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this post was submitted on 02 Sep 2025
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"Authoritarian" is largely a meaningless term. All it really means is one group using force against another group, but it doesn't say anything about which group is which. In the US Empire, the capitalists use the state to crush the workers, and export genocide and chaos to the global south. In the PRC, the working class uses the state to keep the capitalists in check as they progress and develop along socialist lines. This stark difference in which class is in power is shown with immense popular support in the PRC:
I'm a big defender of China when the "China Bad" crowd comes out, but this graph is meaningless beyond what people's perceptions are.
Real trade unions are banned. All must be part of the party, workers rights are routinely not enforced, and given the lattitude the government has to act, there isn't really much of an excuse.
The CCP enjoy massive support, though, this is undeniable. The reasons for this support is debatable and vary from person to person.
I for one, very much enjoy when the Chinese government does things in line with my socialist ideals. But let's not pretend like they're actually keeping the capitalists in check. There are many, many billionaires in China, something that ought not be possible under an actual socialist country.
It doesn't take a genius to look at their system of voting to quickly conclude that you don't really have a say, the People's Congress functions as a rubber stamp for what the inner party has already decided.
Again, my opinions aside, people in China generally are supportive of the government at this present time.
The graph shows that people generally feel they have more democratic input in China than peoole do in the US, France, and Britain. That's a valuable metric.
Secondly, the All-China Federation of Trade Unions is a real union, it fights for worker's rights against the capitalists that still exist in the primary stage of socialism they are in. Yes, it is affiliated with the CPC, and that's a good thing. If unions were allowed to be independent, then they would be directly supported by western governments against the socialist system. China exists in a world where capitalism is dominant and constantly undermining socialism.
Third, capitalists are kept in check. They exist, including billionaires, because China is in the primary stage of socialism. The point of socialism isn't to make everything equal, in the context of the overall economy China is still dramatically improving the rights and well-being of its working class as its core focus. As China develops, private property is sublimated into public property, if the capitalists had control then this wouldn't really be possible at scale.
Overall, I think you should research more on why China does things you may not agree with on the surface. Usually it's either for an understandable reason, or is something that is bad, but is improving (like LGBTQIA+ rights).
The state used the police to crush the working class when they demanded the money from the banks that invested it in a runaway housing scam.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/11/china-violent-clashes-at-protest-over-frozen-rural-bank-accounts
You are believing in a fantasy. There are countless countries around the world that are arguably more socialist than China without even calling themselves such. Quite frankly, I trust actions and numbers more than words.
Using a western, anti-communist news source for a report on how China is supposedly crushing the working class? Color me shocked! You have no points.
Meta argument: charts like this are basically useless.
I was raised in a very religious town. If you asked, the people in that town would say “my religion is a religion of love” “people should be as free as possible because it’s an extension of personal agency” and all the while they beat their kids and would rather die than let gay or trans people be themselves.
They can quote the scriptures and could likely write some pretty strong rhetoric implying they are loving and kind and caring, but it wouldn’t be anywhere near the truth.
Point is that just because you get phrases pounded into your head doesn’t mean you truly believe them or even know what they imply.
If your country’s rhetoric specifically states that the government serves the people and says it over and over, regardless of the truth of that statement, people will have a tendency to select it. (Like if your government called itself the people’s republic…)
If you asked Americans and Chinese if they think personal freedom is important, you’d likely get the reverse pattern in your graph. Is this because America has more freedom? No, more likely it’s because the historical rhetoric we get exposed to emphasizes “freedom” whereas China’s revolutionary rhetoric was centered around “democracy”
If you asked Americans if they support socialism, you’d get lower bars than if you asked it indirectly. Just using the word socialism skews your metric.
People will say they support or don’t support concepts they don’t understand, or that they view in a different light than others. Does democracy mean more than two political parties? Does democracy mean no capitalism? Does democracy require freedom to spread information freely? Etc.
So once again these metrics are useless because I’d imagine most of these countries’ voters would disagree on what the statements even mean.
You'd have more of a point if the fact that the people of China support their system wasn't regularly proven in various metrics, not just a single poll.
Why would that have any effect on the point of my argument?
My point is about the ineffectiveness and unscientific nature of this kind of questionnaire.
Doesn’t matter what topics or debates these are used in or who is right in those debates; the point is that these kind of charts are useless regardless of their content.
Sidenote: if you had “various metrics” why’d you post the least scientific one? Like bro, brain-dead “libertarians” could probably pull out some statistic or study that is more sound than this chart to support their idiotic bullshit. If a fellow anarchist tried to use a metric like this I’d call them out too even if I agreed with their point
The questionaire is valid, though. It highlights differences in the system, in an easy to understand graph. If you want, here's another bunch of sources.
Okay, but we are talking about a country where you aren't allowed to form a political party that opposes the CCP, right? How can we tell the difference between "hell yeah, my country is making my life great" and "there is exactly one answer to this survey question that will not get me in trouble"? I always try to keep in mind that I am not immune to propaganda, but I've personally known Chinese people who have very explicitly declined to offer any criticism of the Chinese government or go against the party line, even in private conversation, because they didn't want trouble.
Yes, capitalists are prevented from undermining socialism. If you read the studies, the reason the people of China support their system is because it supports them and represents their interests.
But it's also a ban on other socialist parties, not just capitalist ones, and it plays directly into the talking point that socialism is an authoritarian system that is imposed on people, not chosen on its merits. If the CCP really has enjoyed resounding, unwavering support from the proletariat for 75 years straight, why appear so weak by never allowing any competition whatsoever?
There are 8 other minor parties in China.
Oh, c'mon.
The PRC isn't weak for not allowing capitalist and other liberal parties to compete, and socialist democracy has never cared too much about multi-party "democracy." The PRC values cohesion and cooperation, not needless competition. Any competing "socialist" party would, in all reality, be used by the west to undermine the long-term socialist project.
Further, they have 8 minor political parties that cooperate with the CPC.
They refuse to offer criticism to you, they will criticize the CCP constantly amongst themselves. They've sadly learned right or wrong that westerners are always trying to make China look bad. It's largely from western news like BBC. Just look up the phrase China, but at what cost. The most hilarious one I read was China is curing cancer fast, but at what cost.
So you consider a state censoring all it's citizens from discussing certain words and topics to not be authoritarian?
I stated that all states are "authoritarian," all are methods by which one class exerts authority over another. The only way out of "authoritarianism" is to fully collectivize production, eliminating class distinctions. Until then, it's better for capitalists to be under the thumb of the workers, rather than the inverse. Like I said, it's a largely meaningless term.
Can you please provide a source for the graphic?
It's in the bottom left, here's another bunch of sources.