Sorry for horrible title, let me explain
I’m a fairly new commie with some readings, and I’ve been thinking: is communism or at least an advanced socialist society achievable through continuous reform if the State is controlled by the working class? China in my eyes is advancing socialism even with a bourgeois class still owning much of the means of production, so the rule of capital is still in place, with the central socialist government using it to its needs. When I speak to my comrades in my party (UP in Brazil, they’re ML - staunch anti-China “officially” but there are plenty of pro-China inside of the party) the anti-China ones always say there can’t be socialist advancement while the bourgeoisie exist, or while there are market relations.
Anyways, I’m sorry if I was not very clear:
Is the betterment of the working class and a push to communist relations to the means of production possible through gradual means when the working class is in charge of the State and the economy?
I didn’t put Cuba and Nicaragua in there because they had actual revolutions. I was specifically talking about the “21st century socialism” countries which seek a peaceful reform process from bourgeois democracy.
True. However, there is a bit more nuance in Nicaragua’s case. After the intense siege by the Yankee imperialist, Nicaragua reverted to a bourgeois democracy and neoliberalism flooded. You can find more detailed information in Gaceta Sandinista(Unidad VII – 16 años de oscurantismo Neoliberal) -> https://gacetasandinista.com/dhn/
After all of those years, FSLN came back, won through the elections and, with the growing weakness of the pro gringo forces after the coup in 2019, the sandinistas worked their way to establish their own version of DOTP(democracia directa). This DOTP was made thanks to the intense cooperation and exchanges with the CPC -> https://www.idcpc.org.cn/english2023/bzhd/202308/t20230804_161798.html