My point was that the joke is common but incorrect. If someone is telling workers what to do (the government) you've just replaced private rulers with public on

My point was that the joke is common but incorrect. If someone is telling workers what to do (the government) you've just replaced private rulers with public ones. That could be considered a step up or a step down, but we haven't gotten to real democracy and real freedom. Just because the Chinese call themselves socialist doesn't make it so, just as you might criticize American capitalists for taking subsidies from the government for not really being a free market.