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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?”