• goatOPM
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    1 year ago

    Countries can have multiple different systems in place. China for example, is an authoritarian communist state.

    • Tavarin@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      Communism by definition cannot be authoritarian. So no, China is not an authoritarian communist state, it’s just a an authoritarian state.

      The only way for China to be communist is to give all people direct communal ownership of goods and services.

      • goatOPM
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        1 year ago

        Communism can be authoritarian, though, as it has been in history.

        What’s your basis for this definition?

        • Tavarin@lemmy.ca
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          1 year ago

          No it cannot because communism by definition must be a classless society. If there is a group above others that controls the state, it is no longer classless, and therefore not communist.

          And you know, the name derives from communal, so no communal ownership = no communism.

          • goatOPM
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            1 year ago

            Again, what’s your basis for this definition?

            • PugJesus@kbin.social
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              1 year ago

              Generally speaking Marxists and those operating on schools of thought derived or related to Marxism use Marx’s original definition of ‘Communism’ as the end goal of a stateless society, with a socialist state as the necessary intermediate point. This unfortunately gets muddled when people say “I’m a Communist” (meaning I’m forming a socialist state to ACHIEVE communism) and just end up forming a socialist (or ‘socialist’) state.