Status of communism in Laos and Cambodia

[JohnTheMarxist]

What is the status of the communist movement in these two countries?

[Comrade Ceausescu]

Laos is "socialist" but they are very similar to Vietnam as they have a revisionist/capitalist government like the Chinese.As for Cambodia,they are capitalist.They do not claim to be socialist,and in fact they never were.Especially not under that creep Pol Pot.

[Comrade Ceausescu]

So basicly there are only 5 self proclaimed communist countries in the world.

1.China
2.Vietnam
3.Laos
4.Cuba
5.North Korea

I find that the last two are the only real socialist(advancing to communist) governments left.

[JohnTheMarxist]

Well now that the Socialist Trading bloc is gone Vietnam and Laos have no choice but to open themselves up to markets to an extent. Vietnam was bombed 100 years into the past, and now with no trading partners they have no resources to keep their country running, no way of tapping into resources, and no money to buy or build anything. They have no choice but to let these companies come in. Its sad but they are a small poor nation that was destroyed, now surrounded by capitalists. I really don't see what else they could have done.

[el_profe]

Originally posted by [email protected] 15 2003, 09:47 AM
So basicly there are only 5 self proclaimed communist countries in the world.

1.China
2.Vietnam
3.Laos
4.Cuba
5.North Korea

I find that the last two are the only real socialist(advancing to communist) governments left.
What do all those nations have in common? they are all poor nations. and china is starting to go away from communsim, as they have seen how well taiwan and hong kong have been doing with free-market style economies. AND LETS NOT FORGET TO INCLUDE RUSSIA IN THOSE POOR NATIONS, WHAT was once the USSR left its people poor and miserable.

[Jesus Christ]

Originally posted by [email protected] 15 2003, 05:45 AM
Laos is "socialist" but they are very similar to Vietnam as they have a revisionist/capitalist government like the Chinese.As for Cambodia,they are capitalist.They do not claim to be socialist,and in fact they never were.Especially not under that creep Pol Pot.
you have to open up your market even in the slightest to allow for the economy to reestablish itself

Vietnam hasnt been able to recover from the Vietnam War simply because it isolates itself, so they need to get some circulation going, and that does not mean that capitalism is on the loom


Laos is a perfect example, they isolate their country so much that it is still in shambles from the bombings, and the people still live as farmers and merchants, they havent even set up major industry yet

[LuZhiming]

Idiot, the people of Laos still die from bombs in the ground from the U.S.' earlier campaign. Vietnam and North Korea were completely devastated by the U.S., the U.S. even went as far as to try to keep other countries from giving aid to Vietnam. Cuba was under a protectorate of the U.S. for many years. Castro liberated it, and the U.S. then launched embargoes and blockades against Cuba. It's obvious why this would pose a problem to a country. Things are even worse, when one considers how poor Cuba's other neighboring countries are, and how their top trading partner was destroyed. Russia was brought into the Second World under 'Communism.' The Capitalist reforms have driven them right back into the Third World. What these countries have most in common, is that they have been terrorized by the United States

[Saint-Just]

Originally posted by el_profe+Dec 15 2003, 04:45 PM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (el_profe @ Dec 15 2003, 04:45 PM)
[email protected] 15 2003, 09:47 AM
So basicly there are only 5 self proclaimed communist countries in the world.

1.China
2.Vietnam
3.Laos
4.Cuba
5.North Korea

I find that the last two are the only real socialist(advancing to communist) governments left.
What do all those nations have in common? they are all poor nations. and china is starting to go away from communsim, as they have seen how well taiwan and hong kong have been doing with free-market style economies. AND LETS NOT FORGET TO INCLUDE RUSSIA IN THOSE POOR NATIONS, WHAT was once the USSR left its people poor and miserable. [/b]
I would suggest that you could have looked at this issue with far more depth than you just had.

Firstly, all these countries were very poor before they became socialist countries. In addition, they have suffered from great imperialist pressure. The DPRK and Vietnam were put to waste in their conflicts with the U.S. and their economic development has been over a period of decades compared to capitalist countries that have had centuries. These countries are not particularly poor either. China is quite rich now, the poorest people are those living in cities, and the desperation of their poverty has been created largely by unemployment and disease afforded to them by a lack of public sector investment. Also, the USSR was a rich superpower in the 50s and maintained reasonable living standards until its collapse.

The USSR did not leave its people poor, the unemployment and corruption following the breakup is what created the poverty. You will also note in the North Korea thread in this forum that the DPRK was ahead of South Korea economically in the 70s. North Korea was a reasonably well off country before it got bombed. Laos, Vietnam, Cuba and China were far poorer than North Korea. The economic situation of these countries has been improved by socialism, and without revisionism and the collapse of socialism in several countries I think you would be looking at a second world competing with the capitalist world today.

The only way you could make a realistic comparison is if for example a European nation became socialist and then you could compare the economic growth and prosperity with the U.S. or another capitalist nation over a number of years

[Jesus Christ]

Originally posted by [email protected] 16 2003, 05:04 AM
Idiot, the people of Laos still die from bombs in the ground from the U.S.&#39; earlier campaign. Vietnam and North Korea were completely devastated by the U.S., the U.S. even went as far as to try to keep other countries from giving aid to Vietnam. Cuba was under a protectorate of the U.S. for many years. Castro liberated it, and the U.S. then launched embargoes and blockades against Cuba. It&#39;s obvious why this would pose a problem to a country. Things are even worse, when one considers how poor Cuba&#39;s other neighboring countries are, and how their top trading partner was destroyed. Russia was brought into the Second World under &#39;Communism.&#39; The Capitalist reforms have driven them right back into the Third World. What these countries have most in common, is that they have been terrorized by the United States

no need to be rude