Communism is as diverse as capitalism, and this is neither the text-book definition, nor the real-world definition.
Is the definition of capitalism a complete lack of freedom to change the status quo because that was the case under Pinochet?
The text-book definition is the common ownership of the means of production. Is China still communist? The definition still applies somewhat in that they still have a lot of state owned businesses, and the banks which borrows capital to private business are state-owned. It can be argued. Does China have a complete lack of freedom to change the status quo? Only from a naive western perspective. There is only one party, but China's way is, if you want to change the state you join the party or work for the government (membership is not necessary to hold a government position). In other words, they consider it democracy through participation. A single person certainly has the ability to change the status quo, basically in the same way as in the west. Who really thinks voting actually matters much any more?
I don't condone China's way. I think the lack of acceptance for political dissent is disgusting. But that's besides the point. Point is, we can't fool ourselves into thinking China is like a dictatorship. They have other processes, but still achieves a decent meritocracy.
I'm beginning to think that democracy is a failure at the federal/union level. Look at the US and the EU. How functional is the democracy at that level these days? Maybe having so many people vote for a single/a few position makes democracy ineffective? I think these observations is why China is not jumping on the democracy bandwagon at the top level (they have implemented local elections).
