China is a dictatorship of the proleariat, shouldnt the dictators be armed?
on a more serious note, Marx and many theorists after him talked about how the proletariat being armed is a necessity, why does China has such gun laws?
China is a dictatorship of the proleariat, shouldnt the dictators be armed?
on a more serious note, Marx and many theorists after him talked about how the proletariat being armed is a necessity, why does China has such gun laws?
A proletarian dictatorship means the working class can be enlisted by an armed communist or anti-imperialist party, along military lines. This is how every successful communist revolution was acheived: via an organized revolutionary army, not individual gun ownership.
And of course, in settler colonies, gun ownership serves reactionary causes like clearing its land of indigenous peoples, and encouraging reactionary terrorism. A “citizen’s militia” in settler colonies really just means a strong settler garrison.
There is zero reason for China to introduce general gun ownership, given it’s dangers. If it ever needed to, the PLA would do a mass recruitment drive.
Edit: Another mistake that the PRC conciously avoids, and was one of the primary mistakes of the USSR, was the de-politicization of the military, and having the military not controlled by the party. The PLA will always remain under the complete control of the CPC, to ensure that a color revolution can never win the support of the military.
Your last point is extremely crucial. Too many countries that attempted to implement socialism neglected this and the result was almost always disastrous. Venezuela had to learn the hard way after a coup almost managed to depose Hugo Chavez. After that they reorganized and reconstituted the army. Chile unfortunately was not so lucky. Bolivia only just managed to reverse the reactionary coup but they are still in a precarious situation because they have not subordinated the military to the ruling socialist party.
We all know the famous Mao quote about political power growing out of the barrel of a gun, but the second part of that quote is possibly even more important:
“Our principle is that the Party commands the gun, and the gun must never be allowed to command the Party.”
Spot on comrade. I really hope South American countries do take those lessons to heart, given the many tragedies they’ve had with right wing military leaders in the pockets of the US, being able to take over the country, as in Chile and Brazil.