Profile photo for Alexander Finnegan
Alexander Finnegan
·
Follow
Been around the block 45 times.Jan 15
Why is the Chinese Communist Party afraid of democracy?
Reality.

If your country doesn’t have a history of democratic rule, moving from an authoritarian rule to a democratic one doesn’t always—or often—work. Consider the case of Russia. The fall of the Soviet Union was a disaster for the Russian people. It was cataclysmic. Boris Yeltsin’s neoliberal capitalist government caused untold suffering. Russia never fully recovered, even under the much more positive Putin period. Russia is semi-democratic now. The Chinese aren’t morons. Moving from a Marxist Leninist government to a “democratic” one can often fail.
The U.S. is democratic, but it is failing. The disastrous handling of the COVID pandemic is the canary in the coal mine. The U.S. between 1945 to 1980 was a strong and thriving social democracy. But capitalism undermined social democracy, and ultimately the bourgeois class won the class war. Inequality is so high now that it is causing social unrest. The Chinese see how dysfunctional the U.S. is, and how it has caused the elimination of the Middle Class. The rise of Trump has signaled the U.S. is close to the end. It will likely become a Trump ruled autocratic government in 2024 because U.S. Democrats and members of the left refuse to work together and to take seriously the threat which America faces. Half the country wants a Trump dictatorship. They just won’t admit it because it isn’t politically correct.
Meanwhile, President Xi has said that China’s economic prosperity must be shared with all citizens, not just the rich. Xi is aware of the social unrest caused by great inequality. So he is cracking down on the oligarchs, taking away their power. This type of model also worked in the U.S. after WWII, as social democracy. It ensured that inequality did not get out of control. Xi is practical.