Actually Existing Socialism

"AES" redirects here. For other uses, see AES (disambiguation).

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 states, that is, states governed by a dictatorship of the proletariat.

The five predominantly recognized AES states are China, Cuba, Laos, Vietnam, and, Korea, while examples of former AES states include the Soviet Union, Mongolia, and the Warsaw Pact countries of Eastern Europe.

Controversies

Ultra-leftist denial

Ultra-leftists (particularly Maoists and Hoxhaists) deny the existence of currently existing socialist states on the basis of their being 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. Brezhnev, however, used the term to mean countries following the Soviet method of economic planning.