this post was submitted on 14 Sep 2026
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[–] schwifty_squanch@lemmy.ml 18 points 3 weeks ago (5 children)

Yes... China is state capitalist... Meanwhile, here in the Burger Reich, corporations routinely get bailouts from Uncle Sam paid for by the taxes of the workers.

If China is State Capitalist, what do you consider the USA?

[–] Donkter@lemmy.world 47 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Fake communist societies being state capitalists doesn't preclude other societies from being state capitalist.

[–] Signtist@bookwyr.me 12 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Yeah, if the response to "this system doesn't work" is "neither does yours" then we agree that neither system works, and need to find one that does. And if no system will ever work, we need to find some way to live safely and securely without systems.

[–] hanrahan@slrpnk.net 17 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

And if no system will ever work, we need to find some way to live safely and securely without systems.

one just has to look to anthropology, we know what works, the Khalari Bushmen lasted 100,000 years, The Australian Aborigine lasted 60,000 gears, we won't last another 50.

We won't go back voluntarily but we will go back

for example

https://aeon.co/essays/why-inequality-bothers-people-more-than-poverty

Up until then, it was widely believed that hunter-gatherers endured a near-constant battle against starvation, and that it was only with the advent of agriculture that we began to free ourselves from the capricious tyranny of nature.

When in 1964 a young Canadian anthropologist, Richard Borshay Lee, conducted a series of simple economic input/output analyses of the Ju/’hoansi as they went about their daily lives, he revealed that not only did they make a good living from hunting and gathering, but that they were also well-nourished and content. Most remarkably, his research revealed that the Ju/’hoansi managed this on the basis of little more than 15 hours’ work per week. On the strength of this finding, the anthropologist Marshall Salinas in Stone Age Economics (1972) renamed hunter-gatherers ‘the original affluent society’.

[–] NewSocialWhoDis@lemmy.zip 4 points 3 weeks ago

Liked your comment, stalked you, liked your comment history. How do I permanently follow you on Lemmy?

[–] architect@thelemmy.club -2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

We are animals. This will never happen.

[–] A404@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 3 weeks ago

Anthropological evidence suggests otherwisee

[–] Montagge@lemmy.zip 24 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)
[–] mattyroses@lemmy.today 2 points 3 weeks ago

that's the only kind there is

[–] psx_crab@lemmy.zip 12 points 3 weeks ago

If China is State Capitalist, what do you consider the USA?

State capitalist with no tooth. The enemy of your enemy isn't always your friend, stop defending the bad of the other camp just because you hate the bad from this camp.

[–] kkj@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (2 children)

Fascist with some vestigial elements of liberalism (or maybe liberalism rapidly descending into fascism if you're feeling generous). In state capitalism, the state controls the corporations. In fascism, the corporations control the state.

[–] mattyroses@lemmy.today 1 points 3 weeks ago

going to quibble just because fascism is a reaction against a threat of a worker's movement.

That has been totally crushed in the US currently.

[–] FlyingCircus@lemmy.world -1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

You are missing class context. In China, the working class control the state, and through them the corporations. In the US, the capitalist control the state and the corporations, and do fascism to prevent the workers from gaining any control over anything.

[–] mrbutterscotch@feddit.org 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

How exacty is the working class controlling the state in China?

[–] FlyingCircus@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

The CPC is made up of members of the working class, who both elect higher representatives and vote directly on numerous issues. Any member of the working class can join the CPC, provided they agree to the system of centralized democracy that governs the party.

[–] mrbutterscotch@feddit.org 0 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

By that definition most 'western' countries are controlled by the working class too, with the addition that literally everybody in the working class gets to vote.

[–] FlyingCircus@lemmy.world 0 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Except in practice, when rich people are allowed to participate in the political process, they use their wealth to influence everything. So in the West, we technically have democracies, but in practice we actually have oligarchies where the entire system is set up to empower the wealthy and prevent the working class from gaining real power. Since China doesn’t allow the capitalists to participate in politics, their democracy remains in the hands of the people.

