AnarWiki/markdown/Contradictions_of_Authoritarian_Socialism.md

This article outlines the **contradictions of authoritarian or state
socialism**, or the ways in which [authoritarian
socialist](Authoritarian_Socialism "wikilink") governments contradict
their own values. As such, this article takes repression of dissenters,
restrictions on media and movement, war crimes, invasion of other
countries to protect socialist revolution and spying on citizens as
justified. Even if as libertarian socialists, we have our own critiques
of these concepts.

## Why do this?

It might seem strange for us first worlders (given that most internet
users are in the first world, and libsoc wiki is an online project) to
critique third world efforts at socialism whilst under siege from the
United States. While we want all embargoes, US state-sponsored terrorism
(as seen in Cuba and China) wars and espionage to end and oppose war
against any of these countries or any other country not aligned with the
USA (like [Iran](Iran "wikilink") or Syria) We are obviously aware that
these critiques won't reach the people living in these countries, but
that isn't our goal. We are not trying to promote US-sponsored 'regime
change' anywhere nor are we trying to incite a libertarian socialist
revolution in any of these countries (although we'd all like to see one)
our goal is to reach Anglosphere leftists who want to recreate a
government similar to that of Cuba in their own countries. We believe
that Marxist-Leninists are responsible for a significant amount of
misinformation online about the nature of these countries, we aim to
offer a purely negative counter. If you would like to see the positive
achievements of state socialism, the page for each individual country
contains a list of positive and negative achievements.

## China

  - Xi Jinping, current Premier of [China](China "wikilink"), has
    admitted that the country has a massive problem with corruption and
    has begun an anti-corruption campaign. The campaign 'netted' over
    120 high-ranking officials, including about a dozen high-ranking
    military officers, several senior executives of state-owned
    companies, and five national leaders. More than 100,000 people have
    been indicted for corruption.\[1\]
      - The [Wukan Uprising](Wukan_Land_Defense_\(2011\) "wikilink") in
        2011 highlights just how deep this corruption goes, and that the
        Chinese government often sold off peasant lands without their
        consent to wealthy corporations.
  - China has a pretty bad record on foreign policy. *We won't be
    covering China's debt deals and infrastructure buying. To China's
    credit, it is MUCH more peaceful than the
    [USA's](US_Hegemony "wikilink"), [UK's](UK_Hegemony "wikilink") and
    [France's](French_Hegemony "wikilink") efforts to create hegemony.*
      - From 1974, China (along with the USA) supported Eritrean ML
        rebels against Socialist Ethiopia.
      - In 1975, China (with the USA and France) provided material
        support for anti-communist rebels in the Angolan Civil War that
        tried to overthrow the [socialist
        government](Socialist_Angola "wikilink").\[2\]
      - China tried to invade Vietnam in 1979, RIGHT after Vietnam had
        suffered brutally at the hands at the USA in the [Vietnam
        War](Vietnam_War "wikilink"). Border skirmishes continued until
        1991 where relations were normalised.\[3\]
      - China, along with the USA and UK, also supported Pol Pot as they
        waged a war against Vietnam and socialist Cambodia.
      - China ended support for the Communist Party of the Philippines
        in their insurgency in 1976 as part of its normalisation of
        relations with the Philippines.
      - Since 1992, China has been closely cooperative with
        [Israel](Israel "wikilink") on military matters.
      - Since 2002, China has been selling weapons to the Taliban in
        Afghanistan.
      - Since 2003, China has supported the government of Sudan whilst
        carrying out anti-Arab ethnic cleansing and mass rape.\[4\]
      - Since 2005, China has aided the old Nepalese government against
        *Maoist* rebels
      - In the 2010s, Chinese state-owned companies invested in gas
        pipelines in [Canada](Canada "wikilink") over indigenous lands
        without the consent of indigenous people, leading to protests.

