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When I look at how figures like Donziger, Assange and Snowden are treated I cant help but think our society is a lot more like Russia than we think we are - dif
by psi75 4y ago
When I look at how figures like Donziger, Assange and Snowden are treated I cant help but think our society is a lot more like Russia than we think we are - differing mostly by a matter of degree, rather than principle.
Stalinism was economic totalitarianism with a goal and an exit strategy. Authoritarianism was supposed to be a phase; the system would moderate itself over time. The degree to which that would have actually happened, we don't know. External forces destroyed the Soviet Union, so all we can do is speculate, but I suspect that if it had been left alone, it'd have fixed a lot of its problems and be a decent place to live by now.
The corporate system we have now is also economic totalitarianism. Financial interests decide where you can live, what jobs you can do, and what kind of reputation you have in the community. The issue here is that it's economic totalitarianism with no exit strategy. Neoliberalism insists that things have never been better (despite substantial evidence to the contrary) and there's no reason to exit from economic totalitarianism when we should, instead, "own nothing, have no privacy, and be happy".
- theonething 4y agoStalin was responsible for at least 6 million non-combatant deaths, the majority of which were his own people. He purged society to keep his brand of communism pure. > External forces destroyed the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was stagnating from within. Moscow was losing control and the Baltic Republics, frustrated with the slow pace of reform, one by one seceded. I'm not sure how you're blaming that on external forces. > if it had been left alone, it'd have fixed a lot of its problems and be a decent place to live by now. Given the above, I highly doubt that. I'm a bit incredulous that you're defending Stalinism.
- psi75 4y agoI didn't mean to "defend" Stalinism, insofar as the man himself was a paranoid, brutal dictator who did a lot of evil shit; I only meant to contrast it with our totalitarian global corporate capitalism, which is (if we're honest about the matter, and if we take a global view) just as bad. Stalin killed about ten million. Capitalism kills that number, mostly in the Global South, in less than a year.
- simiones 4y ago> Stalinism was economic totalitarianism with a goal and an exit strategy While I am a socialist politically, I very much disagree with this. Stalinism was economic totalitarianism for the sake of Stalin. The claims of a brighter communist future were all obvious propaganda lies. Socialism died in Russia almost as soon as Lenin assumed power and dissolved the factory councils (soviets) - after that, "socialism" and "communism" were only propaganda terms for the next 50 years, just like they claimed they were "democratic" and a "people's republic". It really is delusional to think that one of the greatest murderers in history, one with a huge personality cult, had been in essence working for the good of his people...
- psi75 4y agoYou raise a fair point. Stalin himself was a paranoid, power-hungry psychopath. I did not intend to argue that Stalin himself expected to bring about a communist utopia. It's more likely that he was a straight-out liar. Still, I think the USSR's government and society could only function, in the long run, if it offered progress in line with its promises, just as the US can only function by promoting a mythology of individual freedom and exceptional destiny. The promise made to the people was that economic totalitarianism would end. It never did, but we still don't know if that was because the USSR was irredeemably corrupt, or because the country was attacked by some of the world's most egregious assholes (the czarists, then the Nazis, then the capitalists).
- andrekandre 4y ago> Neoliberalism insists that things have never been better well, i think its true though; it just doesn't apply to people like you and me thats all...