Reminds a little of Socrates, when asked what his punishment should be.
this post was submitted on 31 Jul 2026
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ELI5?
CCP has long since abandoned actual Marxism, even the totalitarian kind.
Marx would probably be glad to know his work is still known, but bitterly disappointed that his work became used to justify a series of Imperial governments pretending to be Marxists who squared off with Imperial governments pretending to be Adam Smith enthusiasts while both gutted the global south as enthusiastically as possible.
There's a lot to criticize China for, but I don't think they can be said to be "gutting the global south as enthusiastically as possible" even as hyperbole. The main accusation against China in this regard—so-called "debt-trap diplomacy"—is AFAIK strictly hypothetical.
The least charitable interpretation of the Belt and Road Initiative is that it's an alternative to the IMF
I wonder how they'd compare with American cigarettes. I'd love to try cigarettes from other countries.
I've had Japanese Camels, pretty tasty!
Why would he love it?
Contrary to popular opinion, Marx was not against branding or mass production. The only thing Marx could be against for something like this is the implication that it's made via exploitation. Which, I think any product these days even something from "communist" China is clearly unable to avoid that.
Marx didn't even mind some forms of trade and commerce. Especially for luxury goods like cigarettes. He thought the practice would die naturally as we normalized communism but would probably not have balked at something like this.
I think it might be from China's state-owned tobacco corporation.
state sponsored cancer 👍
i guess anywhere with legal cigarettes have a level of state sponsored cancer, having it as a nationalised industry would probably aid in keeping things somewhat clean.
Would you prefer private companies be doing it? The government is trying to reduce smoking and prices are low enough not to trap addicted people in poverty.
It's not like Phillip Morris does better.
Drug production is such an obvious thing that should be nationalised to remove the profit incentive and introduce a degree of accountability and collective control.
True socialists smoke a pack of Marxloros, the workers choice of cancer!
At least China has cheaper/free healthcare.