Actually Existing Socialism
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"Actually existing socialism" (AES), also known as "real socialism" or "existing socialism", is a revisionist[1] concept which originated in the Brezhnevite Soviet Union involving militant support for nominally socialist states which survived the end of the Cold War. Supporters of "AES" may argue that spreading revolution and thus building socialism in one's own country is secondary or even futile (particularly when it concerns first world countries, as most supporters of the "AES" doctrine also happen to be Dengists or third worldists). "AES" followers care little for actual ideological content, and instead base their view of "socialism" off rhetoric and symbols which the ruling parties of so-called "AES" states maintain. Thus, "AES" followers view countries such as modern China (a state which is social-imperialist and organized on a fascist corporatist and class collaborationist economic model) or the former Brezhnevite Soviet Union as being entirely socialist and full dictatorships of the proletariat (despite neither modern China nor the historical revisionist Soviet Union actually claiming to be proletarian dictatorships).
Followers of "AES" claim there exist, at the least, five "AES" states in the world — China, Vietnam, the North Korea, Laos, and Cuba. However, none of these countries are under the socialist mode of production.
Countries considered "Actually Existing Socialism"
People's Republic of China
The PRC is considered the main socialist state in the modern day by Dengites and other revisionists. Their belief in modern Chinese "socialism" is so extreme that many compare the modern Chinese state to the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin (viz. it is the bulwark of modern proletarian struggle).
The PRC has not been socialist since 1976, when the dictatorship of the proletariat was dismantled by the capitalist roaders in the Party. Currently, the PRC operates under a fascistic corporatist system where most of the land is owned by privately. Even in state-owned enterprises, bourgeois relations of production dominate.[2]
Democratic People's Republic of Korea
Many revisionists and inexperienced communists uphold the DPRK (or North Korea) as a socialist state for its continued usage of socialist symbolism and rhetoric. However, the DPRK operates under capitalist principles with a thriving private sector and rampant black markets undermining collective enterprises.[3]
Socialist Republic of Vietnam
Vietnam has been under the control of centrist and revisionist leadership since 1956. Starting in 1986, the Đổi Mới reforms were introduced which placed the country firmly on the capitalist road, similar to revisionist China. In the present, Vietnam is part of the neoliberal international organization ASEAN.
Lao People's Democratic Republic
Aligned with Vietnam and the Soviet revisionists, the Lao PDR completed its turn to capitalism in 1986 with the so-called New Economic Mechanism and is a member of ASEAN.
Republic of Cuba
Similar to the DPRK, Cuba has maintained certain aesthetical elements of a socialist state. From the start of the government with the Cuban Revolution in the 1950s, pro-Soviet revisionists have been in power of the government. Socialist development in Cuba was prevented and the Castro clique turned the country into an economic dependency of the Soviet social-imperialists, sugar plantations dominating the economy and its exports. In the present, Cuba is supportive of Russian imperialism and Chinese social-imperialism.[4]
See also
References
- ↑ The “AES” Doctrine: Wrong Then, Wrong Now (September 14, 2020)
- ↑ "Chile – El Pueblo: Notes on Fascism and Corporatism – Part I" (November 14, 2025. The Worker.
"After the counterrevolutionary coup of 1976, the glorious party founded by Chairman Mao Zedong became a fascist party (just as he had warned regarding the actions of the right wing within the party). Its regime, despite the gains that survived for the workers, became a counterrevolutionary regime, a system based on capitalist restoration, with aspirations to become an imperialist power and, in the long term, a hegemonic superpower worldwide. To this end, it has had to develop fascism and corporatize Chinese society. These are issues of great importance to understand at the present time."
- ↑ Hyonhee Shin (December 16, 2021). "Private sector overtakes state as North Korea's top economic actor under Kim". Reuters. Retrieved March 30, 2025.
- ↑ Cuba: the Evaporation of a Myth, From Anti-Imperialist Revolution To Pawn of Social-Imperialism (1977).