Communists

[rsa]

@Horatio_Hellpop

People’s Republic of China is nominally Communist, though it embraces many aspects of capitalism. Most of the adults I know here are party members, and there is a strange disconnect between supply, demand and price. This is great if you need food or penicillin, not so great if you want a new MacBook or an iWatch.

I think that ship sailed long ago. As an example, consider Jack Ma who did not have a privileged upbringing – according to wikipedia his parents were musician-storytellers. He founded and is the chairman of AliBaba (NASDAQ: BABA). His net worth is north of $20 billion. That’s his money; he just bought 28,000 acres in the Adirondack mountains for $23 million. That’s a pretty loosey goosey type of communism (the State does retain ultimate say-so over the company, but they don’t interfere much as long as they’re happy).

[Rick_Kitchen]

@theo112

I don’t consider North Korea to be communist they moved off that line far too long ago they are more like a military monarchy. I consider myself to be a Revolutionary Socialist/Communist (Marxism-Leninism), the only countries I see as being communist would be Cuba, Laos, Vietnam, and the People’s Republic of China. You must also remember that not all communists are the same for example you can not use Stalin as a symbol that all communist aspire to.

Yeah, Juche is the epitome of the "cult of personality’, not exactly a People’s Republic type of thing.

[Haberdash]

@Rick_Kitchen

Yeah, Juche is the epitome of the "cult of personality’, not exactly a People’s Republic type of thing.

The cult of personality has been a feature of almost every Communist state and movement. The only real exception is the Khmer Rouge, which went the opposite direction and tried to hide the identities of the ruling cadre from as many people as possible.

[thelurkinghorror]

@Smapti

Isn’t Nepal now governed by a Maoist regime?

In order of size in the Constituent Assembly:

1. Socialist
2. Marxist-Leninist
3. Maoist
4. Conservative, royalist
5. “Democratic”(?)
6. Center-right, republican
7. Ethnic (Teraibasi people)
8. See 5
9. Conservative Hindu
10. Marxist-Leninist again

But the history of political parties begins to look like the People’s Front of Judea or the United Atheist Alliance. Why have a Communist Party when you can have a Communist Party (Marxist), a Communist Party (Maoist), a Maoist Communist Party, or a Communist Party of Maoism.

[Monty]

@rsa

the State does retain ultimate say-so over the company, but they don’t interfere much as long as they’re happy

The government here has no more “ultimate say-so over” Ma’s company than the US government has over a registered company in the US. The neither the CPC nor the government of the PRC runs Ma’s company. So long as he’s operating within the law, it’s up to Ma (and his board of directors) how to operate the company.

[Balthisar]

@Horatio_Hellpop

People’s Republic of China is nominally Communist, though it embraces many aspects of capitalism. Most of the adults I know here are party members, and there is a strange disconnect between supply, demand and price. This is great if you need food or penicillin, not so great if you want a new MacBook or an iWatch.

Huh? I ordered my Apple Watch from Apple China, and my iMac, too. The MacBook I picked up in Hong Kong where there’s no VAT, so it was about 20% cheaper than it would have been here on the mainland. I would have done the same for the iMac, but it’s too large to fly with safely.

Most mass market imported stuff here is roughly the same as I would pay in the USA, plus import duties and VAT. Consider that a lot of the stuff that’s produced in China is produced in special customs zones, so although it’s “made in China” it’s often treated as an import for the domestic market.

Food is dirt cheap, even some of the imported food. Things that have small demand (like avocados and Frosted Flakes) can be expensive as hell, though. I see that as fair market pricing.

[Monty]

Balthisar: Yeah. I’m wondering what China some posters are talking about. Granted, my life in Maoming was different than my current life in Beijing; however, the economic system is the same in both towns.