Editing Actually Existing Socialism

[[File:AES map.png|thumb|472x472px|Map showing current AES in dark red and former AES in orange]]
'''Actually existing socialism''' ('''AES''') is a term commonly used to refer to [[Socialist state|socialist states]], that is, states governed by a [[dictatorship of the proletariat]]. 

The five predominantly recognized AES states are [[People's Republic of China|China]], [[Republic of Cuba|Cuba]], [[Lao People's Democratic Republic|Laos]], [[Socialist Republic of Vietnam|Vietnam]], and, [[Democratic People's Republic of Korea|Korea]], while examples of former AES states include the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922–1991)|Soviet Union]], [[Mongolian People's Republic|Mongolia]], and the [[Warsaw Pact]] countries of [[Eastern Europe]].

== Controversies ==

=== Ultra-leftist denial ===
[[Ultra-leftism|Ultra-leftists]] (particularly [[Maoism|Maoists]] and [[Hoxhaism|Hoxhaists]]) deny the existence of currently existing socialist states on the basis of their being [[revisionism|revisionist]] and, in the case of the Soviet Union and China, displaying what they claim to be [[social-imperialism]]. They also argue that the term 'AES' was coined by Soviet leader [[Leonid Brezhnev]] and thus is inherently a revisionist term.<ref>{{Citation|author=Leonid Brezhnev|year=1977|title=Brezhnev on the Theory of Developed Socialism|title-url=https://soviethistory.msu.edu/1980-2/our-little-father/our-little-father-texts/brezhnev-on-the-theory-of-developed-socialism/}}</ref> Brezhnev, however, used the term to mean countries following the Soviet method of economic planning.

=== Eritrea ===
Some argue that [[State of Eritrea|Eritrea]] counts as actually existing socialism.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Thomas C Mountain|newspaper=TesfaNews|title=Eritrea: 25 Years Of Struggle Building Socialism|date=2016-05-11|url=https://tesfanews.net/eritrea-25-years-struggle-building-socialism/|retrieved=2023-09-06}}</ref> The question is still being debated, with proponents claiming that Eritrea follows the same social and economic policies as the USSR (although policies by themselves do not necessarily form a dictatorship of the proletariat), and critics pointing out that Eritrea does not mention about Marxism or socialism anywhere in their official documents. This forms a gray area which makes it difficult to definitely lean one way or the other.

== References ==
[[Category:Marxist terminology]]