this post was submitted on 02 Jun 2025
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[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It's worse than that. Amtrak gets government subsidies. Conservatives take that to be Communism, so even the "capitalist" solution, the only train we have, is constantly under threat.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Which is, as you hint at, an absurdity. Communism, Capitalism, and Socialism are not elements of society, but the overarching Mode of Production. That's why Bismark wasn't a Socialist despite nationalizing industries, what matters is the overall economy and the direction it's heading.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 month ago
[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago
[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

China isn't communist, but way kess stupid as the US, that is the main difference. It's something like a state capitalism, not depending on private lobbies as in the other capitalist systems. A real comunist state don't currently exist in the world (no, also not North Corea, it's a fascistic dictatorship, not so far from what will be the US with Trump in the near future)

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

China is a socialist state with a communist party in charge of it. This is an indisputable fact. The whole notion of state capitalism is a misnomer. The purpose of labor under actual capitalism is to produce capital for business owners. Capital accumulation is the driving mechanic of the system, hence the name. Meanwhile, the purpose of state owned enterprise is to provide social value such as building infrastructure, producing food and energy, providing healthcare, and so on.

Communism does not exist in the world because capitalism is still the dominant ideology. Socialist systems such as one in China are the first step towards communism.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (2 children)

If communism is a complete lack of a state, do you believe communism is possible?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I'm personally skeptical that a complete lack of states can be achieved in practice. Humanity is simply too diverse, and it's highly unlikely that everyone will agree on a single common system. Even if it was possible, lack of state would not mean lack of need for management and organization, so you would still have hierarchical structures in place to manage things.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

That's why Engels referred to the remnants left behind from a state that has withered away as the "Administration of Things." It ceases to be an instrument of class oppression in a classless society, but administration remains a useful tool for Communist production.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago
[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

If we understand the state to be any and all administration, then no, but that's not the way Marx and Engels treated "statelessness." Engels in particular referred to stateless administration as "The Administration of Things" as contrasted with state society as "the Government of Persons" in Socialism: Utopian and Scientific. States are specific instruments of class oppression, without class, there's no need for a state in the Marxist sense.

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