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> 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 eco
by 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).