Quote:
Originally Posted by William_the_Bloody
Wow I thought this argument was settled after the fall of the Soviet Union. If you ask the people of china what system they would prefer (Capitalism, or Maoism) I'm pretty sure the answer is obvious.
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No, the answer is not obvious. Mao is well-respected in China, even though the Cultural Revolution and Great Leap Forward are critizised, as they should be. Under Mao's regime, life expectancy went from about 35 years in 1949 to 66 years in 1976. Illiteracy went from around 80% to less than 7%. Now, under capitalism, China is among the worst countries in the world when it comes to income equality, with 36% of the population living on less than two dollars a day. The country has experienced a booming economic growth after the liberal market reforms, but only after decades of attempting to build up a self-sufficient economy.
I'm not a big fan of Mao myself, but I found this video from TeleSUR interesting.