong Kong is semi-autonomous and has relative control over its own unique sphere of economic structure, though is favoring increased ties with the broader PRC as that's better economically. They are happy to be free from British colonial rule.

  1. Xinjiang

Generally high approval rates for the CPC, which nationally has over 90% approval rates. There are also 25 Uyghurs in the 13th NPC, higher than Han Chinese by proportion of population.

In general, there isn't civil unrest over a lack of representation. In 2019 there were western-backed protests in Hong Kong, but those have faded and barely made a slim majority in popular approval even at the peak approval rating. Now it is far lower. Instead, faith in the government is rising, coalescing with improving material conditions:

The DPRK isn't a dictatorship. It isn't even a one-party state, it has 3 that form a coalition government. It's quite a comprehensive system, and works based on the concept of approval voting.

Overall, though, information that is accurate is scarce, due to its secluded nature. It is heavily throttled like Cuba is, by brutal sanctions and embargo, and unlike Cuba, 80% of their buildings were destroyed, and a quarter of their population massacred during the Korean War. More tons of bombs were dropped on Korea in general than the Pacific Front in World War II, to add context.

Vietnam is rising dramatically in recent years. Laos is struggling a bit more, but it is making rapid improvements.

Western Human Rights orgs are almost entirely state-funded and for the purpose of exerting soft power, they don't actually represent much.

Your biggest error though, is comparing the metrics of developing countries on even ground with developed Imperialist countries that gain their wealth by carving it out of the Global South. Finland, Sweden, the UK, EU, and US in general are Imperialist, and rely on predatory loans that require privatization of key resources and industries for foreign plundering. Production is outsourced so that the lives of the average Swede are built on the backs of brutal conditions in the Global South, and this is facilitated by Financial Capital. I recommend reading these resources:

[–] Aux@feddit.uk -4 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Don't feed the troll. You see ml, you block them.

[–] rumba@lemmy.zip -2 points 4 days ago

Oh I did, just wanted some of that salt.