Communism? What communism?

Let me tell you something about the state of communism in Vietnam: it is clearly dead. Materialism is rampant. Everyone has something to sell. Everyone is out to make as much money as they can, and it's never more clear than in the tourism industry. Everyone wants to rip the foreigners off. And whatever happened to class equality? You'll see regular people with awful, disgusting long fingernails – even people like cab drivers – who keep them that way just to show that they aren't farmers. No one respects the farmers, who probably work harder than anyone to produce the food they all eat. It's pretty ridiculous. The only aspect of Communism that survives is the authoritarianism. Even though Vietnam isn't the scary police state everyone thinks it will be when they first get here – the police don't follow you down the street or have raids on the Peace House – everyone is very accustomed to being told what to do. Even students are studying things they don't enjoy because that is what they must do to help Vietnam. I'm actually not clear on whether they can choose what university to go to or whether it's decided for them. No one can give me a clear answer.