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When asked why socialism led to oppression in the Soviet Union, China, and Cuba, many pro socialists will respond by saying that they want socialism with democracy (democratic socialism). Of course, opponents of democratic socialism will point to Venezuela as a failure. Socialists then say that Venezuela wasn't "true socialism" and that it was ruined by capitalism.
Luckily there was a country which went for a centrally planned economy without the authoritarianism found in the USSR or Cuba: India. Back when the country first gained independence, the leaders decided to plan the nation's economy in a similar manner as the USSR and China (they even operated in five year plans, a staple in the USSR and China). During, the years of central planning (1950-1991), GDP growth was inconsistent, it grew by much in some years, was sluggish in other years, and in four years, it actually shrunk. To make matters worse, the country was basically closed to foreign investment and free trade. In the early 90s, the Indian government decided to liberalize the economy, particularly in the service sector, to make way for foreign investment. Following these reforms, the country's GDP began to consistently grow at a fast rate each year. Last year, the country's GDP grew by 7.2% (adjusted for inflation), the seventh highest rate in the world. There is still room for improvement in the country. Growth in the agricultural sector remains slow, complex labor laws discourage growth in the manufacturing sector, and corruption remains a problem yet to be fixed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_history_of_India
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_real_GDP_growth_rate
Another thing worth of note is that for most of global history, India and China had similar standards of living. That changed in 1978 when Deng Xiaoping led economic reform. Of course, this reform didn't come all at once so it took awhile for the economy to see improvement over India's. As of 2016, China's GDP per capita is over 4 times higher than India's. However, both countries have roughly the same per capita growths.
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD?end=2016&locations=IN-CN&start=1960
Luckily there was a country which went for a centrally planned economy without the authoritarianism found in the USSR or Cuba: India. Back when the country first gained independence, the leaders decided to plan the nation's economy in a similar manner as the USSR and China (they even operated in five year plans, a staple in the USSR and China). During, the years of central planning (1950-1991), GDP growth was inconsistent, it grew by much in some years, was sluggish in other years, and in four years, it actually shrunk. To make matters worse, the country was basically closed to foreign investment and free trade. In the early 90s, the Indian government decided to liberalize the economy, particularly in the service sector, to make way for foreign investment. Following these reforms, the country's GDP began to consistently grow at a fast rate each year. Last year, the country's GDP grew by 7.2% (adjusted for inflation), the seventh highest rate in the world. There is still room for improvement in the country. Growth in the agricultural sector remains slow, complex labor laws discourage growth in the manufacturing sector, and corruption remains a problem yet to be fixed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_history_of_India
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_real_GDP_growth_rate
Another thing worth of note is that for most of global history, India and China had similar standards of living. That changed in 1978 when Deng Xiaoping led economic reform. Of course, this reform didn't come all at once so it took awhile for the economy to see improvement over India's. As of 2016, China's GDP per capita is over 4 times higher than India's. However, both countries have roughly the same per capita growths.
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD?end=2016&locations=IN-CN&start=1960
