I suspect that you are mixing up a socialist society (Marx) with State control under a Socialist authority (USSR, China, etc).
Dont you know everything in Argos is manufactured in that other socialist republic, China!
So we have socialist society, Socialist authority and socialist republic. See how confusing that can be?
In any case, the following from Wikipedia is quite interesting. It ties into the recent progress of the Chinese in the export market. Before China "opened up" didn't most stuff come from Taiwan?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_economic_reform
Chinese economy prior to reform[edit]
The economy was heavily disrupted by the war against Japan and the Chinese Civil War from 1937 to 1949, after which the victorious communists installed a planned economy.[4][not in citation given] Afterwards, the economy largely stagnated[citation needed] and was disrupted by the Great Leap Forward famine which killed between 30 and 40 million people, and the purges of the Cultural Revolution further disrupted the economy.[citation needed] Urban Chinese citizens experienced virtually no increase in living standards from 1957 onwards, and rural Chinese had no better living standards in the 1970s than the 1930s.[7][not in citation given] One study noted that average pay levels in the catering sector exceeded wages in higher education.[8][relevant? – discuss]
The economic performance of the People's Republic of China was poor in comparison with other East Asian countries, such as Japan, South Korea and rival Chiang Kai-shek's Republic of China. [according to whom?] The economy was riddled with huge inefficiencies and malinvestments, and with Mao's death, the Communist Party of China (CPC) leadership turned to market-oriented reforms to salvage the failing economy.[9]
Economic reforms introducing market principles began in 1978 and were carried out in two stages. The first stage, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, involved the decollectivization of agriculture, the opening up of the country to foreign investment, and permission for entrepreneurs to start businesses. However, most industry remained state-owned. The second stage of reform, in the late 1980s and 1990s, involved the privatization and contracting out of much state-owned industry and the lifting of price controls, protectionist policies, and regulations, although state monopolies in sectors such as banking and petroleum remained. The private sector grew remarkably, accounting for as much as 70 percent of China gross domestic product by 2005.[5] From 1978 until 2013, unprecedented growth occurred, with the economy increasing by 9.5% a year. The conservative Hu-Wen Administration more heavily regulated and controlled the economy after 2005, reversing some reforms.[6]