MDMAlliance on 31 May 2013
Short answer: No
Long(er) answer: China is not communist.
Long answer: A lot of the success the United States had is due to the driving force of "capitalism." Since this is a question about past tense, America wouldn't be as far as it is now if it were Communist. How about now? Can't say for sure, but I don't really think the people of the USA would be happy about being communist. If the people aren't happy, they will most likely not be efficient and therefore we would most likely be worse off.
