>>2573064reminder that he surmised that socialism will likely come about in advance western countries because they had the most advance productive forces and he was writing the communist manifesto with that in mind.
he even says
>These measures will, of course, be different in different countries.this means that the development of the socialist project in a post colonial agrarian countries will not be the same as socialist development in advance western countries. marx's view is not actually rigid as often claim, he mainly gives direction and a method call dialectical materialism. by the end of his life, he even allows for different starting points and uneven development, with his writings in his letters on russia.
when china established a dotp with the founding of the PRC in 1949, it was still agrarian and technologically backwards and far behind the west. its industrial output was tiny and like 1% of its population would even be considered proletariats in the marxist sense. so mao's central goal was to build a strong industrial base that is necessary for socialism in marxist theory as well as modernize society by improving living standards and urbanization.
by the late 1970s, the prc did achieve some basic industrialization and improved the quality of life for its people with a dramatic increase in life expectancy and literacy. however, china still remained overwhelmingly rural with subsistence farming being the norm for most people. there was still limited connectivity between rural areas and industrial centers. most people were living in extreme poverty and they were far behind in living standards to the west as many did not have access to electricity, running water, or modern healthcare.
according to historical materialism, the capitalist phase is considered necessary before socialism. marx even admired capitalism, not morally, but as a historical force in its ability to revolutionize the productive faster than previous modes of production. he also says,
>The bourgeois mode of production is the last antagonistic form of the social process of production but the productive forces developing within bourgeois society create also the material conditions for a solution of this antagonism.so when the khmer rouge claimed it established communism, that would be considered utopian delusion by marx. the people were extremely poor and agrarian. they would be skipping both the capitalist and the socialist stage without the productive forces being highly developed and beyond post scarcity. deng's central insight is that he did not believe china needed to go "full capitalism" like russia after the fall of the USSR. however, china had already went through their social revolutionary by mao, so he would keep the DOTP intact with political power being monopolized by the CPC. the heights of the commands would be owned under the CPC. deng believes that PRC, under CPC guidance could rapidly increase the productive forces faster than capitalism. deng used SEZs to strictly control capital flows and guard against foreign capital from accruing power. he required foreign companies to transfer tech along with joint ownership if they wanted to set up shop in china. the PRC sought to harvest capitalism’s productive power, while avoiding capitalism’s political hegemony. thus, the logic of capital is tactically deployed, but the logic of socialism (planning, class leadership of the proletariat through the party) still hegemonizes the system. in a capitalist society, the logic of capitalism hegemonizes the system.
>>2573064by the way, you should also highlight
>centralization of credit in the hands of the state they have a monopoly on banking and can easily issue immense flow of credit to an industry based on five year plans.
>centralization of the means of communicationnews organizations are all state owned. tv networks and film studios are state owned. a great firewall and golden shares in tech companies so companies aligns with national priorities
>centralization of transportrail, roads, airlines, airports, highways, mass transit, maritime ports, maritime lanes are owned by the state
>extensions of factories and instruments of producion owned by the statethey have it to a significant extent, commanding heights of the economy are owned by the state aka the slogan of "grasping the large, letting go of the small," so not fully highlighted.
>free education for all children in public schools and abolition of child laborall children are entitled to free education and laws have been passed that prohibit employing children, with offending employers getting harshly punished now.
>combination of agriculture with manufacturing industriesthis has acelerated in the past decades where rural regions host factories, food processing plants, and light manufacturing, closely linked to agricultural output. highways, railways, and logistics networks connect rural areas to industrial and urban markets. during mao's era there were barely any highways and most rural roads were unpaved.
>gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country by a more equable distribution over the countryafter the costal cities became developed, china's regional disparity has been shrinking for the past two decades due to targeted poverty alleviation initiatives.
marx said gradual and it's happening. gini index has gone from 0.43 to .35 in a decade. also, reducing income inequality is not the only measure of equailty.
study shows the inequality gap between educational outcomes in rural and ruban areas is shrinking.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10877417/the inequality gap in health outcomes between rural and urban areas is narrowing as well
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9566669/