Probably the biggest shortcoming is the absence of working-class democracy, the absence of apparent proletarian dictatorship. The PRC looks like like it's governed by a party of bureaucrats who tolerate the continued exploitation of workers by capitalists, who cooperate with said capitalists. An environment where Jack Ma can make an inconceivable fortune pressuring workers to adapt to the 996 workweek, one in which Foxconn is able to operate sweatshops with working conditions so awful (while lying to party regulators about adhering to minimum standards and getting away with it) that they had to set up suicide nets, one in which a panopticon is used to monitor the behavior of all citizens (instead of just capitalists and known CIA saboteurs) and controlled only by the ruling party, does not resemble socialism. It more closely resembles state capitalism.
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Probably the biggest shortcoming is the absence of working-class democracy, the absence of apparent proletarian dictatorship. The PRC looks like like it's governed by a party of bureaucrats who tolerate the continued exploitation of workers by capitalists, who cooperate with said capitalists. An environment where Jack Ma can make an inconceivable fortune pressuring workers to adapt to the 996 workweek, one in which Foxconn is able to operate sweatshops with working conditions so awful (while lying to party regulators about adhering to minimum standards and getting away with it) that they had to set up suicide nets, one in which a panopticon is used to monitor the behavior of all citizens (instead of just capitalists and known CIA saboteurs) and controlled only by the ruling party, does not resemble socialism. It more closely resembles state capitalism.