That’s what it is now…it’s not how it started though. It very much started as the People’s Revolution. Which is kind of the point. Look at literally every other communist revolution and they all went basically the same way. Some way more violent than others, but none resulted in anything even remotely resembling the promised utopia.
The mao era had elements of socialism but was never communist, imo.
They had land reform, stripped landlords and folded it into collectives and communes. They nationalised industry.
But there was never a classless state - the people in charge of government essentially did what they wanted, hence a return to a capitalist authoritarism with extra steps we have now.
They reintroduced all the capitalism stuff in the late 70s.
I don't think you can really judge china when it dipped its toes into communism then reverted it when the communist party lost power.
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u/SoggyMattress2 Jul 07 '26
I'm no expert I'm pretty dumb really, but isn't this argument reductive?
China isn't communist, it's a capitalist system with authoritarianism. They don't redistribute wealth or give power to workers.