The following article, first published in Struggle for Socialism / La Lucha por el Socialismo, compares the state of the US and Chinese railroad systems. The US system is in a state of disrepair, with a lack of investment and a focus on profit over service. In contrast, China has built a high-speed rail network … Continue reading A retired railroader looks at China’s fantastic rail system
This is the critical point in a lot of these online arguments. “Socialist” is such a vague term that two people can unknowingly be reading completely different questions from the same statement. It can mean anything from a person following a school of thought (“I’m a socialist”, “We are a socialist party”, “The socialist movement”) to a description of economic conditions (“That commune has a socialist economy”), let alone looser usage (e.g. describing social policies within capitalism, people who have no understanding of socialist theories calling things socialist, etc.). When possible, I find it’s best to avoid the whole “thats not real socialism” spiral by being more specific.
It literally isn’t real socialism. They don’t even have free healthcare.