## Cuba

*Given that [Cuba](Cuba "wikilink") and its supporters often claim to be
[one of the most democratic countries in the
world](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aMsi-A56ds&t), we are going to
include critiques based in media freedom and political repression, as
media freedom is an important component of democracy.*

  - [Che's Guevara's](Che_Guevara "wikilink") grandson, [Canek Sánchez
    Guerara](Canek_Sánchez_Guerara "wikilink"), said of the country:
    “The [Cuban revolution](Cuban_Revolution "wikilink") has given
    birth to a bourgeoisie, to repressive apparatuses meant to defend
    from the people a bureaucracy very distant from that same people.
    But above all it has been anti-democratic because of the religious
    messianism of [its leader](Fidel_Castro "wikilink")”. He was
    disgusted by “the criminalisation of difference, the means of
    persecution of homosexuals, hippies, free thinkers, trade unionists
    and poets” and the installation of “a socialist bourgeoisie…falsely
    proletarian”. Commenting on changes in Cuba some time before his
    death Canek noted: "Sometimes we tend to judge reality from our
    desires, and that's a problem. I would like to see changes in Cuba,
    but that is not happening. In the collective imagination of Cuba,
    change is associated with the death of Fidel Castro. The political
    system on the island has behaved like a monarchy, and Fidel has
    ensured a monitoring of the succession, and that delays any change."
    He rejected the role that the regime were preparing for him as a
    high ranking military officer and lived most of his life in
    [Mexico](Mexico "wikilink"), where he died in 2015 after heart
    surgery.\[5\]
  - In January 2020, a former high ranking judge in Cuba (a communist
    and huge fan of Castro) leaked secret Cuban government documents
    that showed the regime had the highest incarceration rate in the
    world at over 90,000 prisoners, with thousands in prison on dubious
    charges. Documents reviewed by the New York Times showed 92% of
    individuals tried in the country are found guilty. Nearly 4,000
    every year are accused of being "antisocial" or "dangerous", which
    are terms used by the government to charge those that have committed
    no crime but are viewed by the regime as a risk to the status quo.
    Those charges have a 99.5% conviction rate. These individuals face
    summary trials with no right to a defense or to present evidence,
    according to the former judge. The documents show individuals being
    sentenced for several years in prison under the category of
    "anti-social", which can include actions like not belonging to state
    associated civic organizations or being unemployed. The crime
    "description" is often identical, appearing to be copy and pasted by
    police.\[6\]
  - According to Reporters Without Borders, Cuba is one of the worst
    places for media freedom in the world. They claim: "Cuba has
    continued year after year to be Latin America’s worst media freedom
    violator ... The regime maintains an almost total media monopoly and
    the constitution prohibits privately-owned media. The few Cuban
    bloggers and independent journalists are threatened by the
    government and watched by security agents, who often take them in
    for questioning and delete information in their devices. Journalists
    regarded as especially troublesome are often arrested and jailed.
    The authorities also control the coverage of foreign reporters by
    granting accreditation selectively and expelling those regarded as
    too “negative” about the government."\[7\]
  - The Cuban government allows [Israeli](Israel "wikilink") businesses
    to operate in the country, and [Fidel
    Castro](Fidel_Castro "wikilink") said in 2010 he believes Israel has
    a right to exist.\[8\]

## Vietnam

  - In 1989, Le Quang Dao, a member of the Central Committee of the
    Party and the President of the National Assembly (also Vice Chairman
    of the State Council of Vietnam ( 1987–1992) and a general of the
    Vietnam People's Army during the Vietnam War) declared: “The
    dictatorship of the party has replaced the dictatorship of the
    working

people as a whole … the result is a totalitarian regime based on
privilege … a regime of social injustice that is driving the people to
revolt.”\[9\]

  - In November 1991, Bui Tin, the editor of <em>Nhan Dan</em>, the
    organ of the Central Committee of the Party, while on a mission to
    Paris, broke with Hanoi's previous silence on the issue and provided
    testimony concerning the political and economic crisis in his
    country: “The current situation of the country is of great concern
    to everyone in Vietnam…. Bureaucratism, irresponsibility, egoism,
    corruption and fraud have spread under the insolent reign of
    privileges and prerogatives. What is still deeply and firmly rooted
    in the Communist Party of Vietnam, is Stalinist and Maoist
    tendencies that are simultaneously feudal and peasant-based,
    idealistic, paternalistic and authoritarian, extremely conservative
    and corrupt, completely alien to democratic ideas”\[10\]

## References

1.  <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-corruption_campaign_under_Xi_Jinping>
2.  <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angolan_civil_war>
3.  <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-Vietnamese_conflicts,_1979%E2%80%931991>
4.  <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_Darfur>
5.  <https://libcom.org/history/che%E2%80%99s-grandson-anarchist>
6.  <https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/13/world/americas/cuba-judge.html>
7.  <https://rsf.org/en/cuba>
8.  <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuba–Israel_relations>
9.  <http://libcom.org/history/revolution-counterrevolution-under-colonial-rule-now-%E2%80%93-ngo-van-xuyet>
10.