[lbo-talk] Vietnamese Leninism (was re Eyewitness in Tikrit)

Grant Lee grantlee at iinet.net.au
Tue Jan 6 17:30:20 PST 2004


From: <dredmond at efn.org>


> I'm not sure that communism has ever existed on this planet.
"Developmental
> state socialist" might be the best term for Vietnam today -- not too
different
> from, say, 1950s Japan or 1970s South Korea.
>
> -- DRR

Dennis,

As I've said to you before, there is a big difference between socialism and dirigisme, although they may both occur in the same country at the same time. I realise that Hardt & Negri have brought socialist-bashing back into fashion, but there is no way anyone can justify calling postwar Japan and S.Korea "socialist", as there was little public ownership of the means of production in either case (unlike say the UK, prior to the 1980s).

Regards,

Grant.



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list