Reddit reviews Socialism Betrayed: Behind the Collapse of the Soviet Union
We found 6 Reddit comments about Socialism Betrayed: Behind the Collapse of the Soviet Union. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
We found 6 Reddit comments about Socialism Betrayed: Behind the Collapse of the Soviet Union. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
I see the Soviet question a lot so I am gonna repost somthing I posted a while back.
My opinion on your first hypothetical question:
I am not entirely sure. It would depend on the disposition of the world to be honest. The United States as a rival and destabilizing factor was tremendously important to the downfall of the Soviet Union even outside of military channels. If the US wasnt around? Probably. With the US? Would probably see market changes like China so it would cease being the "Soviet" Union. Just my thoughts.
The Soviet Union collapsed for numerous reasons, Ill just list a few of them:
Some of the things that were accomplished under the Soviet Union:
Now, as for how people feel about the Soviet society now. Some of the things that happened when the Soviet Union converted to gangster capitalism.
As you can see capitalism was not kind to the Soviet Union. Last I remember (though I have no sources) the average ground level support for the return of communism was somewhere between 20-30%. The problem now is that almost all the power is invested politically in Putin, and economically in Moscow and several "tsars" who control large portions of the mining, gas, natural resources industry. The real problem is that the Russian society is rotting, the population is decreasing rapidly, political apathy is rampant, and the opposition is harshly dealt with by Putin (For example on Friday, the State Duma passed a law imposing heavy burdens on foreign funded NGOs. The new law requires frequent audits, spot checks, and organisations will have to identify themselves publicly as "Foreign Agents".)
There is a lot more, for additional reading I very much recommend Socialism Betrayed by Rodger Keeran:
http://www.amazon.com/Socialism-Betrayed-Behind-Collapse-Soviet/dp/1450241719/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1342325347&sr=8-1&keywords=socialism+betrayed
I think this might help, it's called Socialism Betrayed. Here is the link to the Amazon book, but you can likely find a free PDF.
https://www.amazon.com/Socialism-Betrayed-Behind-Collapse-Soviet/dp/1450241719
I met the old leader, Sam Webb, once. I asked him about a couple things, one of which was the book Socialism Betrayed: Behind the Collapse of the Soviet Union. He told me that he opposed the publishing of the book. One of the authors (Roger Keeran, I believe) even got in trouble a few years back for attending a conference of the Communist Party of Canada.
What was basically left unsaid about why the CPUSA was mad at Keeran for doing this is that, frankly, the 49th parallel is an imaginary border separating a single nation.
On that note, I also learned recently that the other author of the book, Thomas Kenny, is a pseudonym of someone who used to be a high-ranking official in the AFL-CIA. Basically he used a pseudonym in order to make sure he would keep his pension safe from the shitbag labor bureaucrats who might want to screw him for writing a pro-Soviet book.
The overall thesis of the book I think is generally wrong today. Not enough emphasis is stressed on the National Question as it relates to Eastern Europe, or the Common European Home line, which was basically Gorbo making a play for the Western Europeans against 'America' and their Takfiri friends in the 'Middle East'.
Socialism/Communism
A People's History of the World
Main Currents of Marxism
The Socialist System
The Age of... (1, 2, 3, 4)
Marx for our Times
Essential Works of Socialism
Soviet Century
Self-Governing Socialism (Vols 1-2)
The Meaning of Marxism
The "S" Word (not that good in my opinion)
Of the People, by the People
Why Not Socialism
Socialism Betrayed
Democracy at Work
Imagine: Living in a Socialist USA (again didn't like it very much)
The Socialist Party of America (absolute must read)
The American Socialist Movement
Socialism: Past and Future (very good book)
It Didn't Happen Here
Eugene V. Debs
The Enigma of Capital
Seventeen Contradictions and the End of Capitalism
A Companion to Marx's Capital (great book)
After Capitalism: Economic Democracy in Action
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The United States Since 1980
The End of Loser Liberalism
Capitalism and it's Economics (must read)
Economics: A New Introduction (must read)
U.S. Capitalist Development Since 1776 (must read)
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23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism
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Finance Capitalism and it's Discontents
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America's Protectionist Takeoff
How the Economy was Lost
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Man, State and Economy
The Machinery of Freedom
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https://www.amazon.com/Socialism-Betrayed-Behind-Collapse-Soviet/dp/1450241719
As long as capitalism exists, there is always a danger of socialist countries reverting back to capitalism through outside attacks be it military or ideological.
I would not go as far as to say it only failed because of outside aggression but also because of the relative inexperience of the working class, as it was the first successful try of building socialism, and subsequent ideological mistakes.
What proved to be effective against the Soviet Union was not direct aggression. The Soviet Union was able to withstand these quite well but a more indirect approach of promoting "peaceful cooperation" and "shared humanitarian value" that weakens the (ideological) defenses.
There was a concept called peaceful coexistence in the socialist community. Obviously, the Soviet Union cannot be perpetually at war with all capitalist nations. This concept only does not constitute opportunism as long the fight on the ideological, cultural, economic and so on, so on all levels except the military one is kept going. There can not be any lasting peace with imperialism. This concept got perverted. People thought that since socialism was fully built there would be no danger of reverting back and class war can be reduced. Through this, bourgeois ideology could slowly penetrate the ideological foundation of the Soviet Union; we call this revisionism.
This caused the idea of mixing socialism and market economy and having the best of both worlds, so in the Khrushchev era some reforms were implemented that crippled the growth of the economy and lessened the importance of the plan. Through some of the reforms were reverted later, this also helped bourgeois ideology getting even more traction and made the black market bigger. The black market created some people that had an economic interest in a free market again.
While the soviet union had many problems, until 1985 when Gorbachev started the destruction or maybe even later, they could have been still reversed, and the path of socialism could have continued.
Socialism Betrayed has an excellent analysis of the end of the soviet union: https://www.amazon.com/Socialism-Betrayed-Behind-Collapse-Soviet/dp/1450241719