[–] mrbutterscotch@feddit.org 0 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

It would be extremely naive to think that the wealth doesn't influence Party Politics in China.

And there is no democracy in China. Electoral Democracy is one of the core pillars of Democracy itself, without it, it simply isn't democratic. For that to be true in China there would have to be elections where everyone gets to vote.

[–] FlyingCircus@lemmy.world 0 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Considering that China routinely passes death sentences to people for corruption, I think it is fair to say that money influences Chinese politics significantly less than Western politics.

Everyone does get to vote in China: https://www.chinajusticeobserver.com/a/how-do-elections-in-china-work

[–] mrbutterscotch@feddit.org 0 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Sure, and those definitely aren't just Ji Jinpings political enemies that he is eliminating, as is usual in an authoritarian state.

And yeah, no. That's not what Electoral Democracy is. Or when was the last time a different party with different ideas was elected to Power in China?

Honestly, the lengths tankies go to in order to convince themselves China is a Democracy is insane. Literally 1984 DoubleThink.

[–] FlyingCircus@lemmy.world 0 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I used to think that too, then I started learning things. Always remember that the capitalists want you to think communism is the worst possible thing. Your opinions on China are based almost entirely on anti-communist propaganda designed to protect the oligarchies of the West.

[–] mrbutterscotch@feddit.org -1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

then I started learning things

Apparently not about democracy. I'll ask again, when was the last time China held a general election which allowed opposition parties?

[–] FlyingCircus@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Democracy isn't defined by allowing opposition parties, it is defined by how closely the government follows the will of the people. And socialist governments almost universally are significantly more aligned with their people than capitalist states. China's CPC has a 90+% satisfaction rating, most US governments never get above 40%. Capitalist states have the illusion of democracy, socialist states actually have it.

[–] mrbutterscotch@feddit.org 0 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

It's impressive how confidently incorrect you are.

https://youtu.be/O7LvhSQ5Te4?is=TmbZ8L83lGaEz3HZ

A good video on what constitutes Democracy, of which multiparty elections absolutely is a core part.

But this will be it for me. I wish you well in life.

[–] FlyingCircus@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

And it's impressive how tenaciously you adhere to a definition of democracy that most benefits the capitalist class.

Here's a good video on how the US is NOT a democracy (and democracy in general). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srfeHpQNEAI

I also wish you well.

[–] frisbird@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 week ago

Yeah, it's just not the case. Demos - people. Kratos - rule. The rules of the people, Democracy. Parties are not a necessary mechanism for establishing the rules of the people. All that's necessary is for the rules to be written based on input from the people and to meet the needs of the people providing that input.

The problem with liberal democracies is that they allow parties like "The party that thinks we should kill all non-white people" as though it's a legitimate party and they protect their right to free speech but they don't allow "the party that thinks we should repress the violence of white supremacists" because that goes against freedom of speech. This is why the US government protected the rights of the KKK to parade before and after they committed lynchings and then said "well the lynchings are a local problem that the police have to handle", meanwhile the police are literally klansmen. But also why the US government blackballed all communism sympathizers in TV, Hollywood, radio, journalism, and literature, killed a number of communists, and passed laws banning communists from ever holding office.

Because the reality is that party politics in liberal democracies are punch and judy shows that keep the population engaged in electoralism while the same rich white racist slave owning pedophile rapists that founded the country continue to run the country 250 years later.

Meanwhile, if the billionaires in China tried to start a political party to convince the people to vote for them, they'd be hanged.

Because in China the rules are of the people, and in liberal democracies the rules are of the wealthy.

[–] Plastic_Ramses@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Do you... do you really think china isnt capitalist?

[–] mattyroses@lemmy.today 1 points 3 weeks ago

So why doesn't the US adopt their system, which is doing much better?