Charting a New Course: An Interview with the Communist Party of Vietnam
'Our reform and innovation process arose from the fact that we made some quite serious mistakes. The first mistake was a simplistic understanding of socialism. Vietnam was at best at the beginning of the transition period. At that time we wanted to build pure socialism instantly.'
Our Way: Building Socialism with Chinese Characteristics
It has been 45 years since the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Chinese people under its leadership began to build socialism. The Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh CPC Central Committee convened at the end of 1978 blazed a trail for the building of socialism with Chinese characteristics. This trail wasn’t easily found: it was the result of hard exploration by the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese people for half a century and a heavy price was paid.
Prescription for Socialism
When physicians and nurses are public employees, hospitals and community health centers are publicly-owned and pharmaceutical drugs, medical equipment and medical supplies are produced by government-owned enterprises and/or purchased at controlled prices – all within a capitalist system – this system is called “socialized medicine.”
