Posted by
Andrews on Friday, June 20, 2008 3:35:01 PM
From time to time I see someone arguing that the People's Republic of China is not "really" communist, since they are encouraging some forms of private enterprise. Other times I see people with a desire in whitewashing communism, the same ones who argue that Stalin wasn't "really" a communist, arguing that China is just some sort of warlord totalitarian state, and not real communism. However, I would say to both that China is clearly a communist state, though it may have allowed some small deviations.
The problem is a simple one. It is the same problem which plagues doctrinaire libertarians and objectivists. The libertarians argue that the US isn't "really" market economy, because of all the government intervention, but is a "mixed economy", something different from a market economy. However, they miss the essential point. Even with all the intervention, at its base the US is still a market economy, as are most European states, just one hampered by much government intervention.
Basically there are two types of economy, and there is only one determinant, whether a price system exists or not. The hallmark of a free economy is a system of prices set by buyer and seller. So long as that exists in the majority of goods, then we have a free economy. When we enter the territory where prices are mostly set by the state we have a command economy, which von Mises described as being of two types, the socialism of the Russian type (what most consider "communism") and socialism of the German model (the Nazi economic system). The difference is whether the state owns all manufacturing, stores, and so on, or, as under the Nazis, allows private ownership, and simply controls prices, manufacture and so on. BUt in either case, once prices are set by the state, you have a command economy.
Now, obviously, there are shades between the two. Even in our free economy, the prices of some goods are set. (Eg. Electric prices are set by local utility boars in much of the US.) And under many communist systems some very limited private enterprise is allowed. (Eg. Lenin's New Economic Plan allowed small private shops.) But it is fairly easy to tell whether or not an economy is free or command.
And by that measure China is clearly not a free economy. The economy is entirely state run. All prices are set by the state. It may now be opening up a bit, allowing in more foreign trade and allowing some minor elements of free enterprise, but it is still a command economy, and, thus, communist. Just as Stalin was.
Sorry, apologists, but communism still gets the blame for Stalin, and is still the government of the PRC. (And sorry too to all those who want to bash Sweden or the UK, but they are free economies. Horribly over-regulated free markets, but free markets.)