On 23 July 2026, Friends of Socialist China co-editor Carlos Martinez spoke to the Croydon Morning Star Readers and Supporters Group at Ruskin House on the question of whether China is still socialist. Below we reprint the Croydon Communists’ report of the meeting, followed by a video Carlos recorded on the basis of his notes for the talk.
This report was originally published by Croydon Communists on 24 July.
The Croydon Morning Star Readers and Supporters Group were privileged to hear Carlos Martinez last night (23 July) give a masterclass on Chinese Socialism.
For those of us who looked to the former USSR to help build socialism globally only for our hopes to be dashed on the collapse following Gorbachev’s rash and badly implemented Glasnost and Perestroika, the strategy adopted by the Communist Party of China (CPC) can seem over-cautious. As Carlos described, it is slowly and systematically building socialism with Chinese Characteristics, testing policies and rejecting those that do not work. As a result, there have been huge economic advances unmatched anywhere in the developing world. The state continues to serve the interests of the working class and its allies, defending it from the inevitable attacks from capital and slowly and systematically building a better life for its people. Through more than four decades of reform and opening up, the CPC retains its commitment to Marxism. There has been no capitulation to capitalism; and socialists and communists should unequivocally support and defend Chinese socialism. The achievements to date have been huge and there will be more to come. The state of “market socialism” currently arrived at is not the end of the trajectory. Communism, as envisaged by Karl Marx in Capital, is still on the agenda.
Carlos Martinez’s book The East is Still Red – Chinese Communism in the 21st Century (Praxis Press, 2023, £20 – order it from your local bookshop) sets out in much more detail these arguments and the evidence on which they are based. Highly recommended!
To receive advance notice of future public meetings at Ruskin House organised by the Croydon Morning Star Readers and Supporters Group, register your interest at croydonmorningstarrsg@gmail.com.
