I have a question about Moldova

[EddieBhoy]

I ain't no expert about politics and such, but if Moldova is being run by a communist party and has been for a good number of years, then why isn't it a communist country? (sorry for asking what is most likely a newbie question)

[Crux]

Short answer: Because they are to the right of New Labour.

[sanpal]

I ain't no expert about politics and such, but if Moldova is being run by a communist party and has been for a good number of years, then why isn't it a communist country? (sorry for asking what is most likely a newbie question)
The sentence "communist country" has no sense because "communist" meanes stateless self-management society.
If a communist party has come to power in the society which has not been prepared enough for developing communist relations this premature condition could forced CP to do the not characteristic work of social-democratic type for class society. Earlyer or later dialectic development will lead to the negation of socialism of social-democratic kind with its capitalist mode of production but now as Marx marked the early getting of the power for communists could lead them to failed and to the falling down their reputation.
Let's for socialists of different sort to have such kind of failing (of course after their positive role in history) .

[PRC-UTE]

I ain't no expert about politics and such, but if Moldova is being run by a communist party and has been for a good number of years, then why isn't it a communist country? (sorry for asking what is most likely a newbie question)

I'm not sure what basic facts you are in possession of, so here's a quick explanation with as little bias as possible. After the end of the Soviet Union, which Moldova was a member of, the economy and all land was privitised. Due to many factors (including privitisation, but others such as the specialised role of Moldova's economy within the former SU) the economy shrank and Moldova became the poorest European country. Due partially to nostalgia for the Soviet days, when food was affordable, Moldovans voted the CP back into power. The current communist party is in no way really communist, it's only interested in being elected.

[Revy]

The power of the Communist Party there is crumbling. Wikipedia says The Economist even calls the party center-right.

Anyway, I think a country isn't considered "communist" by the media until they define themselves constitutionally as such.

[Kwisatz Haderach]

Short answer: Because they are to the right of New Labour.
That pretty much sums it up. There are many, many political parties in the world whose names do not reflect their policies. The Liberal Democratic Party of Russia is neither liberal nor democratic, the Democratic Party of Turkmenistan runs a dictatorship, the Christian Social Union in Bavaria is not "social" in any way, you know all about New Labour, and so on and so forth.

Just because a party calls itself X, that doesn't mean it actually supports X. It could just as well mean that (a) they used to support X at some point in the past, and they've kept the name even though they've changed their politics, or (b) they never supported X, and just picked the name because it would sound good to most people.

[EddieBhoy]

This explained a lot :) pretty helpful, cheers.

[Outinleftfield]

Id think anyone who joins this party would have to believe in communism though whether the party's policies reflect that or not. Even the leadership would have to even if they've adopted some distorted view of communism where they think free market policies are the way to a communist society.

That even goes for China where the ruling Communist Party has moved the economy so far to the right it makes America look socialist. I'm sure they don't just openly admit that they are just calling themselves communist. But that makes me wonder how do they rationalize their policies? How do they make it sound like sweatshop conditions and privatizing everything(including healthcare in the 1990s) is part of the "socialist" stage and is moving them closer to communism.

[Crux]

Id think anyone who joins this party would have to believe in communism though whether the party's policies reflect that or not. Even the leadership would have to even if they've adopted some distorted view of communism where they think free market policies are the way to a communist society.

That even goes for China where the ruling Communist Party has moved the economy so far to the right it makes America look socialist. I'm sure they don't just openly admit that they are just calling themselves communist. But that makes me wonder how do they rationalize their policies? How do they make it sound like sweatshop conditions and privatizing everything(including healthcare in the 1990s) is part of the "socialist" stage and is moving them closer to communism.
Well, actually, as far as I understand it, their official rationale is that the Mao-eras nationalisations were premature and that they need to go through capitalism. A convenient explanation, to be sure.

I am sure lots of people support the Moldovan CP for nostalgia reasons; and some people who join might be leftwing. I mean I have talked to socialdemocrats in sweden who claim they are for democratic socialism and a classless society even when their party are doing nothing of the sort.

[bailey_187]

That even goes for China where the ruling Communist Party has moved the economy so far to the right it makes America look socialist.

er......no they havnt.

yes the revisionists moved the economy to the right but not further right than America.

Are the banks publicly owned in America? Are the commanding heights of the American Economy i.e. all big industry publicly owned? - maybe some of these things are slightly true in America due to the economic crisis but in normal times we talking about

I dont have facts to back this up but i heard from an expert on China that something like 70% of Shanghai's economy is publicly owned. Is 70% of New York's economy public? Or LA's?

[Outinleftfield]

er......no they havnt.

yes the revisionists moved the economy to the right but not further right than America.

Are the banks publicly owned in America? Are the commanding heights of the American Economy i.e. all big industry publicly owned? - maybe some of these things are slightly true in America due to the economic crisis but in normal times we talking about

I dont have facts to back this up but i heard from an expert on China that something like 70% of Shanghai's economy is publicly owned. Is 70% of New York's economy public? Or LA's?

OK in that respect they're still more socialist.

However for the part of the Chinese economy that isn't owned by the government the capitalists are a lot less regulated than they are in America at least as far as the environment and worker's rights.

[Revy]

Vladimir Voronin resigned on September 11th, the acting President is now from the opposition.

[Dimentio]

I ain't no expert about politics and such, but if Moldova is being run by a communist party and has been for a good number of years, then why isn't it a communist country? (sorry for asking what is most likely a newbie question)

Because they have a capitalist economy, and the Communist Party isn't going to change it.