this post was submitted on 24 Sep 2024
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A top economist has joined the growing list of China's elite to have disappeared from public life after criticizing Xi Jinping, according to The Wall Street Journal. 

Zhu Hengpeng served as deputy director of the Institute of Economics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) for around a decade.

CASS is a state research think tank that reports directly to China's cabinet. Chen Daoyin, a former associate professor at Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, described it as a "body to formulate party ideology to support the leadership."

According to the Journal, the 55-year-old disappeared shortly after remarking on China's sluggish economy and criticizing Xi's leadership in a private group on WeChat.

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[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 68 points 2 months ago (72 children)

I had the most hilarious discussion with a Tankie about China a while back. They refused to accept that China is pretty much communist in name only. I pointed out that they had billionaires, privately-owned companies, a stock exchange and private property, meaning you can earn capital in China.

The Tankie actually said something on the lines of, "If you would JUST READ MARX you would know that earning capital is a fundamental cornerstone of communism!"

[–] Pilferjinx@lemmy.world 29 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Tankies are just communist cosplayers.

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[–] volodya_ilich@lemm.ee 19 points 2 months ago (6 children)

The Tankie actually said something on the lines of, "If you would JUST READ MARX you would know that earning capital is a fundamental cornerstone of communism!"

I'm a communist who doesn't want to call China a communist country, so I don't really agree with the person that you were talking to, but your second paragraph does show you haven't researched communism or its history. The debate of whether societies need to undergo capitalist capital accumulation first to enter communism is about as old as communism, and the history of communism is full of examples of this. It's the ideological reason why the Russian Socialist Democratic Labor Party split into two wings: the Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks, the former believing that the Russian Empire had to undergo capitalism first in other to become communist, and the latter wanting to implement socialism to the primitive almost feudalist Russian empire. Some similar split happened more discreetly inside the Communist Party of China, with Mao implementing socialism directly to the extremely underdeveloped Chinese society, and later Deng Xiaoping opting for the more market-socialism (known now to many as "socialism with Chinese characteristics).

So you may or may not agree whether china is communist, but from your comment it's clear that you're very oblivious to the historical and ideological reasons for the argument as to whether china is or isn't a socialist country and whether they're on the path to it. It's good to discuss things and to have opinions, but please get informed before dismissing other people's opinions on topics they've probably dedicated more time than you to studying.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 6 points 2 months ago (1 children)

So you may or may not agree whether china is communist, but from your comment it’s clear that you’re very oblivious to the historical and ideological reasons for the argument as to whether china is or isn’t a socialist country and whether they’re on the path to it.

Weird how this path went from a communist country under Mao to a capitalist one under Xi. I guess it goes back again?

How exactly do you achieve communism via billionaires, a stock exchange, private ownership, etc.? That's ludicrous.

[–] volodya_ilich@lemm.ee 10 points 2 months ago (48 children)

I'm not myself trying to make the assertion that china is communism or that it will achieve communism, I'm saying that what you consider "ludicrous", has been a hotly debated topic for the past 100 years with many proponents on both sides, many of them with much more knowledge of socialism and revolutions than you or I possess.

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[–] JustARaccoon@lemmy.world 6 points 2 months ago (2 children)

I mean you can still have private property under communism, it's the capital making property that's more owned by the workers themselves, but you can still own things under communism.

Similarly, you can earn capital under communism too, it's just that the tools for earning said capital aren't owned by corporations under corporations under CEOs under the 1%. It's not a cornerstone for sure, but it's not like communism is anti capital and growth and owning things

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 7 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Directly from The Communist Manifesto:

In this sense, the theory of the Communists may be summed up in the single sentence: Abolition of private property.

https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/ch02.htm

[–] JustARaccoon@lemmy.world 11 points 2 months ago (3 children)

Read a bit ahead if you may:

Communism deprives no man of the power to appropriate the products of society; all that it does is to deprive him of the power to subjugate the labour of others by means of such appropriations.

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[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 months ago (2 children)

A bit nitpicky here, but personal property isn't Private Property. That being said, Marx and Engels maintained constantly that Private Property cannot be abolished in one sweep, that goes fundamentally against Historical Materialism. Socialism emerges from Capitalism, you can't establish it through fiat, hence why the Cultural Revolution wasn't a resounding success. Mao tried to establish Communism immediately, misjudged, and then Deng stepped in.

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[–] Andromxda@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 2 months ago

That's probably the smartest tankie in existence

This is actually hilarious

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