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Historians describe that Russian peasants pre-1917 were basically living in Medieval conditions. Russia didn't adopt the Gregorian calendar until 1918! As flawe

Historians describe that Russian peasants pre-1917 were basically living in Medieval conditions. Russia didn't adopt the Gregorian calendar until 1918! As flawed as Communism is, it did lurch Russians into the 20th century. The Tsar and the aristocracy failed at their job. They deserved their fate, to be fired. Maybe Communism was the only way to drag Russian society, kicking and screaming, into the modern era that other European nations had attained, centuries earlier. Unfortunately, Communism does not have the checks and balances of Capitalism, and it lends itself to abuse by tyrants and dictators.

cjbgkagh 2y ago
A NASA saying; “there is no situation so bad that it cannot possibly be made worse” Which I think applies to people who think communism will somehow save them from their predicaments. Communism has that special something that destroys the soul. It’s hard to describe if you haven’t seen it or talked to those who have lived it. The attempt at the impossible in creating the ‘new man’ free of greed in combination with a secret police that pits friends against friends, family member against family member such that all personal relationships are voided. I get that our current system of ‘capitalism’ is more of an oligarchical corporatism than ‘true capitalism’ and is really failing people. But communism is not the answer because it’ll be the same oligarchs in charge and there will be far fewer ways to escape them. I understand that ‘true communism’ would obviate the need for greed and corruption but in trying to get there from here by crossing a river of blood in an continuous revolution it’s far more likely to get stuck in the corrupt communism state which is far worse than our current corrupt capitalism state.
antonf 2y ago
> Historians describe that Russian peasants pre-1917 were basically living in Medieval conditions FWIW, communism actually forced Russian peasants back into Medieval conditions: first by punishing former peasants who became landowners (so called kulaks), who were declared as class enemies and persecuted. And later by forming Kolkhozes (collective farms), which were not that different from serfdom: children born by members of Klokhoz were forced to work in Kolkhoz too, members had to work state-owned land for free or for minimal amount of sustenance (about a pound of grain per day), and de facto were not allowed to legally leave. > Maybe Communism was the only way to drag Russian society, kicking and screaming, into the modern era that other European nations had attained, centuries earlier. It wasn't. Stolypin reforms implemented from 1906 through 1914 aimed at making peasants landowners was a better way.
ahdjkfnf 2y ago
>to be fired well that's an understatement
QuesnayJr 2y ago
Russia was of course incredibly backwards by European standards, but in the run-up to WW1 it was industrializing rapidly. Part of German strategic calculation was that if they waited too much longer after 1914 to fight a war with a modernizing Russia that they would lose. Plus, it wasn't even the Communists who deposed the Czar. He was already gone after the February Revolution, 7 months before. The main contribution of the Communists to the cause was to spend the next two decades committing mass murder and achieving mass starvation.

cjbgkagh 2y ago

A NASA saying; “there is no situation so bad that it cannot possibly be made worse” Which I think applies to people who think communism will somehow save them from their predicaments. Communism has that special something that destroys the soul. It’s hard to describe if you haven’t seen it or talked to those who have lived it. The attempt at the impossible in creating the ‘new man’ free of greed in combination with a secret police that pits friends against friends, family member against family member such that all personal relationships are voided. I get that our current system of ‘capitalism’ is more of an oligarchical corporatism than ‘true capitalism’ and is really failing people. But communism is not the answer because it’ll be the same oligarchs in charge and there will be far fewer ways to escape them. I understand that ‘true communism’ would obviate the need for greed and corruption but in trying to get there from here by crossing a river of blood in an continuous revolution it’s far more likely to get stuck in the corrupt communism state which is far worse than our current corrupt capitalism state.

antonf 2y ago

> Historians describe that Russian peasants pre-1917 were basically living in Medieval conditions FWIW, communism actually forced Russian peasants back into Medieval conditions: first by punishing former peasants who became landowners (so called kulaks), who were declared as class enemies and persecuted. And later by forming Kolkhozes (collective farms), which were not that different from serfdom: children born by members of Klokhoz were forced to work in Kolkhoz too, members had to work state-owned land for free or for minimal amount of sustenance (about a pound of grain per day), and de facto were not allowed to legally leave. > Maybe Communism was the only way to drag Russian society, kicking and screaming, into the modern era that other European nations had attained, centuries earlier. It wasn't. Stolypin reforms implemented from 1906 through 1914 aimed at making peasants landowners was a better way.

ahdjkfnf 2y ago

>to be fired well that's an understatement

QuesnayJr 2y ago

Russia was of course incredibly backwards by European standards, but in the run-up to WW1 it was industrializing rapidly. Part of German strategic calculation was that if they waited too much longer after 1914 to fight a war with a modernizing Russia that they would lose. Plus, it wasn't even the Communists who deposed the Czar. He was already gone after the February Revolution, 7 months before. The main contribution of the Communists to the cause was to spend the next two decades committing mass murder and achieving mass starvation.