There are a great many characterizations of The People’s Republic of China floating around in the public square these days. Some people say they’re an authoritarian dictatorship, others describe them as socialist or capitalist or communist. A few sophisticated commentators use hybrid terms like “state-capitalist” or “state owned capitalism.” Perhaps it’s impossible to really describe such a vast and diverse country as China at all. Most people would agree that China is, whatever else they may be, authoritarian. Rather than try to argue against that characterization, I think I will choose to embrace it. China is authoritarian in some very concrete ways. It is integral to the society they have set out to create. Their stated goals of creating a safe society where their citizens can thrive in relative peace and harmony have more than been achieved. I would like to make a case for Chinese Authoritarianism.
In China people enjoy a safe society with a relatively low cost of living. Violent crime is dramatically lower than many other first world countries and the idea that the streets are unsafe at night hardly enters into the public’s mind in China’s great cities. This public safety comes alongside a low cost of living with cheaper groceries, housing, public transport, socialized healthcare and universal access to education. All things that the United States seems incapable of delivering to its citizens, despite claims of being “the freest country on earth”. So with a safe society, low cost of living, benefits such as healthcare and education, and some of the most modern infrastructure in the modern world, where is the authoritarianism? Where is the oppression? The authoritarianism and oppression is against the ruling class.
(Sources:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1043951X21001000
https://www.macrotrends.net/global-metrics/countries/chn/china/crime-ratestatistics
https://www.roafly.com/blog/is-china-safe )
In contrast to the widespread corruption and profiteering in the western world, China has very harsh penalties for government corruption. In fact, they may seem almost draconian. Why does this matter? Is it authoritarian to enforce the law? Is it authoritarian to hold government officials accountable for their actions? It may seem unusual given the total lack of enforcement of basic laws in the western world. We should not view this as an authoritarian government, nor should we view it as oppressive. We should view the Chinese government as the ruling arm of the people holding their government accountable for their actions. We should view it as the “dictatorship of the proletariat” in State form. Would that our own government protected the interests of the people so.
(Sources:
https://www.lw.com/admin/upload/SiteAttachments/GLIBC24-Chapter-6-China.pdf )
In his book, State and Revolution, Lenin wrote at length about the dictatorship of the proletariat. He wrote about revolution and what form it would take. He understood that a strong state was necessary to hold back the excesses of capitalism and prevent the oppression of the people. It is a bourgeois distortion to view this as mere autocracy. Libertarian anarcho-capitalists positively break out in hives at the idea of the government preventing the wholesale destruction of the working class for profit, oftentimes framing this freedom as some sort of idealized “liberty” of the individuals. (Remember, corporations are people too.) We should recognize this distortion for what it is. It’s a philosophical justification for enabling the ruling class to abuse and exploit the working class to the fullest. It’s a philosophical justification that the ruling class has the right to do whatever it wants and can never have its freedom curtailed. Of course, this does not work in the reverse. For all of our inane rambling about freedom I would argue that the average United States citizen is markedly less free than the average Chinese citizen. The authoritarian Chinese government is what allows an average citizen to be free from the oppression of capitalism.
(Sources: State and Revolution by V. I. Lenin)
So what does all this mean? What conclusions can we draw from it? China is an imperfect country with a long way to go on the road to socialism. What is important is that they are on that road. They are a major global power that is leading by example in how to treat human beings and how to make life better for their people. They have made enormous progress in eradicating poverty from their country, reducing the number of it’s citizens living on less than $3 a day to zero by 2019. Through deliberate action on the part of the Chinese Communist Party this effort has produced higher wages and higher rates of home ownership. The people of China have a home ownership rate of ~90% despite high real estate prices and, miraculously, only ~18% of Chinese households have a mortgage. The people of China are realizing the American Dream that we can only reminisce about. They are now the global standard for how a society should be run and what we should all aspire to build. The road to socialism is a difficult journey, but with China leading the way, we can only hope more countries will follow. The future of the global proletariat depends on it.
(Sources:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/wadeshepard/2016/03/30/how-people-in-china-afford-their-outrageously-expensive-homes/
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/23/china-us-poverty-income-inequality )
With China leading the world in eradicating global poverty, effectively dealing with government corruption, successfully regulating corporations and building up their working class we have to take a step back and look at what they’re doing in an objective manner. Is China authoritarian? Most certainly, yes. They are authoritarian in the ways that matter. They are authoritarian in the ways the allow their citizens to be lifted up and live a life of self determination and dignity. They are authoritarian in the ways that give their citizens a free and safe society to raise their families and live their lives. They are authoritarian in the very ways that protect people from corporations and government corruption rather than allowing exploitation for profit as business as usual. China is the case study. They are on the socialist road to a country run by the people, for the people. We owe it to China to give them credit for what they have achieved and question the honesty of our own media and political system when they criticize them. We should look at China as an example for how things should be rather than antagonizing them as a geopolitical rival.
Perhaps it is the shame of our government’s failures that so paralyzes them with fear to do anything but lie to the very people they should be advocating for. We the people of the US should look at the example set by China as something we should expect and demand from our own government.
