I’m not at all involved in this convo, nor am I a tankie, but I do think it’s important to recognize that the USSR was in fact Socialist, even if it had numerous flaws. It’s useful for both MLs and non-MLs to learn from, I personally am not an ML and would not want to recreate the USSR, but I do form part of my views on what I want from a future Socialist society based on what happened with the USSR.
As an example, I don’t think the structure of a Soviet Republic is sound in and of itself, as it disregards the masses the farther up the chain you go. I’m more in favor of a more decentralized approach.
Yeah - that’s fair, and a mistake on my part - they were socialist, but not communist (lack of worker enfranchisement among other gaps).
I think the main issue with the USSR (and probably the majority of “communist” countries) was the failure to put in the pre-work. Without levelling the economic imbalances and setting up a strong welfare state ahead of time, they created imbalanced economic conditions, which were functionally imbalances in political power that led to a collapse into an authoritarian oligarchy - exacerbated by the challenge of trying to retool the economy overnight to keep people fed.
I’m not at all involved in this convo, nor am I a tankie, but I do think it’s important to recognize that the USSR was in fact Socialist, even if it had numerous flaws. It’s useful for both MLs and non-MLs to learn from, I personally am not an ML and would not want to recreate the USSR, but I do form part of my views on what I want from a future Socialist society based on what happened with the USSR.
As an example, I don’t think the structure of a Soviet Republic is sound in and of itself, as it disregards the masses the farther up the chain you go. I’m more in favor of a more decentralized approach.
Yeah - that’s fair, and a mistake on my part - they were socialist, but not communist (lack of worker enfranchisement among other gaps).
I think the main issue with the USSR (and probably the majority of “communist” countries) was the failure to put in the pre-work. Without levelling the economic imbalances and setting up a strong welfare state ahead of time, they created imbalanced economic conditions, which were functionally imbalances in political power that led to a collapse into an authoritarian oligarchy - exacerbated by the challenge of trying to retool the economy overnight to keep people fed.
Plenty to learn from, not much to emulate.
deleted by creator