cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/3023016

Took part in an RGS and the head people all push that Maoism is scientifically the best form of Communism. Can anyone explain this view? Also, the group seems to want everyone to hold this view. Isn't splitting into sub-ideologies hurting the potential for a larger movement?

-a confused newbie.

  • redtea@lemmygrad.ml
    ·
    11 months ago

    That makes sense. I've seen a few videos about ordinary people in China and even though they were positive, they still described some things that were less than ideal. They were talking about how great it is for 'entrepreneurs' to do well and I was thinking, that sounds a lot like industrial capitalism before neoliberalism in the west and (a) that wasn't great for everyone else and (b) we know how that turned out. I'm really hoping that China gets the balance right over the next few years!

    • ComradeMiao@lemmygrad.ml
      ·
      11 months ago

      I hope so as well. Many western leftists act like China surpassing the US would be a bad thing. They aren't perfect but they've done a whole lot more for the common person than the US does.

      Covid really made things hard. A lot of people lost money as companies and individuals couldn't pay their workers or lendees, making very few have savings they need. My immediate family's savings is my job.

      But you do make a great point redtea, China is in a league of its own. Yes, life is still hard but the standard of living in most cities is so beyond that of the US. When I was getting insurance in the west and told them which cities in China I would be in, they thought it was a third world city... These are cities with over 2 million people, subway systems, multiple hospitals, and colleges... It is wild how big the different in social services is.

      • redtea@lemmygrad.ml
        ·
        11 months ago

        You're making good points, too, and I really like hearing from someone with first-hand experience. Most of what I read is theoretical or a news announcement about being ahead of schedule on a massive infrastructure project. It's easy for me to get a rosy picture because I'm a fan on the CPC and it's incredible to me that China can even start infrastructure and other projects, nevermind finish them or finish them ahead of schedule. It's like reading sci-fi sometimes. But the view of the ordinary worker is missing.

        Do people use foodbanks in China / do you hear stories about parents going hungry to leave enough food to feed their children?