Comparative Analysis of the Economic Structure of the Socialist Market Economy of China and the New Economy Policy

ABSTRACT

This article presents an analysis of the Chinese mode of production since the 1978 economic reforms. We try to explain the Chinese economic reforms based on its Marxist-Leninist ideology. Our research takes the form of a comparative analysis of the economic structures of the Soviet NEP (New Economic Policy) and Chinese reforms using a Marxist theoretical framework. Does the Chinese economic model correspond to the same kind of socialism found in the USSR during the NEP period? Our thesis is that the modern Chinese mode of production, since 1990s, follows a logic similar to the Soviet one during the NEP era. In the light of the NEP experience, our research shows that the Chinese development strategy shouldn't be understood as trending towards a neoliberal model. It is rather an original evolution of Marxism, in line with the tradition of Marxism-Leninism, adapted to the cohabitation with a globalized capitalist system. The NEP model is one of the earliest examples of a type of socialism based in part on market relations. In the USSR, as in China, the critical structures of the economy, heavy regulations and a certain level of economic planning are the basis of this socialist market model.

KEYWORDS:

• Socialism
• market socialism
• New Economic Policy
• China
• Marxism

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

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Maxence Poulin

Maxence Poulin is a PhD student at the Department of Political Science, University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM), Canada. He specialises in Marxist political economy and comparative politics with a focus on China and imperialism.