Here is a list of countries that have tried some form of socialism (Marxist, Leninist, or self-declared socialist systems) since Marx. Based on a summary from several AIs. None of them prospered when they were socialist.
The ones in bold are those I’ve visited or lived in. Like China.
This post follows on from one I did recently on socialism. And how Socialism has never succeeded in any country that tried it.
As for the special case of China… it has only prospered economically and socially to the exact extent that it has allowed capitalism, freed up markets forces, to prevail. They want to call it “socialism with Chinese characteristics”. Fine. The fact remains that China prospers with capitalism and impoverishes with socialism.
Anyway, here’s the list:
• Soviet Union (USSR/Russia and former republics)
• China
• Cuba
• Vietnam
• North Korea (DPRK)
• Laos
• East Germany
• Poland
• Hungary
• Czechoslovakia
• Romania
• Bulgaria
• Albania
• Yugoslavia
• Mongolia
• Cambodia (Kampuchea)
• Ethiopia
• Angola
• Mozambique
• Afghanistan (Democratic Republic)
• Nicaragua
• Venezuela
• Bolivia (under certain periods)
• Chile (Allende era)
• Tanzania
• Somalia
• South Yemen
• Benin
• Congo (various periods)
• Guinea-Bissau
• Burkina Faso (briefly)
• Grenada (briefly)
