Not long after I published it, I saw a meme of the cleaned out shelves during this pandemic relating this entire pandemic to socialism. This is the meme and there are many more out there like this.
This meme is stupid and has nothing to stand on. Naturally, I was annoyed.
Seeing as how most Americans have only ever lived under a democracy. I can’t see how they could possibly know what living in a socialist economy would feel like if they’ve only ever lived under a democracy.
Then I remembered a brief conversation I recently had with a friend of mine about socialism.
In the same breath, she also admitted to me that she was a member of the Chinese Communist Party. This was a first for me, having a friend in the CCP. This is my second time in China, and the Communist Party was something that Peace Corps encouraged we shouldn’t engage in much when I served in 2014 – 2016.
News outlets in the US paint a grim picture of the CCP. There is a lot about the CCP and things they are doing that I 100% don’t agree with. However, for us to shake our fingers at this country when we can’t even get our own shit together in America is pretty hypocritical. There is nothing right about trying to govern women’s bodies or separating children from their parents at borders. However, those are topics for another discussion.
Everything I had been previously warned about when encountering someone in the CCP was this:
- Be careful
- Don’t do anything that could make them suspicious of you
- Don’t talk about politics
- Be careful of voicing your opinion of the CCP
- Don’t ask questions
Before, I had pretty much decided to never engage in conversations with members of the CCP. When I became friends with this woman, I was surprised she was even in the party. Quite honestly, I thought, “She’s awfully nice for being in the CCP.” Then I realized I knew very little about the CCP myself and felt shame. I think highly of this woman and we have become good friends.
I Was Curious, So I Asked
My friend is a member of the lowest tier and amongst 85 million other members. The largest party in China (and yes, there are others). She tells me the tests to advance into other tiers are incredibly difficult. She also tells me being in the party gives her and her family certain benefits in society.
I asked her if she felt comfortable talking to me about how socialism has affected China during the Coronavirus, and she said, “of course”.
I’m not naming her in the piece because she has asked that I respect her privacy. Yet she was glad to be able to provide me insight on living in a socialist economy ruled by the Chinese Communist Party. She was also happy to share how their socialist economy made a huge impact on the People’s Republic of China during the Coronavirus.
What she told me was some of the most extraordinary and heartwarming information. I want to share it with everyone and educate everyone on what I know about this. It’s truly sad to see what China was able to do here and then observe the total opposite happening in the US right now.
People need to get rid of these uninformed and dumbass memes because it’s clear they don’t know what socialism is.
Difference Between Socialism & Communism
Socialism is defined as “a political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.” Many people know Nordic countries for having their socialist economies, which many would argue have allowed their people to prosper. But no one Nordic country has a 100% socialist economy.
Then there are some who look at countries like China and Venezuela and scold them for Communism. I can’t speak to Venezuela, because I have never lived there. I have, however, lived in China. Twice now.
The key difference between communism and socialism is this. Those who live underneath a communist party are likely only getting what the government thinks they would need.
What Communism is:
- Political and Economical Philosophy
- Everything is public property
- People likely don’t have their own money
- Everyone still works for their government
- There are no class distinctions
What Democratic Socialism or Socialism is:
- Economical Philosophy
- Distributes wealth among all members of society
- Doesn’t control all aspects of the economy
- Allows people their own private property
- Provides basic needs to all people (healthcare and education)
- Not under an authoritarian rule
History.com has a ton of useful information on the difference between the two which you can find here. Find more of these facts and a list of socialist countries here.
“Today, communism exists in China, Cuba, North Korea, Laos and Vietnam—although in reality, a purely communist state has never existed.” (Source)
Doctors & Hospitals
Thanks to China’s socialist economy, the single profession that was taken care of by their government, were those on the front line. The doctors. According to my source, those who were ripped away from their families to occupy hospitals and fight the virus were well taken care of. All doctors are also part of the Chinese Communist Party, meaning they received other benefits as well. Not only were they taken care of, but their families were too.
Policies were put in place specifically to protect doctors and their families by providing food and supplies while they worked their asses off to save lives.
China, built 16 temporary hospitals in Wuhan to support the need for treatments. That was almost two months ago. A week ago, Xinhua News announced the closing of all 16 of the hospitals in Xi’an. There have been huge wins happening for China in the month of March.
