Sorry to hear that, that’s unfortunate.

Yep, it’s something that shifts gradually with the mode of production.

What makes you say unable to? The CPC, as impressive as what they’ve accomplished is, are not gods. They are actively cracking down on and reducing it. It isn’t a cultural phenomenon, but a material one caused by the ongoing contradiction between capital and the socialist system, one which is being steered by the CPC along the socialist road.

Sally Yin on Twitter shares lots of videos. Mostly short form and images, and usually of Pyongyang in particular (which is of course one of the nicer and more developed areas in the DPRK), but also some of the countryside and smaller cities. No idea about her being a transphobe or not, but I have not seen anything transphobic from her yet.

Socialism is a system by which the working classes control the state, and public ownership is the principal aspect of the economy.

Neither Azerbaijan nor Poland have genuinely been doing better, both have fallen from their proud socialist heritage. After the dissolution of socialism in the USSR, an estimated 7-10 million people around the world died. Child prostitution skyrocketed, drug abuse skyrocketed, poverty skyrocketed, and the wealthy few that came out on top profited enormously. This is what you are defending.

Venezuela is improving even though it is under threat of imperialism. The US Empire has not colonized it. Cuba is also improving, with the help of China. When you equate imperialism with liberation, you show your colors, in support of child prostitution, mass poverty, and premature deaths.

As for Xinjiang, again, your claims are easily disproven.

996 is illegal and largely found in big tech companies in Beijing and Shanghai. The average work week in China is 46 hours. You are confusing taxation for socialism. When I say public ownership is principal, I am very much speaking of the fact that the backbone of China’s economy is the public sector of the economy. The largest entities are nearly all State Owned Enterprises, and critical industries are also overwhelmingly state owned.

Secondly, wages are getting higher and higher. Purchasing power in 2022 was 25 times higher than 1978, and this growth is steady.

Thirdly, the social product of society is not directed towards private profits, but for the needs of society and future growth. China has more high speed rail than anyone on the planet, is combatting desertification, electrifying faster than anyone, eradicated extreme poverty faster than anyone, has practically no homeless people, plans cities ahead of using them so that they have smart civil planning, and more. China invests in the future, because it isn’t dominated by the profit motive.

I implore you to actually look at China’s real existence today, compared with 10 years ago, 20, 50, and 100. No other country has managed to come so far in such a short time, and it’s thanks precisely to socialism.

The Party for Socialism and Liberation, ML org.

The atheists were not “oppressive,” and had strong support. As for Azerbaijan, 69% of people over 35 said life was better in the USSR, I didn’t think it was a point worth addressing. As for Xinjiang, Uyghur culture is not being erased, and is in fact celebrated. This is extraordinarily easy to find online.

That’s not what I mean by “principal.” The principal aspect of something is that which is rising, dominant, and determines the character of a system. In China, the commanding heights of industry are overwhelmingly publicly owned. Private ownership is largely of the petty type, or in secondary/high competition categories, with more state oversight the larger and more important the industry is.

As these firms grow, they are gradually folded into the public sector. Capital exists in a birdcage that the CPC can gradually tighten as they please, thanks to the political power they have, and they allow capital to serve the purpose of building up the productive forces to service the future economy that is more publicly planned.

Healthcare isn’t a “socialist policy,” socialism is a system itself. You cannot slice up a capitalist system and designate parts of it as capitalist and parts of it as socialist. Socialism is, quite simply, a system where the working classes control the state, and public ownership is the principal aspect of the economy. Canada is an imperialist state controlled by capitalists and founded on settler-colonialism.

No worries!

To be clear, markets aren’t anti-socialist and class struggle continue into socialism, the key distinguishing factor is which class controls the state and which aspect of production is principal, private or public.

India is not a socialist democracy, the working classes do not control the state and private ownership is the principal aspect of the economy, rather than public. Modern socialist states include the PRC, Cuba, DPRK, Vietnam, Laos, and partially Venezuela. Former socialist states include the USSR, and the various Warsaw Pact countries. Thinking about “left vs. right” in terms of single economic policies, rather than the dynamics of class struggle in a given society, is an error.

A correction on nationalism with respect to Marxism: nationalism against imperialism and colonialism is progressive, as to truly be liberated the people must not be under threat of empire. Nationalism within the imperial core is reactionary as it protects imperialism.

Those are social democracies, socialism requires that the working classes control the state and public ownership is the principal aspect of the economy. Social democracy is largely a concession to prevent socialism.

Ah, gotcha, agreed!

I won’t hold out for the DNC moving left. Entryism doesn’t seem to be a valid approach.

Agreed! I actually think the current factional war within the DNC might make room for a third party.

The DNC isn’t socialist though, it’s just two factions of capitalists duking it out.