Good day, comrades. Here is Luzhou Gaozhong, from China. I want to get to know more about the foreign leftists. What's more, my English is weak, which means that I would make mistakes, please forgive me if I express something is wrong.
What are you guys's opinions on tankies? Personally I think it's pretty damn stupid to defend a government that was hellishly brutal and barely socialist to begin with
Let the poor thing be. I accidentally made myself capitalist once too
Leahcimm-ruhtraa
Leahcimm-ruhtraa
Depends on what you mean by "defend" and what policies you're specifically talking about. I "defend" the USSR because so much misinformation and inexact arguments are spread within right wing groups which make their way to anarchist spaces via libertarians. Most of their policies were dependent on the material conditions of the time and what was happening around the world and these key parts are usually left out of discussion. For the record, I wouldn't consider myself a Marxist-Leninist, I reckon Libertarian Marxist would be more accurate because I still hold onto some anarchist values. But don't get me wrong, not all aspects of the Soviet Union can be nor should be defended; The atheist gangs (League of Militant Atheists) the USSR armed and the strict suppression of religion (during the 30's) was horrendous and I'm almost certain no socialist would support these aspects, except the ML LARPer's that are only are socialist for the aesthetic. And to speak on your points; "barely socialist to begin with" isn't exactly a valid critique. Socialism comes after an industrialised society usually brought about by Capitalism, and the USSR was nowhere near industrialised enough to be considered socialist. Also "hellishly brutal" in what way? Personally, the Jim Crow laws, the working conditions and the depression of the west is hellishly brutal. But in regards to the Union, are you referencing the way that they redistrubted property from the kulaks or when they purged officials from the state to prevent a fifth column from forming?
Just got two Western themed, immigrant related issues sent to me. I sense a theme?!
Well, the bolsheviks immediately created a class system based on the communist leads/party members being the top dogs. Also, they pretty quickly set up the "New Economic Policy" within 5 years of the Russian Revolution that allowed for a free (albeit heavily regulated) market. I guess "barely socialist" is a bad way to describe it. I mostly mean that the system of power in the USSR meant that there was a kind of class system that gave more value to those in power.
"Hellishly brutal" as in the deaths of millions of people and forced labor/prison camps. During the purges, people would be tortured for information and/or "confessions." This torture involved not just beatings/infliction of pain, but also things like people being forced to watch their innocent family members be tortured/r*ped/killed. That's pretty damn brutal. Yes, the capitalist hellscape that is the West is also pretty damn brutal, but that doesn't invalidate the horrors that happened in the USSR. One of my best friend's parents grew up in Soviet Russia and although she and her family are generally pretty supportive of socialist ideas, they also know very well how awful the USSR could be.
I think it's one thing to defend the USSR against misinformation as well as highlight some of the good things it created while still acknowledging it's faults and the horrors that it created-- It's a whole other thing to try and defend people like Stalin or the militaristic aspects of the USSR.
Livernus, Stillgate, Pentremeurig, and Leahcimm-ruhtraa
Graminea
Everytime I have to interact with my manager I am somehow pushed even further left. She is legit awful. Why are you, a grown ass woman, so obsessed with having power trips over high schoolers?
Stalinists are cult worshipers that betrayed the revolution. Lenin did not want to hand over power to Stalin but Stalin skillfully played the role of a moderate pitting the rightist and leftist factions of the party against each other, while simultaneously consolidating power. Many good Communists were executed by him during the great purges. Socialism in One Country is a disgrace that contradicts the internationalist goals of Marxism.
East mountains peoples republic, Livernus, Ramatalia, and The anarchist communes of kropotkinstan
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