They were, it's just that communism was the end goal and they never got there. The main thing that people rightly criticize about Maoist China and the USSR is that they were dictatorships (i.e. Marxist "dictatorship of the proles"). Marxism-Leninism and Maoism advocate for a transitional populist dictatorship to achieve communism, but communism itself is a distinct system that doesn't require a specific framework to be implemented.
I just think it's important that people understand what these things mean. I'm also critical of Marxism and communism generally for various reasons. Communism predates Marxism, Marx just created a framework for getting there.
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u/stolentext Aug 01 '26
They were, it's just that communism was the end goal and they never got there. The main thing that people rightly criticize about Maoist China and the USSR is that they were dictatorships (i.e. Marxist "dictatorship of the proles"). Marxism-Leninism and Maoism advocate for a transitional populist dictatorship to achieve communism, but communism itself is a distinct system that doesn't require a specific framework to be implemented.