Donations to Support Everyone
I didn’t know this, but apparently all members of the CCP donated money, supplies, and time to help support each other. Chinese leaders pledged to donate money to fight the virus and then encouraged all other 85 million party members to voluntarily donate as well. And they did. (Source)
Huge celebrities in China also donated to the cause. Fan Bingbing, a famous actress, donated $72,000 to the Red Cross. Louis Koo reportedly donated $1.9 million to the Wuhan Benevolent General Association as well. Other celebrities that followed suit were Angelababy and her husband Huang Xiaoming who donated $40,000. (Source)
Jack Ma, the co-founder of Alibaba, who earlier this month sent thousands of surgical masks and test kits to the US, also donated a whopping $14 million dollars to help against the outbreak. (Source)
Governor of Wuhan’s Apology
Not long after the outbreak in China, or rather when they issued the largest quarantine in history, the governor of Wuhan was hard-pressed to resign from his position. My friend in the Chinese Communist Party informed me that earlier this month, he resigned from his position as governor. He also publicly apologized for neglecting this virus and not taking appropriate preventive measures. (Source)
Officials from Shanghai were sent to cover his position until further notice.
Consequences For Acting Dumb
Recently, we had some special people in the US doing strange things hoarding 17,000 bottles of sanitizer and trying to sell it at outrageous prices. Then, several weeks before, China was already reserving special prison cells for greedy and selfish people who are putting everyone else at risk and taking advantage of others.
So far, people in the US have faced very few consequences for deviating from any recommendations to stay inside. After talking with my source in the CCP, I was informed that people who tried to escape quarantine were arrested, sent to jail, or paid fines.
Neighbors also had no problem reporting people who were not following the federal orders put in place to isolate people in their homes. If they saw people without a mask or heard someone was infected but not going to the hospital, they would call authorities. People who lied about having the virus were sent to prison.
People were also punished for price gouging if they attempted the feat. This made it easy for everyone to get the supplies they needed for their families.
The People of China
And what about the people? What about those who couldn’t go to work, open their small businesses, pay their rent, or pay for treatment? Here’s a quick list of how amazing the Chinese Communist Party was to their people.
- The CCP put emergency policies in place to waive rent prices for residents.
- Policies were put in place to support small businesses (mind you, the economy is not doing super hot at the moment)
- Graduate students who would suffer finding a job during this were given additional support for finding a job after this Coronavirus was over.
- Free online classes were given out all over the country to students who can’t go to school
- If people got infected, they didn’t pay a dime for testing, hospital visits, or treatment.
In case any of you are wondering, this is actually what happens under a socialist economy. Support for everyone, not just the rich.
China Can Do What Everyone Else Is Struggling To
There is no doubt, that the CCP has the compliance and submission of its population. Having control over the masses and issuing a nationwide lockdown wasn’t as difficult of a task and saved MILLIONS from getting infect and dying.
“These aggressive measures, they’re incredibly giving, and community-oriented nature was no match for this virus.”
Today, Wuhan has had no new cases of the Coronavirus, 16 temporary hospitals were shut down, and life is happening all over the country. Many cities are still taking the necessary precautions to make sure a second wave of the pandemic doesn’t come back into the country. Otherwise, people can order food online, take walks outside, chat with strangers, go back to work, and feel a sense of normalcy again.
I am so incredibly moved by how this country came together in such a hard time and tackled this pandemic in such a short time. My source with the CCP told me she was proud to be a Chinese person, solely because of how everyone’s kindness had shown through.
My fear is that other countries around the globe will struggle to instill that same system of containing the pandemic. We are seeing news about Italy developing daily and it’s not great at the moment.
How Did the Chinese Communist Party & Socialism Help China During the Coronavirus
I’ll make it simple for you all.
- Provided free treatments to the infected
- Spread tax dollars across the country to support everyone
- Donated millions to fight the virus and NOT to major corporations who need a financial bailout
- Supported small business owners
- Waived fees on housing payments
- Enforced consequences for people who were greedy and selfish (price gouging and quarantine negligence)
If people want to make memes about the US being on a test run for socialism, they should probably start checking their facts, because having support like this from your government doesn’t sound bad at. It sounds fucking amazing.
I am praising China for their aggressive measures because I believe it saved their country from millions of deaths. The economy they put in place also played a huge role in supporting the fight.
The US is not doing what China has done and we definitely shouldn’t be calling people’s ignorance, price gouging, lack of paid treatments, and many other things socialism.
It’s not socialism.
Watch the Video!
Here is one of my favorite videos of what support in China looked like during the Coronavirus.
No Comments