It is said that nowhere in the world has communism been tried and succeeded. The clearest example is the fall of the Soviet Union. In surviving communist nations around the world today, the failure is seen in the poor economy and the misery in which the people of those nations must live.
But China seems to be a counter-example. It is communist, and the misery of the people due to oppression and human rights violations, is widely known, but it is an up and coming economic power on the world stage–more so in recent decades than in the past–and its rise is fast, becoming a competent rival to the US.
Does this mean China is an example of successful communism?
It depends on how you define “success”. China certainly isn’t a paragon of human rights upholders, and on that score, maybe it isn’t a success. But economically and technologically, it seems to be doing something right–to the point where America is shaking at the knees.
I’m not sure how the Chinese system works, but from what I understand, the CCP implements some kind of crony capitalism, a system in which capitalists are permitted to build a certain amount of wealth in exchange for supporting the CCP or allowing the CCP to call the shots (or something like that).
I asked my sister about this, who has her masters in modern history, and she says China isn’t really communist, so maybe this explains it. Maybe the reason China is succeeding so well is because they are veering away from true communism and adopting a form of capitalism (although they are maintaining oppression against their own people). It’s certainly against the principles of communism, at least as Marx saw it. Marx envisioned true communism as coming after a period of dictatorial power over the people to enforce communist principles–namely, from each according to his abilities, from each according to his needs–and though big tech companies in China definitely have far reach abilities, the needs of the individual are relatively the same–food, shelter, medicine, a bed to sleep on, etc.–and allowing some to profit on the pillars of big tech goes far beyond these basic needs (but I admittedly don’t know what the CCP allows the capitalist cronies to pocket, but it would have to worth the effort to build a corporate empire). If some are allowed to profit more than others (or to own more property), this defeats the purpose of the “commune” Marx envisioned as the culmination of history. In any case, if this is not communism, it is, as John Searle put it, capitalism combined with total oppression.
So is this an example of communism succeeding, or do they succeed despite introducing capitalism into their so-called communist system? And if the latter, is this a win for capitalism, or has a new monster grown out of China–capitalism ruled by total oppression?