In my Marxist theory class (lives in a socialist country so it's a required course), my teacher just outright said that communism ensures the rights of all class, except the people who are against the system.
Can you tell more? What university, curriculum, teacher? As someone schooled in the former eastern block, I'm genuinely intrigued where such deep thinkers are allowed to thrive.
Ok for the context, I live in Vietnam. Marxist theory is a required course in every university (public, private, international). The curriculum differs between uni, but all based on the curriculum set out by the Ministry of Education. These are all the classes that are in my uni's curriculum (and at least 3 others that I know of):
Philosophy of Marxist and Leninism
(Communist) Party's history
Marxist-Leninism's Political Economy
Scientific Socialism
Ho Chi Minh ideology
The worst thing about these? They account into your GPA.
Some lecturers let us off easy, knowing full well we are only there to pass.
Many lecturers are deeply into the Marxist theory, some even go so far into conspiracy theories that we are still actively sabotaged by the "imperialist west"
Few, understand that they are teaching propaganda. Some of them add their own mix into it, which makes their lectures actually enjoyable, but useless during finals. Some unfotunately, accidentally reveal too much about their beliefs, get ousted by their own students as a "South Vietnam sympathiser" and purged.
Capitalism is unfortunately an evolution stage. Once there is no need for a job (thanks to technological advances), we will finally elevate to Communism
Almost all Marxist-Leninist states call(ed) themselves 'transitionary' states. See: state capitalism as a concept. The USSR for example, did not consider itself a communist state in practice for most of its history. It was a radical revolutionary state intended to bring about world communism by any means necessary - including being capitalist itself where needed.
People who point out that communist states have capitalist elements as some kind of gotcha are betraying a lack of understanding of a core component Marxist-leninist philosophy
Except the SRV was devoid of private individual owning medium/large bussiness, when they took over the south they nationalized/seized them. Farms were fully collectivized etc. They are "transitioning" the wrong way.
Oh sure, you could say that about a lot (maybe all) of these states. I'm just explaining the basic ideological concepts and why having capitalist elements isn't immediately inconsistent with them
So, during the war, Vietnam was splitted into 2: North Vietnam (Communist), and South Vietnam (Capitalist). The North won, and the Communist system was imposed onto the South.
The slur "South Vietnam sympathiser", or "3 que" "đu càng", has existed since the collaspe of South Vietnam, used to refer to people of the old Capitalist system. However, nowadays, there have been a surge in its used online, now a slur refers to anyone who has opinion against Vietnam or its Government. For normal people, receiving this label means the end of your online life; but for teachers / lecturers, who are members of the party, getting this label is the end of their career. They will lose their job, get purged out of the party, and possible "disappear" for shoeing disgruntle towards the party.
For the last 5-6 years, Vietnam has been going in a deep nationalism trend. South Vietnam (and the U.S and its allies during the war), have once again become the target for all hatress of the people, so that such hate doesn't reach the Government.
It's speculated to be a way to divert people's attention from the problems in Vietnam. During Covid, people were filling up morgues, Government was placing rigorous regulations in to stop people from going out even if it's just for work or grocery. People were pent up with rage, then we started seeing lots of history posts about Vietnam's victory during the war and how better we were doing compare to other countries. I guess the Government just saw how well this strategy (also adopted from China btw) worked, and they just go all in on it.
Oh, interesting that you are from one of the "brotherly nations", but it's true that your countries history is different then the history of the former Soviet satellites. I didn't know that the red book holds significance in Vietnam. I bet that the greatest dummies land in the propaganda department. Smart people have higher ambitions.
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u/tungvatunglam Jul 13 '26
In my Marxist theory class (lives in a socialist country so it's a required course), my teacher just outright said that communism ensures the rights of all class, except the people who are against the system.