Are they aware that China is a communist country?
nonetheless, military-style discipline and surveillance have been very prominent in communist-led countries to date so I'm not sure why the author thinks that would change. Maoism and Stalinism aren't known for being cuddly and humanistic.
From the orthodox Marxian perspective, it doesn't make sense to think of a "socialist economy", since the idea of economy is rooted in the law of value in the first place, and Socialism is supposed to abolish the value form. A "socialist economy" is an idea that has its roots in Lenin and only came to fruition with Stalin.
>I'm not sure why the author thinks that would change
The author, posting on libcom, is probably not a Stalinist or a Maoist, but rather an orthodox Marxist or left-Communist. Libcom is a website very much oriented away from Stalinist Communism.
True, but the implementation of the supply through the use of slave labor is a distinct communist practice.
I thought it relevant to mention because the website seems to be a communist website, which is pretty ironic.
Better labor conditions in China starts with western companies requiring better labor conditions to do business, and western companies accepting the resulting higher costs. Until shareholders accept smaller profits, this won't change no matter where in the world it occurs.
I don’t want to get into an argument defending China but pointing out this “irony” isn’t a meaningful criticism. Foxconn clearly exists because of capitalism. Unless you want to argue that Apple is a socialist project somehow. What kind of countries are the majority of handsets manufactured in? China could ban all smartphones from capitalist counties but then they would face other tariffs. Their economy is dependent upon exporting goods. Does the Chinese government bear some responsibility for these working conditions? Yes. But clearly the answers to how do you build communism under capitalist hegemony are complicated.
It's not ironic at all; it is only ironic when you conflate the CCP with what Badiou describes as the Communist hypothesis.