In recent years the Laotian government focused on the extraction industries, opening new tin and potash mines with the help of China and the DPRK, and gold, silver, and copper mines in partnership with other investors, particularly from Australia. The mining sector only comprises around 7% of the Laotian economy, with the industrial sector contributing 28.6%. Hydroelectric power constitutes an enormous part of the Laotian economy, forming 30% of its exports in 2017. Heavy government investment in that industry began in 1993 and rapidly expanded due to the low population density of the country and the comparative ease with which new dams could be constructed. With Lao PDR already producing far more electricity than it needs, it is poised to become a major supplier of clean electricity to all of Southeast Asia.
Another area of economic growth in recent years has been rubber plantations, most of it in the north near the Chinese border. The area under rubber cultivation is projected to reach 13.8 million hectares by 2018, and much of this growth comes from the demand for tires by the rapidly-expanding automobile industry in China. Many of these plantations are funded by foreign investors but local villages struggle to exert some communal control over the plantations, as is laid out by law.
Lao PDR retains very strict labor rules that reflect the power of its working class. Labor unions exist alongside party and council bodies, and all labor units must have a trade union representative. Workers are protected by these institutions from being fired, and any layoff must be justified in a court. Such justifications must prove that the employer has already sought new employment for the worker, with the worker being paid a termination allowance to support them while they continue to look for new work. Employment is a task the government and labor unions also help with. Labor is restricted to 8 hours a day or 48 hours a week for all trades, with maximum overtime hours limits also set, and with extremely generous paid sick leave, maternity leave, and vacation time.
Despite these protections, the presence of market relations ensures the continued survival of a bourgeoisie in Lao PDR. Under socialism, the class struggle continues but it assumes new forms. The power of the bourgeoisie rests mainly in control over local markets and trade in the highly-decentralized country. However, the control by the Laotian working classes over the commanding heights of the economy and the strict limits on private property keep the Laotian bourgeoisie on a tight leash.
The future of socialism and the Lao PDR are closely tied to the fates of their socialist neighbors. A growing relationship with China and new trade opportunities with surrounding Southeast Asian nations promises economic growth. When we speak of economic growth and capital accumulation, we should never forget to ask the question posed by Lenin: “for whom?”
Note the courts are super corrupt though. Like party members openly decrying in the national assembly that you could get a ruling changed by calling a judge was going on like last year.
vientiane kinda has a folksy vibe to it too, has a bunch of bazaar looking things, no super huge buildings.
I actually rent from someone from Laos, whose parents fled to America to escape American bombs. Also in this house is someone from Indonesia, whose parents fled the mass killings of communists in the 60s. Complicated feelings about them since their backstory is tragic and they're not exactly rolling in cash, but they are both landlords who were doing great until '08.
Every ML I know that is studied on Laos sees it as a country actively building socialism and worthy of support (in the usual, genuinely constructive and critical way). Tbh most people don't know much about Laos in general, including me, but I hope this gives some idea of what people who know about it generally think.
matt in his youtube rants suggests depending on the words good or bad will stymy progress and dialogue. we mostly do it to satisfy our itch that we have the right take. maybe instead ask Is Laos socialist? or Anyone know much about the recent history of Laos?
by asking questions more specific than good or bad we can resolve contradictions and advance the dialect in a way good vs bad moralizing doesn’t.
just food for thought:)
This is absolutely true, but as a counterpoint, sometimes when you know nothing it's easier to kick off a struggle session and dig through the rubble to get an initial perspective. There's that old saying about how the easiest way to get accurate information about something online isn't to ask someone (cause you'll get ignored/made fun of), but to say something you know is wrong and watch everyone dogpile and tell you how and why you're wrong.
I guess what I'm saying is that OP should have been even more inflammatory lol
0 COVID deaths with a population larger than New Zealand's and yet nobody talks about how successful they've been. :angry-hex:
