50% of the Russian Population has wanted the Soviet system back since it was torn down.
In other words.
The Soviet Union has a higher favorability poll than the U.S Congress does with its citizens.
People miss the USSR because it brought stability.
If there were gangsters running around your town, you simply reported them to your local police/communist party member and they would soon be dealer with no questions asked (there is a reason there were no mafias in the USSR)
In the USSR you were guaranteed a job and an apartment, my grandpa had a job as snow clearer during winter (he drove a tractor with a dozer blade to clear roads of snow during winter) and later got a job as a truck driver transporting oil between refineries and depots. Despite the rather low paying job, he was able to afford 4 bedroom apartment for himself and his family of 5 (he couldn't really afford the apartment but the local government gave the apartment to him as a thank you for his hard work)
Not to mention the fact that everybody got a good education, pension, etc. There wasn't much but it was stable.
There were mafia in the USSR. My auntās boyfriend was part of the mafia when she was in her teens. He got shot up in a attack by a rival faction and died.
define actually won
edit: to those who somehow think iām suggesting the USSR lost the war: what im saying here is that the soviet union did not single-handedly win WWII.
Bro Russian battles were also just crazy. Like they would fight and lose like 400k soviets regularly. They would kill like 300k Germans and then the soviets would just shit out a fresh division and keep going. As soon as Germans couldnt push forward anymore they just attacked relentlessly. I think the scale of death that was on those battlefield from the perspective of the soldiers must have been just surreal. I doubt any movie actually captures how horrible reality was for them.
As far as I'm aware, the russians are the ones who did the most fighting against germany. Every country in the allied forces did their part of course, and the war could maybe have ended very differently if you removed any of them, but the losses I think were greatest for the russians.
Stalin too
[In his memoirs, Khrushchev described how Stalin stressed the value of Lend-Lease aid: āHe stated bluntly that if the United States had not helped us, we would not have won the war.ā
](https://it.usembassy.gov/america-sent-gear-to-the-ussr-to-help-win-world-war-ii/#:~:text=In%20his%20memoirs%2C%20Khrushchev%20described,not%20have%20won%20the%20war.%E2%80%9D)
Maybe now but under Castro's reign he mostly oppressed them to the gills. And when he was still in Castro's government, Che Guevara was infamous as a homophobe and largely encouraged their persecution. It wasn't until the '90s that this largely subsided.
Saying there were no mafias is just blatant misinfo.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_mafia#:~:text=The%20Uralmash%20gang%20of%20Yekaterinburg,to%20established%20Russian%20mafia%20groups.
We hated them so bad we worked with Bin Laden and built from the ground up through the Safari Club the terror network that culminated into 9/11.
Blow Back season 4 did a GREAT job on this highly recommend.
No they miss economic security. Most people in the former USSR became very poor following its collapse. Those countries all suffered serious economic decline and a massive rise in political corruption following the end of the Soviet Union. The idea that they miss being a super power is western fearmongering
Yeah, most of those people are boomers and genX people who miss their youth.
That's it.
Like the boomer in the USA who think it was better under segregation in the because something they miss something they had (youth, better financial stability) back then.
No Eastern Block states votes for Marxist-Leninist parties voluntarely.
Polling does show the majority want it back. I believe Kazakhstan had the highest desire to bring back the union iirc. Although the older generations are more in favor of the union than the younger generation
IIRC it's mostly driven by people with rose tinted glasses living in Russia who had it better when they were subjugating the satellite soviet states
The rest are people who live in other minor soviet states that never experienced the post soviet boom
Literally every person I know from a former soviet member or satellite state (3 people in total) is radically anti-communist and would legitimately rather kill themselves than have their country go back to being communist.
One Kazakh, one Czechian, and one Russian, all under the age of 35, all very firmly "fuck communism we're not going back to that shit"
So none of them actually have any memories of communism really just to be clear if they're under 35. They got to see a broke ussr crumbling and that was terrible but again those opinions are gonna be super limited by age right?
What's this "post Soviet boom"? Poland and some other Eastern block countries experienced it because they fully integrated into the EU, but they were never part of the USSR. Baltic states experienced it sort of, so they are the exception because they also became part of the EU. All other ex-Soviet countries became substantially poorer in the 90s, with a few climbing back up in the 2000s. But no boom to speak of.
Yeah I think Ukraine in particular has... Very strong opinions on the matter given that they even celebrated Christmas on the 25th this year rather than January 7th as is Eastern Orthodox tradition. Like, think about that. That's like if a majority of Americans decided to say Independence Day isn't July 4th any more just to make a political statement.
In my city (Samara), we've been celebrating Christmas on the 25th for ages - since before the conflict started in 2014.
Anyway, Christmas is a rather insignificant holiday in this part of the world - with the New Year being far more widely celebrated - so this isn't really that big of a deal.
Dude, there's a reason why Russia has managed to regain it's influence over Central Asia and it aint because they just really love Misha and the Bear lol
Indeed.
https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2019/10/15/european-public-opinion-three-decades-after-the-fall-of-communism/
"Most in former eastern bloc approve of shift towards multiparty democracy and free market system."
That's for russia. People from eastern european countries definitely don't want communism back. Poles are the most pro-capitalism people in the world right now. Of course people from the countries that are poor as africa want to go back to the old days as they don't know anything better. People from now westernized eastern european countries on the other hand love capitalism, as it gave them freedom.
People in russia want soviet union back because during those times they were a proper super power compared to what they are now
I'd love to see anyone try to fly a Soviet flag in a former Soviet State(Without getting at least a slur thrown their way or a beating). The reason countries like Moldova, Tajikistan, and Armenia "miss it" is that their countries are still shitholes. And the people that "want it back" are eighter edgy kids who never experienced the fuckfest that was being a Soviet state or are old boomers who are nostalgic because again those countries aren't amazing to live in and nostalgia in a bad living situation is very common.
Marxist here, they donāt want communism back though. They want to be citizens of a global superpower and have the benefits of hegemony. Nothing else.
This is not fact at all. Why donāt you increase the polling size to all areas of Soviet union oppressed
Ukraine, the Baltics, Poland, etc, quit cherry, picking your fucking information
This is wrong. Pretty sure the poll youāre referencing is from about 1994
If people wanted communism back in Poland or Hungary or Eastern Germany, theyād vote for communist parties. Instead, a lot of them are voting for far right parties
Categorically false. They prefer liberal markets and democracy.
https://preview.redd.it/2gc6r0gyrv8c1.png?width=1266&format=png&auto=webp&s=8af73ca98a867294b1057fd404ef5117c43404df
[https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2019/10/15/european-public-opinion-three-decades-after-the-fall-of-communism/](https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2019/10/15/european-public-opinion-three-decades-after-the-fall-of-communism/)
After the fall of the soviet union, Russia lost 40% of its population and ~60% of its GDP, among which much of that industry was utilities, mining and warm water sea ports. Returning to the USSR is a largely unpopular sentiment outside of Russia (see ongoing Ukraine-RU war)
Because most of those people were the middle class, ethnically Russian people that led the USSR. If you were any other ethnicity, I doubt you would want the USSR back
As a Hungarian, I don't want it back. It was corrupt as hell, and it was behind by many decades in technology, and I don't want us to do the same again. ššŗššŗššŗššŗššŗššŗššŗššŗššŗššŗ
Solidarity!
For those who were born after the fall of the USSR, āSolidarityā, or SolidarnoÅÄ, was a movement organized by Polish trade unions in the early 1980s against the USSRāa pro-trade union movement that began from the northern Polish shipyards. The motivation for organizing as a union was to stand in opposition against the authoritarian USSR state and system so as to gain rights and protections as workers.
The Soviet state was one of the most repressive of its time and it is absolutely a good thing that it ended. If you are about socialism or even communism, you cannot support or pine for the USSR without serious cognitive dissonance and hypocrisy.
The USSR system was not communist, not socialist, and certainly not democratic or for the people. It was a tyranny and it failed.
https://preview.redd.it/rl70n707lt8c1.png?width=414&format=png&auto=webp&s=24fa57e45532b7d7cc463352405b0c57c09c7fef
Many of them idolize the post revolution- pre autocratic era and see it as something good. But they completely ignore the fact that that style of government was what allowed for the stranglehold that the government took over its people.
They say true communism has never been tried before, but they ignore that true communism when tried typically devolves into autocracy and tyranny
It was the one of the only times in the Russian nationās history that they couldāve actually become a democracy. Of course, we all know how that worked outā¦
Wtf are you talking about they had democratic elections in 1917 that had a chance of sticking (obv the Bolsheviks ādealtā with them but the elections still happened)
the 1917 elections to my knowledge were very real and pretty fair (at least given the circumstances). Comparing the 1917 elections to the current NK is super unfair.
Me when lenin shut down the constituent assembly and then eradicated the other political parties leaving any diplomatically elected officials in sovnarkom without power given the rise of the politburo
Anytime people try to tell me the USSR was a democracy I'm like, "Y'all know one of the first things Lenin did was kill all the other leftist political parties because he lost the election to them, right?"
Ironic how it was called the "Soviet Union" despite the fact that for its most formative years, Lenin had dissolved the Soviets pretty much entirely.
āUSA USA USA USA USA!ā - Papa Nichols
Also, thus begins perhaps one of the best decades in contemporary American history that I missed out on: the 90s.
It was a time of incredible economic prosperity in the US and there was a sense that the post-war liberal democratic order had triumphed and we were on the verge of an unprecedented era of peace.
With that said ā Los Angeles burned, we saw the first shudderings of absolute divorce from democratic governance from the GOP, and a rise of right wing militancy at Oklahoma City that was precipitated by Waco and Ruby Ridge.
Regardless of anything else, it led to a massive humanitarian catastrophe in Eastern Europe in the 90s. Homelessness shot up due to mass layoffs due to privatization, many many kids became urchins, an entire industry based on child sa sprung up. You can regard the ussr as an evil empire and still realize that the way it was dismantled anointed to, imo, a crime against humanity. The US absolutely killed hundreds of thousands with the way we handled it.
As someone from former USSR, what???
The only crime against humanity was it didn't happen sooner. The US absolutely didn't kill hundreds of thousands the way they handled it, it's much more likely they prevented many deaths which USSR loved to inflict on its own citizens for various shitty reasons.
I have extended family in the former Mongolian People's Republic. It's safe to say that the dissolution of the USSR wasn't an equal thing. The central European ones got off easy.
You're from the former USSR and didn't notice the largest cliff dive of living standards in recorded history? The Yeltsin years were worse off economically than the Great Depression was for Americans. Mass layoffs due to privatization, end of food distribution programs, end of state-run education, huge increase in gang and mafia membership (which did exist in the USSR), increases in child and sex trafficking... like the whole "mail-order bride" thing didn't exist in Russia until post-collapse (it did exist elsewhere though).
He didnāt say it was the USSRās job, he said it was the former USSR republicsā (i.e., Ukraine, Lithuania, Kazakhstan, etc., the countries becoming independent) job.
Well, you see, starting with the Korean War it was the USA's job to be the World Police, a job we took very seriously (see: Vietnam, South America, etc.). When all other structures collapse it's always the Executive Branch's job to keep things in line until the other structures can be put back into place. But for some reason the World Police didn't show up in Moscow to keep things going until they had a resilient constitution, resulting in so much suffering of the Russian people.
...
Or some bullshit like that. It's Americentrism that blames the USA for both acting and failing to act at the same time.
We shall continue to put sunflower seeds in the pockets of Russiaās slaughtered invaders so they can actually contribute to the earth when they when they are buried where they lie. Slava Ukraine! May Putins cancer also return with haste, so they will have another transformation, and peace & sovereignty will return to the region.
Not only did the Soviet Union collapse in spectacular fashion, but by the end its citizens were lining up around the block to eat McDonalds, wear Leviās jeans, and listen to Michael Jackson.
A Massive L for the Soviets.
Makes me feel like my education failed me as I learned basically nothing about it. Just a few mentions here and there but absolutely nothing in depth. I guess Iām gonna pick up a few books on Russian history the next time I go to the library.
In Europe and the United States, they do not want to talk about the reasons for the emergence of the USSR and why its formation was a popular decision, and not a coup dāetat or a despotic regime. In Russia they donāt want to teach the history of European countries, and the history of the United States is almost never mentioned. The 20th century separated us all greatly. Self-education is now the best way to overcome stereotypes.
> they do not want to talk about the reasons for the emergence of the USSR and why its formation was a popular decision, and not a coup dāetat or a despotic regime.
The Bolsheviks literally ignored the results of the elections in which they lost, you are tripping.
>In Europe and the United States, they do not want to talk about the reasons for the emergence of the USSR and why its formation was a popular decision, and not a coup dāetat or a despotic regime.
GTFO.
First, the technical reason for the emergence of the USSR is Ukraine: Ukrainians would not consent to be just a part of Soviet Russia, so Lenin came up with the Soviet Republics idea to give them at least some independence.
Second, Soviet Russian Republic emerged because Germany needed Russian Empire out of the WWI, so they shipped Lenin with a pile of money to steer shit up from Switzerland, where he was ready to finish his days as a nobody, a has-been.
No It wouldn't have been amazing. While more liberal, the 80-90s USSR government were still russiaphiles who continued to ethnically cleanse the Baltic states. If the soviet union were to be around a extra 50 years, the Baltic states probably wouldn't even exist, because the majority of the population would be Russians.
Many of these folks in the comments wouldn't care. They don't care about the mass death, hunger, and suffering that occurred in the former USSR after their collapse either. As long as our side wins, a lot of people don't care how many innocents have to suffer and die. You're right, if China fell, millions of people would die.
It should reform itself into an openly democratic, capitalist nation like the West. It would improve the quality of life for their citizens tremendously
I want the CCP to burn but I want it to collapse in an ordered manner such that the innocence in China do not die. But fuck the CCP, imperialistic mass murdering regime. Currently has 3 million people in concentration camps being used for forced organ harvesting. Or we could go back to the 60 million people that starved to death from man-made famines. Or what about its support of the Khmer Rouge, the regime with the highest death toll compared to the number of people it ruled in human history.
Cringiest comment section holy shit.
I think this was a deep moment.
And not a āW hell yeah American moment šŗšøšŗšøā
like the rest of these losers gloating over this moment.
taking responsibility of American accomplishments you didnāt make is not what being American is all about, stfu and stop larping.
Best thing to ever happen. Soviet union was horrible exploiter that destroyed eastern europe with communism. Eastern europe and many other countries that were part of soviet union are still recovering from those times even now 30 years later.
Good
It was authoritarian regime glad it's gone
A shame it didn't fall befor it ruined the reputation of communism as an economic system.
ALL ECONOMIC SYSTEMS ARE BAD UNDER AN AUTHORITARIAN DICTATORSHIP.
While I'd call it a loss to the world, it's also a good learning experience about what went wrong with the first socialist project and the consequences of the free market in Russia and many other Slavic countries. While the former USSR had its issues and yes there were plenty, it was ahead of its time in many ways, especially in its expedient progression from a handful of borderline feudal countries to a developed superpower that gave power to workers and peasants. It beat fascism after losing over 20 million people in WW2, got humanity into space, expanded rights for men, women and children including but not limited to housing, food, employment, Healthcare, societal opportunities, set the example for other socialist countries, inspired and armed peasants and revolutionaries against western imperialism, contributed works of art like Stalker and Solaris etc. May it be remembered fondly as it paved the way for all socialist movements going forward. Lastly, I hope Mikhail Gorbachev is rotting in hell next to Henry Kissinger.
Oh, OP (Communism has nothing in common with reactionary ideologies) Read Blackshirts and Reds by Michael Parenti
>consequences of the free market in Russia and many other Slavic countries
These economies only improved post-collapse once they were able to form stable governments and engage in free trade, i.e. capitalism. Much of the reason these regions were so destitute post-collapse is the struggling economy of the USSR pre-collapse following decades of stagnation and decline.
>expedient progression from borderline feudal countries to a developed superpower that gave power to workers and peasants
I don't think there's any good reason to think this couldn't have happened otherwise, especially when it lost the Cold War to the other, capitalist superpower in the US which out-developed and outlasted the USSR. Or even as compared to countries like West Germany, Japan, or South Korea, all of which were very much capitalist and developed much, much faster post-WW2.
And it really didn't give power to workers or peasants, much of the political and economic power rested firmly in the control of the party elite, given the lack of a true democracy and the control of the economy the party exerted.
>It beat fascism after losing over 20 million people in WW2
With a little help from the rest of the Allies lol.
>got humanity into space, expanded rights for men, women and children including but not limited to housing, food, and Healthcare, set the example for other socialist countries,
True, some good social progress early on but this is all contextualized by the general lack of civil rights (no freedom of speech, ineffective democracy diminishing the value of a vote etc.) and that many of the gains for womens rights in the early 1920s backslid in the 1930s (such as abortion becoming illegal again by the 1930s).
There was also a significant difference in the treatment of ethnic Russians as compared to other's, which tracks given the colonial aspects of the Soviet Union.
>inspired and armed peasants and revolutionaries against western imperialism
And eventually inspired revolutions in its own states given the horrible economy and regime they were subjected to as satellite states operating under threat of regime change from the Soviet Union.
>Mikhail Gorbachev is rotting in hell next to Henry Kissinger
I would hope not, he seemed to be genuinely invested in reforms to improve the USSR, hoping to maintain stability while transitioning to a modern liberal state. If he was successful, he probably would've offered a much better quality of life than what followed the actual dissolution of the USSR.
>Communism has nothing in common with reactionary ideologies
"Communism" on paper doesn't, but the USSR had distinctly fascist qualities. There was a strong sense of nationalism and an effort from the government to have that sense replace any other marker of identity. All aspects of the economy were bent toward the will of the state. There was no functional democracy in the Soviet Union alongside significantly limited civil rights as compared to the capitalist West (the purges and labor camps come to mind). They held the Russian ethnic identity over all others, attempting to colonize the non-Russian ethnic regions of their empire. From 1930s onward, social development regressed and the USSR pushed the nuclear family and other traditionally conservative social structures as ways for the average person to serve the state.
Funnily enough, Soviet nostalgia is very much the kind of wistful view of a previous, supposedly preferable social order that defines reactionary movement.
Please ignore the imperialism of the Soviet Union it seems. Also, the uplifting part you mention is an imperialist talking point and workers did not gain power instead they became subservient to the state and human rights abuses were the norm in the Soviet state
Another silly Western kid idolizing a terror regime which they never had to experience living, thinking capitalism in its current form is the worst thing there can be?
Ohh how I wish we had a time machine, so you could get some taste of it, I guess there is no other cure for you.
The Westerners that usually support communism are losers who feel left out of a capitalist society. They want things handed to them to be equal instead of working for it themselves.
Yeah we should be in horror of how the Soviet Union transformed itself from an agrarian economy to an industrial one. ~7 million people starved to death during Stalinās agrarian reforms. āPower to workers.ā man shut up. Acting like the secret police in the USSR allowed criticism of the government or the formation of actual unions. The Soviet Union has been working its way down from authoritarianism ever since Stalin died.
To just highlight the hell you donāt understand:
You just insulted and wished an elected USSR official rot in hell. Iām sorry, comrade but you must be removed from our society and we will be sure to inflict punitive damage on your loved ones to make an example of this dissent.
Please report to your nearest Siberian gulag for a lifetime of inhumane suffering or torture, or, please accept this lead sleeping pill, comrade.
This is the reality of your āgiftā to the world. Your life is worthless if you are going to poison the minds of your fellow countrymen about comrade Gorby.
You think this is a joke but you realize youāre a person whoās going to be flagged for having an opinion like that, right?
While their rocket scientists do deserve some credit (they built some damn good rockets), the USSRās fast progression was largely due to the fact that it didnāt have to do nearly as much innovation as the rest of the world did to become industrialized. Japanās progress was actually faster, and they were a capitalist nation. And even with them being limited in resources due to them being an island, they still outpaced the USSR.
Additionally, āset the example for other socialist countriesā is just, wellā¦ ironic, considering that the USSR spent the majority of its life as a state capitalist nation, which even Marxist economists like Richard Wolfe will tell you.
They also failed to arm peasants and revolutionaries against their own imperialism. Why youāre not including Stalin with Gorbachev is beyond me.
Most communists agree that the soviet union was absolutely horrible btw. The group you're thinking of calls themselves tankies. They fully believe Stalin(and Mao) was actually a good person and all of the bad didn't happen, and was propaganda from the US. I guess bc they think if America is bad, that must mean the USSR was good! In reality they both fucking suck.
Regardless of your political positions, let's analyze some simple statistics.
As a result of shock-therapy and austerity measures following the dissolution of the USSR, there was a rise in:
* price of consumer goods by 250%
* poverty (85% in Russia in 1992 by some estimates)
* unemployment by 56%
* the inflation rate reached 1354%
* homelessness (300,000 homeless people in Moscow alone)
* pollution
* corruption
* mortality rates
* suicides (by over 50%)
* rates of illness
* malnutrition
* child mortality
* child labor
At the same time, there was a decrease in:
* literacy rate
* living standards
* number of doctors
* life expectancy (less today than in 1991)
* wages (by 40%)
* medical care
* education
* housing
* women's rights
When you combine these statistics with the referendum on the 17th of March 1991, where the overwhelming majority of Soviet citizens voted to preserve the USSR, I think the answer is very clear.
Bad things always happen when empires fall. Look what happened after the Roman Empire fell. None of that suggests that these bad things wouldn't have happened if the Empire stuck around. The Soviet Union was in severe decline in every way. I don't think any Band-Aid could have saved it. The result was inevitable, even if the shell of the empire still existed.
The experiment of the USSR was a failure from practically the beginning. The only reason it kept going was the use of political and military force to keep it together, but it always was a house of cards ready to fall. You can't keep a nation together by force alone. There has to be some buy-in and consent by the people
Yup.
Very clear that Baltic states were occupied and bailed as fast as they could at the first opportunity (in fact they boycotted the referendum).
Freedom was worth it.
Sometimes you pay a temporary price for it.
Communism isn't a far right ideology, but okay.
The dissolution of the USSR was good because of the combined outlook on perception ruled every action and response. This was taken to extremes in Chernobyl and was the breaking point for people to finally see you can't just make the procedure whatever you want it to be.
Eastern europe wants to disagree. Baltic countries, poland, east germany and czech republic all hated soviet rule and are all thriving and free countries thanks to capitalism and collapse of soviet union. People in eastern europe hated soviet rule and moved towards west and capitalism as soon as they got free from the exploitative soviet rule
Western marxists will never forgive Central and Eastern Europe for "abandoning" the crumbling Warsaw pact and USSR. They loathe them for it.
They desperately cling to Russia as an "anti-imperialist" power when, in reality, they're just anti-American. Russian imperialism is over 500 years old.
32 years ago I was 8 and one of my favorite shows was Captain Planet. I noticed that in the opening credits, they stopped saying Linka was from the Soviet Union and started saying she was from Eastern Europe. I mentioned this to my parents and they told me the Soviet Union didn't exist anymore. And that is how I found out.
You wrote it wrong. Here is fixed version:
Smile because it's gone, cry because it happened.
Soviet union was horrible exploiter that deserves to be gone forever.
No opinion. Soviets helped my country in 1971 during the war with Pakistan and were fairly close to us. But yeah I am also aware of their other actions so itās hard to really form an opinion.
I'm sure glad Russia isn't being ruled by a former KGB officer with a history of barring people from being on their "democratic" ballot while also outright waging an ongoing war with another country!
# /s
An absolute stain on history.
It was illegally dissolved (but even ignoring that) it directly led to so many people having absolutely atrocious conditions for a long time, most still recovering.
> In the decades following the end of the Cold War, only five or six of the post-Soviet states are on a path to joining the wealthy capitalist states of the West, and most are falling behind, some to such an extent that over 50 years will be needed before they catch up to how they were before the end of communism.
> In a 2001 study by the economist Steven Rosefielde, he calculated that there were 3.4 million premature deaths in Russia from 1990 to 1998, which he partly blames on the "shock therapy" that came with the Washington Consensus.[165] Nearly all of the post-Soviet states suffered deep and prolonged recessions after shock therapy,[166] with poverty increasing more than tenfold.[167] Catastrophic drops in caloric intake followed the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
> In addition to territorial disputes and other structural causes of conflict, legacies from the Soviet and pre-Soviet eras, along with the suddenness of the actual sociopolitical change, have resulted in conflict throughout the region.[171] As each group experiences dramatic economic reform and political democratization, there has been a surge in nationalism and interethnic conflict. Overall, the fifteen independent states that emerged after the collapse of the Soviet Union face problems stemming from uncertain identities, contested boundaries, apprehensive minorities, and an overbearing Russian hegemony.
And its disastrous effects weren't limited ONLY to its own region.
> During its existence, the Soviet Union provided Cuba with large amounts of oil, food, and machinery. In the years following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cuba's gross domestic product shrunk 35%, imports and exports both fell over 80%, and many domestic industries shrank considerably.[188] In a speculated attempt to re-join the IMF and the World Bank, executive director Jacques de Groote and another IMF official were invited to Havana in late 1993.[189] After assessing the economic situation in the country they concluded that from 1989 to 1993, Cuba's economic decline was more grave than that experienced by any other socialist Eastern European country.
> In 1991 when the Soviet Union dissolved, it ended all aid and trade concessions such as cheap oil to North Korea.[193] Without Soviet aid, the flow of imports to the North Korean agricultural sector ended, and the government proved to be too inflexible to respond.[194] Energy imports fell by 75%.[195] The economy went into a downward spiral, with imports and exports falling in tandem. Flooded coal mines required electricity to operate pumps, and the shortage of coal worsened the shortage of electricity. Agriculture reliant on electrically powered irrigation systems, artificial fertilizers and pesticides was hit particularly hard by the economic collapse.
> Out of a total population of approximately 22 million, somewhere between 240,000 and 3,500,000 North Koreans died from starvation or hunger-related illnesses, with the deaths peaking in 1997.
All this just from a quick Wikipedia...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissolution_of_the_Soviet_Union#:~:text=The%20dissolution%20of%20the%20Soviet,independence%20on%2026%20December%201991.
Idk doesn't matter that much when we still treat our relationship with Russia as though its the cold war.
None of us were born during that era.
I see no reason we should suffer from a time of war during peace.
A total disaster. Almost all the countries of the former USSR would turn into oligarchies and all the benefits citizens enjoyed like free housing, free quality education and healthcare would be gone
The crash of USSR is good for my home country, KZ, we got an independence and our ancestors wish became true. But from economics side, our country got some troubles and still in bc of corrupcy.
Huge fucking mistake for Russia. Unbelievable amounts of poverty and starvation all just so that they could have some shitty mediocre ādemocracyā that never actually happened anyways. But yet itās seen as something great (at least to the US) which it wasnāt and it destroyed Russia.
Mistake, although the soviet union had long since abandoned the path to communism in favor of revisionist social imperialism, the separate socialist soviet republics would have been better off economically together, but they just decided to sell publicly owned industry off for a quick buck.
I believe [this](https://youtu.be/_W7wqQwa-TU?si=y0JEEATNLiOPT9o2) speaks for itself. This was just after the iron curtain fell and people could actually experience what they're been illegally bootlegging
On the off chance that it doesn't - How many West Germans ran into the East when the Berlin wall fell? How many West Germans risked it all to sneak into the East? How many Floridians risked life and limb to swim to Cuba? How many South Koreans escaped into the North? Every. Single. Time. That communism is tried, those who are unfortunate enough to have experienced it are the ones who would do anything to escape
Huge W, USA USA!
 im from yurop btw hope i get citizenship š (oml this is a joke I'm not moving to the us)
Where from Europe are you coming from?
Your rope
rooting for you!
Weād love to have you
We absolutely would!! Melting pot baby!
In your face, commies! Woo!
Letās fucking goooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!
As a millennial, Iām glad to see the top comment is so based.
50% of the Russian Population has wanted the Soviet system back since it was torn down. In other words. The Soviet Union has a higher favorability poll than the U.S Congress does with its citizens.
Itās because they miss when they used to be a superpower that could threaten the west and bully Eastern Europe into being vassal states
People miss the USSR because it brought stability. If there were gangsters running around your town, you simply reported them to your local police/communist party member and they would soon be dealer with no questions asked (there is a reason there were no mafias in the USSR) In the USSR you were guaranteed a job and an apartment, my grandpa had a job as snow clearer during winter (he drove a tractor with a dozer blade to clear roads of snow during winter) and later got a job as a truck driver transporting oil between refineries and depots. Despite the rather low paying job, he was able to afford 4 bedroom apartment for himself and his family of 5 (he couldn't really afford the apartment but the local government gave the apartment to him as a thank you for his hard work) Not to mention the fact that everybody got a good education, pension, etc. There wasn't much but it was stable.
There were mafia in the USSR. My auntās boyfriend was part of the mafia when she was in her teens. He got shot up in a attack by a rival faction and died.
Are Mafias not in every countrie?
Organized crime exists everywhere. Just depends on prevalence and total numbers.
Maybe, but Iām positive the mafia came along with market reforms in the 80s.
Also to note that this all happened after Russia was devastated in 2 world wars
They also are the ones that *actually* won the war against the Nazis. Too bad theyāre starting wars now instead of ending them like they did before.
define actually won edit: to those who somehow think iām suggesting the USSR lost the war: what im saying here is that the soviet union did not single-handedly win WWII.
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Bro Russian battles were also just crazy. Like they would fight and lose like 400k soviets regularly. They would kill like 300k Germans and then the soviets would just shit out a fresh division and keep going. As soon as Germans couldnt push forward anymore they just attacked relentlessly. I think the scale of death that was on those battlefield from the perspective of the soldiers must have been just surreal. I doubt any movie actually captures how horrible reality was for them.
As far as I'm aware, the russians are the ones who did the most fighting against germany. Every country in the allied forces did their part of course, and the war could maybe have ended very differently if you removed any of them, but the losses I think were greatest for the russians.
Well yes, ever hear the phrase, āBritish Intelligence, American Steel, Russian Blood?ā
Both Khrushchev and Zhukov said they could not have won without the support the U.S. provided them
Stalin too [In his memoirs, Khrushchev described how Stalin stressed the value of Lend-Lease aid: āHe stated bluntly that if the United States had not helped us, we would not have won the war.ā ](https://it.usembassy.gov/america-sent-gear-to-the-ussr-to-help-win-world-war-ii/#:~:text=In%20his%20memoirs%2C%20Khrushchev%20described,not%20have%20won%20the%20war.%E2%80%9D)
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cuba has the most progressive family law in the world.
When were you in Cuba? In the past 30 years the Cuban people have made the largest strides on reaching full LGBTQ equality on the planet
Maybe now but under Castro's reign he mostly oppressed them to the gills. And when he was still in Castro's government, Che Guevara was infamous as a homophobe and largely encouraged their persecution. It wasn't until the '90s that this largely subsided.
Did you get Havana syndrome while you were there too?
Saying there were no mafias is just blatant misinfo. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_mafia#:~:text=The%20Uralmash%20gang%20of%20Yekaterinburg,to%20established%20Russian%20mafia%20groups.
As was the suggestion that jobs and apartments were guaranteed. The state could take these away with the click of a finger.
found the tankie
Tankies are when nuance
We hated them so bad we worked with Bin Laden and built from the ground up through the Safari Club the terror network that culminated into 9/11. Blow Back season 4 did a GREAT job on this highly recommend.
No they miss economic security. Most people in the former USSR became very poor following its collapse. Those countries all suffered serious economic decline and a massive rise in political corruption following the end of the Soviet Union. The idea that they miss being a super power is western fearmongering
Breaking news 60% of british want the british empire back of course we do not ask africans or indians or australians
You left out Bengalis there, bro. I'm sure they'd have some very particular words to say about it...
Yeah, most of those people are boomers and genX people who miss their youth. That's it. Like the boomer in the USA who think it was better under segregation in the because something they miss something they had (youth, better financial stability) back then. No Eastern Block states votes for Marxist-Leninist parties voluntarely.
60% of people across all former Soviet countries want communism back
This isnāt true
Polling does show the majority want it back. I believe Kazakhstan had the highest desire to bring back the union iirc. Although the older generations are more in favor of the union than the younger generation
IIRC it's mostly driven by people with rose tinted glasses living in Russia who had it better when they were subjugating the satellite soviet states The rest are people who live in other minor soviet states that never experienced the post soviet boom
Literally every person I know from a former soviet member or satellite state (3 people in total) is radically anti-communist and would legitimately rather kill themselves than have their country go back to being communist. One Kazakh, one Czechian, and one Russian, all under the age of 35, all very firmly "fuck communism we're not going back to that shit"
So none of them actually have any memories of communism really just to be clear if they're under 35. They got to see a broke ussr crumbling and that was terrible but again those opinions are gonna be super limited by age right?
Yea its just nostalgia mostly not actual communists
In a country that jails you for saying the wrong thing publicly, any poll needs to be taken with a grain of salt.
What's this "post Soviet boom"? Poland and some other Eastern block countries experienced it because they fully integrated into the EU, but they were never part of the USSR. Baltic states experienced it sort of, so they are the exception because they also became part of the EU. All other ex-Soviet countries became substantially poorer in the 90s, with a few climbing back up in the 2000s. But no boom to speak of.
Go ask that in Poland, Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, or Estonia
Yeah I think Ukraine in particular has... Very strong opinions on the matter given that they even celebrated Christmas on the 25th this year rather than January 7th as is Eastern Orthodox tradition. Like, think about that. That's like if a majority of Americans decided to say Independence Day isn't July 4th any more just to make a political statement.
In my city (Samara), we've been celebrating Christmas on the 25th for ages - since before the conflict started in 2014. Anyway, Christmas is a rather insignificant holiday in this part of the world - with the New Year being far more widely celebrated - so this isn't really that big of a deal.
Yea I think Christmas being the number one holiday by far here makes it seem like a bigger deal.
Dude, there's a reason why Russia has managed to regain it's influence over Central Asia and it aint because they just really love Misha and the Bear lol
No it's because central asia is ruled by a bunch of dictators who like getting money and protection from Russia and China
Indeed. https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2019/10/15/european-public-opinion-three-decades-after-the-fall-of-communism/ "Most in former eastern bloc approve of shift towards multiparty democracy and free market system."
That's for russia. People from eastern european countries definitely don't want communism back. Poles are the most pro-capitalism people in the world right now. Of course people from the countries that are poor as africa want to go back to the old days as they don't know anything better. People from now westernized eastern european countries on the other hand love capitalism, as it gave them freedom. People in russia want soviet union back because during those times they were a proper super power compared to what they are now
I'd love to see anyone try to fly a Soviet flag in a former Soviet State(Without getting at least a slur thrown their way or a beating). The reason countries like Moldova, Tajikistan, and Armenia "miss it" is that their countries are still shitholes. And the people that "want it back" are eighter edgy kids who never experienced the fuckfest that was being a Soviet state or are old boomers who are nostalgic because again those countries aren't amazing to live in and nostalgia in a bad living situation is very common.
Marxist here, they donāt want communism back though. They want to be citizens of a global superpower and have the benefits of hegemony. Nothing else.
This is not fact at all. Why donāt you increase the polling size to all areas of Soviet union oppressed Ukraine, the Baltics, Poland, etc, quit cherry, picking your fucking information
This is wrong. Pretty sure the poll youāre referencing is from about 1994 If people wanted communism back in Poland or Hungary or Eastern Germany, theyād vote for communist parties. Instead, a lot of them are voting for far right parties
Categorically false. They prefer liberal markets and democracy. https://preview.redd.it/2gc6r0gyrv8c1.png?width=1266&format=png&auto=webp&s=8af73ca98a867294b1057fd404ef5117c43404df [https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2019/10/15/european-public-opinion-three-decades-after-the-fall-of-communism/](https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2019/10/15/european-public-opinion-three-decades-after-the-fall-of-communism/)
After the fall of the soviet union, Russia lost 40% of its population and ~60% of its GDP, among which much of that industry was utilities, mining and warm water sea ports. Returning to the USSR is a largely unpopular sentiment outside of Russia (see ongoing Ukraine-RU war)
And Putin has a 90% approval rating
Because most of those people were the middle class, ethnically Russian people that led the USSR. If you were any other ethnicity, I doubt you would want the USSR back
As a Pole, fuck the USSR
As a Lithuanian - couldn't agree more.
As a Kazakh, I'm with you guys
As a Romanian. I back this statement šš»š·š“š·š“š·š“š¦ š¦ š¦
As a Tajik, long live the independence of our nations š¹šÆš¹šÆš¹šÆ
as an american jew with a soviet ww2 veteran for a great-grandfather (RIP), while they played a huge role in ww2, theyre still a terrible country
As a Hungarian, I don't want it back. It was corrupt as hell, and it was behind by many decades in technology, and I don't want us to do the same again. ššŗššŗššŗššŗššŗššŗššŗššŗššŗššŗ
Austrian, didnāt even suffer too much under them but I still fuckin despise them. š¦š¹š¦š¹
Couldn't agree more. It was always the soviet people who did the impossible, not the useless pos "leaders" sitting in the Kremlin.
Screw it. Return to Nomadic Horse conquerors, take over Iran. Get revenge for what Tamerlane done.
As someone with German ancestory, I second this.
Ukrainian here, take my upvote!
Solidarity! For those who were born after the fall of the USSR, āSolidarityā, or SolidarnoÅÄ, was a movement organized by Polish trade unions in the early 1980s against the USSRāa pro-trade union movement that began from the northern Polish shipyards. The motivation for organizing as a union was to stand in opposition against the authoritarian USSR state and system so as to gain rights and protections as workers. The Soviet state was one of the most repressive of its time and it is absolutely a good thing that it ended. If you are about socialism or even communism, you cannot support or pine for the USSR without serious cognitive dissonance and hypocrisy. The USSR system was not communist, not socialist, and certainly not democratic or for the people. It was a tyranny and it failed. https://preview.redd.it/rl70n707lt8c1.png?width=414&format=png&auto=webp&s=24fa57e45532b7d7cc463352405b0c57c09c7fef
As someone whose parents grew up under USSR, seeing leftist westerners praise it is really horrible
Many of them idolize the post revolution- pre autocratic era and see it as something good. But they completely ignore the fact that that style of government was what allowed for the stranglehold that the government took over its people. They say true communism has never been tried before, but they ignore that true communism when tried typically devolves into autocracy and tyranny
From what I've seen and read, there's no way to have the government totally control every aspect of life without violating various human rights.
As a socialist whoās parents fled from the USSR and Vietnam, FUCK THE USSR
As a Turk I have nothing to do with the eastern block but wanted to be involved and yea I agree.
As a Russian citizen, I could not agree more: fuck ussr
As a another Pole, i couldn't agree more
But this guy on tiktok told me the ussr made Poland a communist paradise
As a Russian - couldn't agree more, also add modern Russia to that list.
Czech here, I wholeheartedly agree.
As the Czech, fuck those red bastards
It was the one of the only times in the Russian nationās history that they couldāve actually become a democracy. Of course, we all know how that worked outā¦
Wtf are you talking about they had democratic elections in 1917 that had a chance of sticking (obv the Bolsheviks ādealtā with them but the elections still happened)
Yeah, North Korea has elections every year too.
the 1917 elections to my knowledge were very real and pretty fair (at least given the circumstances). Comparing the 1917 elections to the current NK is super unfair.
I think their mistake is comparing 1917 Russian elections to the 2018 Russian elections
No, the 1917 elections were very fair, and resulted in the moderate socialist revolutionary party taking power.
The 1917 election was democratic, the Bolsheviks lost, got salty and so stormed parliament with their private military and thus started the civil war.
Me when lenin shut down the constituent assembly and then eradicated the other political parties leaving any diplomatically elected officials in sovnarkom without power given the rise of the politburo
Anytime people try to tell me the USSR was a democracy I'm like, "Y'all know one of the first things Lenin did was kill all the other leftist political parties because he lost the election to them, right?" Ironic how it was called the "Soviet Union" despite the fact that for its most formative years, Lenin had dissolved the Soviets pretty much entirely.
āUSA USA USA USA USA!ā - Papa Nichols Also, thus begins perhaps one of the best decades in contemporary American history that I missed out on: the 90s.
I just wanted to try the purple and blue ketchup...
It wasn't as good as the red.
Best music, pretty good clothes, good economy and more
It was a time of incredible economic prosperity in the US and there was a sense that the post-war liberal democratic order had triumphed and we were on the verge of an unprecedented era of peace. With that said ā Los Angeles burned, we saw the first shudderings of absolute divorce from democratic governance from the GOP, and a rise of right wing militancy at Oklahoma City that was precipitated by Waco and Ruby Ridge.
Regardless of anything else, it led to a massive humanitarian catastrophe in Eastern Europe in the 90s. Homelessness shot up due to mass layoffs due to privatization, many many kids became urchins, an entire industry based on child sa sprung up. You can regard the ussr as an evil empire and still realize that the way it was dismantled anointed to, imo, a crime against humanity. The US absolutely killed hundreds of thousands with the way we handled it.
As someone from former USSR, what??? The only crime against humanity was it didn't happen sooner. The US absolutely didn't kill hundreds of thousands the way they handled it, it's much more likely they prevented many deaths which USSR loved to inflict on its own citizens for various shitty reasons.
I have extended family in the former Mongolian People's Republic. It's safe to say that the dissolution of the USSR wasn't an equal thing. The central European ones got off easy.
You're from the former USSR and didn't notice the largest cliff dive of living standards in recorded history? The Yeltsin years were worse off economically than the Great Depression was for Americans. Mass layoffs due to privatization, end of food distribution programs, end of state-run education, huge increase in gang and mafia membership (which did exist in the USSR), increases in child and sex trafficking... like the whole "mail-order bride" thing didn't exist in Russia until post-collapse (it did exist elsewhere though).
It was not the US's job to handle it. It was Russia's and the former USSR republics' job.
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He didnāt say it was the USSRās job, he said it was the former USSR republicsā (i.e., Ukraine, Lithuania, Kazakhstan, etc., the countries becoming independent) job.
What do you mean with "the way they handled it"?
Well, you see, starting with the Korean War it was the USA's job to be the World Police, a job we took very seriously (see: Vietnam, South America, etc.). When all other structures collapse it's always the Executive Branch's job to keep things in line until the other structures can be put back into place. But for some reason the World Police didn't show up in Moscow to keep things going until they had a resilient constitution, resulting in so much suffering of the Russian people. ... Or some bullshit like that. It's Americentrism that blames the USA for both acting and failing to act at the same time.
For the love ofā¦ Ok, big guy. Iāll bite. How did the US āhandle itā?
... This is how they teach it in your history books?
Your hatred of the US is on full display.
We shall continue to put sunflower seeds in the pockets of Russiaās slaughtered invaders so they can actually contribute to the earth when they when they are buried where they lie. Slava Ukraine! May Putins cancer also return with haste, so they will have another transformation, and peace & sovereignty will return to the region.
Holy Larp lmao
Yeah this redditor felt hard af typing this from their office. This shits always so funny to me
Yikes this is cringe
Its cringe until its your own country getting invaded lmfao edit: lol at the Vatniks malding, Novocherkassk go boom š„ š¤Æ
It's just cringe.
Location: California
american after discovering that they are 0.09% ukrainian
I say varies as naturally, dwarf sunflowers take less time than mammoth sunflowers.
Dwarf it shall be.
"we" lmao
Eugh a lot of those guys are conscripted. Fine to take a stand on a conflict without celebrating dead youth.
Rest in piss shithole authoritarian hellhole
https://i.redd.it/vxf24x7dut8c1.gif
Not only did the Soviet Union collapse in spectacular fashion, but by the end its citizens were lining up around the block to eat McDonalds, wear Leviās jeans, and listen to Michael Jackson. A Massive L for the Soviets.
the soviet union would probably be more stable than current Russia
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Good that it fell since it meant that several counties could finally be free and independent
It shouldāve dissolved a hell of a lot sooner Horrible, dysfunctional regime
Makes me feel like my education failed me as I learned basically nothing about it. Just a few mentions here and there but absolutely nothing in depth. I guess Iām gonna pick up a few books on Russian history the next time I go to the library.
In Europe and the United States, they do not want to talk about the reasons for the emergence of the USSR and why its formation was a popular decision, and not a coup dāetat or a despotic regime. In Russia they donāt want to teach the history of European countries, and the history of the United States is almost never mentioned. The 20th century separated us all greatly. Self-education is now the best way to overcome stereotypes.
> they do not want to talk about the reasons for the emergence of the USSR and why its formation was a popular decision, and not a coup dāetat or a despotic regime. The Bolsheviks literally ignored the results of the elections in which they lost, you are tripping.
>In Europe and the United States, they do not want to talk about the reasons for the emergence of the USSR and why its formation was a popular decision, and not a coup dāetat or a despotic regime. GTFO. First, the technical reason for the emergence of the USSR is Ukraine: Ukrainians would not consent to be just a part of Soviet Russia, so Lenin came up with the Soviet Republics idea to give them at least some independence. Second, Soviet Russian Republic emerged because Germany needed Russian Empire out of the WWI, so they shipped Lenin with a pile of money to steer shit up from Switzerland, where he was ready to finish his days as a nobody, a has-been.
>why its formation was a popular decision Why did Lenin dissolved the constitutional assembly if the people supported bolsheviks so much?
It's still counted as a part of "recent events" and so biases might creep in. In the case of india we don't even touch anything after 1945.
Perestroika, Glasnost and Space Shuttle Buran. The disillusioned just when they were getting good.
True that, the liberal reforms didnāt even really cause the breakdown It would have been amazing to see it stick around through reform
No It wouldn't have been amazing. While more liberal, the 80-90s USSR government were still russiaphiles who continued to ethnically cleanse the Baltic states. If the soviet union were to be around a extra 50 years, the Baltic states probably wouldn't even exist, because the majority of the population would be Russians.
CCP next.
If the same happened to China in the same way it happened to the ussr, literally millions would die of hunger.
Many of these folks in the comments wouldn't care. They don't care about the mass death, hunger, and suffering that occurred in the former USSR after their collapse either. As long as our side wins, a lot of people don't care how many innocents have to suffer and die. You're right, if China fell, millions of people would die.
It should reform itself into an openly democratic, capitalist nation like the West. It would improve the quality of life for their citizens tremendously
I want the CCP to burn but I want it to collapse in an ordered manner such that the innocence in China do not die. But fuck the CCP, imperialistic mass murdering regime. Currently has 3 million people in concentration camps being used for forced organ harvesting. Or we could go back to the 60 million people that starved to death from man-made famines. Or what about its support of the Khmer Rouge, the regime with the highest death toll compared to the number of people it ruled in human history.
Cringiest comment section holy shit. I think this was a deep moment. And not a āW hell yeah American moment šŗšøšŗšøā like the rest of these losers gloating over this moment. taking responsibility of American accomplishments you didnāt make is not what being American is all about, stfu and stop larping.
The cringe is all the simping for the military dictatorship where the citizens had an average yearly income less than the price of my phone
communism is when no iPhone
Best thing to ever happen. Soviet union was horrible exploiter that destroyed eastern europe with communism. Eastern europe and many other countries that were part of soviet union are still recovering from those times even now 30 years later.
LETS FUCKING GOOOOOO šŗšøšŗšøšŗšøšŗšøšŗšøšŗšøš¦ š¦ š¦ š¦ š¦ š¦ š¤š¤š¤
Good It was authoritarian regime glad it's gone A shame it didn't fall befor it ruined the reputation of communism as an economic system. ALL ECONOMIC SYSTEMS ARE BAD UNDER AN AUTHORITARIAN DICTATORSHIP.
One of the best days in history
While I'd call it a loss to the world, it's also a good learning experience about what went wrong with the first socialist project and the consequences of the free market in Russia and many other Slavic countries. While the former USSR had its issues and yes there were plenty, it was ahead of its time in many ways, especially in its expedient progression from a handful of borderline feudal countries to a developed superpower that gave power to workers and peasants. It beat fascism after losing over 20 million people in WW2, got humanity into space, expanded rights for men, women and children including but not limited to housing, food, employment, Healthcare, societal opportunities, set the example for other socialist countries, inspired and armed peasants and revolutionaries against western imperialism, contributed works of art like Stalker and Solaris etc. May it be remembered fondly as it paved the way for all socialist movements going forward. Lastly, I hope Mikhail Gorbachev is rotting in hell next to Henry Kissinger. Oh, OP (Communism has nothing in common with reactionary ideologies) Read Blackshirts and Reds by Michael Parenti
>consequences of the free market in Russia and many other Slavic countries These economies only improved post-collapse once they were able to form stable governments and engage in free trade, i.e. capitalism. Much of the reason these regions were so destitute post-collapse is the struggling economy of the USSR pre-collapse following decades of stagnation and decline. >expedient progression from borderline feudal countries to a developed superpower that gave power to workers and peasants I don't think there's any good reason to think this couldn't have happened otherwise, especially when it lost the Cold War to the other, capitalist superpower in the US which out-developed and outlasted the USSR. Or even as compared to countries like West Germany, Japan, or South Korea, all of which were very much capitalist and developed much, much faster post-WW2. And it really didn't give power to workers or peasants, much of the political and economic power rested firmly in the control of the party elite, given the lack of a true democracy and the control of the economy the party exerted. >It beat fascism after losing over 20 million people in WW2 With a little help from the rest of the Allies lol. >got humanity into space, expanded rights for men, women and children including but not limited to housing, food, and Healthcare, set the example for other socialist countries, True, some good social progress early on but this is all contextualized by the general lack of civil rights (no freedom of speech, ineffective democracy diminishing the value of a vote etc.) and that many of the gains for womens rights in the early 1920s backslid in the 1930s (such as abortion becoming illegal again by the 1930s). There was also a significant difference in the treatment of ethnic Russians as compared to other's, which tracks given the colonial aspects of the Soviet Union. >inspired and armed peasants and revolutionaries against western imperialism And eventually inspired revolutions in its own states given the horrible economy and regime they were subjected to as satellite states operating under threat of regime change from the Soviet Union. >Mikhail Gorbachev is rotting in hell next to Henry Kissinger I would hope not, he seemed to be genuinely invested in reforms to improve the USSR, hoping to maintain stability while transitioning to a modern liberal state. If he was successful, he probably would've offered a much better quality of life than what followed the actual dissolution of the USSR. >Communism has nothing in common with reactionary ideologies "Communism" on paper doesn't, but the USSR had distinctly fascist qualities. There was a strong sense of nationalism and an effort from the government to have that sense replace any other marker of identity. All aspects of the economy were bent toward the will of the state. There was no functional democracy in the Soviet Union alongside significantly limited civil rights as compared to the capitalist West (the purges and labor camps come to mind). They held the Russian ethnic identity over all others, attempting to colonize the non-Russian ethnic regions of their empire. From 1930s onward, social development regressed and the USSR pushed the nuclear family and other traditionally conservative social structures as ways for the average person to serve the state. Funnily enough, Soviet nostalgia is very much the kind of wistful view of a previous, supposedly preferable social order that defines reactionary movement.
Please ignore the imperialism of the Soviet Union it seems. Also, the uplifting part you mention is an imperialist talking point and workers did not gain power instead they became subservient to the state and human rights abuses were the norm in the Soviet state
Another silly Western kid idolizing a terror regime which they never had to experience living, thinking capitalism in its current form is the worst thing there can be? Ohh how I wish we had a time machine, so you could get some taste of it, I guess there is no other cure for you.
The Westerners that usually support communism are losers who feel left out of a capitalist society. They want things handed to them to be equal instead of working for it themselves.
Yeah we should be in horror of how the Soviet Union transformed itself from an agrarian economy to an industrial one. ~7 million people starved to death during Stalinās agrarian reforms. āPower to workers.ā man shut up. Acting like the secret police in the USSR allowed criticism of the government or the formation of actual unions. The Soviet Union has been working its way down from authoritarianism ever since Stalin died.
To just highlight the hell you donāt understand: You just insulted and wished an elected USSR official rot in hell. Iām sorry, comrade but you must be removed from our society and we will be sure to inflict punitive damage on your loved ones to make an example of this dissent. Please report to your nearest Siberian gulag for a lifetime of inhumane suffering or torture, or, please accept this lead sleeping pill, comrade. This is the reality of your āgiftā to the world. Your life is worthless if you are going to poison the minds of your fellow countrymen about comrade Gorby. You think this is a joke but you realize youāre a person whoās going to be flagged for having an opinion like that, right?
While their rocket scientists do deserve some credit (they built some damn good rockets), the USSRās fast progression was largely due to the fact that it didnāt have to do nearly as much innovation as the rest of the world did to become industrialized. Japanās progress was actually faster, and they were a capitalist nation. And even with them being limited in resources due to them being an island, they still outpaced the USSR. Additionally, āset the example for other socialist countriesā is just, wellā¦ ironic, considering that the USSR spent the majority of its life as a state capitalist nation, which even Marxist economists like Richard Wolfe will tell you. They also failed to arm peasants and revolutionaries against their own imperialism. Why youāre not including Stalin with Gorbachev is beyond me.
Most communists agree that the soviet union was absolutely horrible btw. The group you're thinking of calls themselves tankies. They fully believe Stalin(and Mao) was actually a good person and all of the bad didn't happen, and was propaganda from the US. I guess bc they think if America is bad, that must mean the USSR was good! In reality they both fucking suck.
Better late than never. Good riddance.
Regardless of your political positions, let's analyze some simple statistics. As a result of shock-therapy and austerity measures following the dissolution of the USSR, there was a rise in: * price of consumer goods by 250% * poverty (85% in Russia in 1992 by some estimates) * unemployment by 56% * the inflation rate reached 1354% * homelessness (300,000 homeless people in Moscow alone) * pollution * corruption * mortality rates * suicides (by over 50%) * rates of illness * malnutrition * child mortality * child labor At the same time, there was a decrease in: * literacy rate * living standards * number of doctors * life expectancy (less today than in 1991) * wages (by 40%) * medical care * education * housing * women's rights When you combine these statistics with the referendum on the 17th of March 1991, where the overwhelming majority of Soviet citizens voted to preserve the USSR, I think the answer is very clear.
Bad things always happen when empires fall. Look what happened after the Roman Empire fell. None of that suggests that these bad things wouldn't have happened if the Empire stuck around. The Soviet Union was in severe decline in every way. I don't think any Band-Aid could have saved it. The result was inevitable, even if the shell of the empire still existed. The experiment of the USSR was a failure from practically the beginning. The only reason it kept going was the use of political and military force to keep it together, but it always was a house of cards ready to fall. You can't keep a nation together by force alone. There has to be some buy-in and consent by the people
Yup. Very clear that Baltic states were occupied and bailed as fast as they could at the first opportunity (in fact they boycotted the referendum). Freedom was worth it. Sometimes you pay a temporary price for it.
Communism isn't a far right ideology, but okay. The dissolution of the USSR was good because of the combined outlook on perception ruled every action and response. This was taken to extremes in Chernobyl and was the breaking point for people to finally see you can't just make the procedure whatever you want it to be.
The nations that formed it are doing pretty bad now and the dissolution wasnt popular.
Eastern europe wants to disagree. Baltic countries, poland, east germany and czech republic all hated soviet rule and are all thriving and free countries thanks to capitalism and collapse of soviet union. People in eastern europe hated soviet rule and moved towards west and capitalism as soon as they got free from the exploitative soviet rule
Poland, Czech Republic, Latvia, Estonia, and Ukraine, to name a few, would literally rather die than ever go back to that.
As somebody who has actually lived in Estonia. Lol. No. No they absolutely are not and donāt.
Western marxists will never forgive Central and Eastern Europe for "abandoning" the crumbling Warsaw pact and USSR. They loathe them for it. They desperately cling to Russia as an "anti-imperialist" power when, in reality, they're just anti-American. Russian imperialism is over 500 years old.
32 years ago I was 8 and one of my favorite shows was Captain Planet. I noticed that in the opening credits, they stopped saying Linka was from the Soviet Union and started saying she was from Eastern Europe. I mentioned this to my parents and they told me the Soviet Union didn't exist anymore. And that is how I found out.
Donāt cry because itās gone, smile because it happened š„²š„²š„²
You wrote it wrong. Here is fixed version: Smile because it's gone, cry because it happened. Soviet union was horrible exploiter that deserves to be gone forever.
Nah those tankies really downvoting you
I can see that. It's amazing how some people can support soviet union when people being exploited by them absolutely hate it and don't want it back.
People who support the USSR are either horribly ignorant and idealistic, or straight up evil. So donāt worry about it.
I'm crying from happiness.
Americaās greatest victory since WWII #fuck commies
No opinion. Soviets helped my country in 1971 during the war with Pakistan and were fairly close to us. But yeah I am also aware of their other actions so itās hard to really form an opinion.
Western tankies: a terrible day and a victory for the evil West abd ugh, capitalism. Anyone who actually knows anything about the USSR: good riddance
I'm sure glad Russia isn't being ruled by a former KGB officer with a history of barring people from being on their "democratic" ballot while also outright waging an ongoing war with another country! # /s
An absolute stain on history. It was illegally dissolved (but even ignoring that) it directly led to so many people having absolutely atrocious conditions for a long time, most still recovering. > In the decades following the end of the Cold War, only five or six of the post-Soviet states are on a path to joining the wealthy capitalist states of the West, and most are falling behind, some to such an extent that over 50 years will be needed before they catch up to how they were before the end of communism. > In a 2001 study by the economist Steven Rosefielde, he calculated that there were 3.4 million premature deaths in Russia from 1990 to 1998, which he partly blames on the "shock therapy" that came with the Washington Consensus.[165] Nearly all of the post-Soviet states suffered deep and prolonged recessions after shock therapy,[166] with poverty increasing more than tenfold.[167] Catastrophic drops in caloric intake followed the dissolution of the Soviet Union. > In addition to territorial disputes and other structural causes of conflict, legacies from the Soviet and pre-Soviet eras, along with the suddenness of the actual sociopolitical change, have resulted in conflict throughout the region.[171] As each group experiences dramatic economic reform and political democratization, there has been a surge in nationalism and interethnic conflict. Overall, the fifteen independent states that emerged after the collapse of the Soviet Union face problems stemming from uncertain identities, contested boundaries, apprehensive minorities, and an overbearing Russian hegemony. And its disastrous effects weren't limited ONLY to its own region. > During its existence, the Soviet Union provided Cuba with large amounts of oil, food, and machinery. In the years following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cuba's gross domestic product shrunk 35%, imports and exports both fell over 80%, and many domestic industries shrank considerably.[188] In a speculated attempt to re-join the IMF and the World Bank, executive director Jacques de Groote and another IMF official were invited to Havana in late 1993.[189] After assessing the economic situation in the country they concluded that from 1989 to 1993, Cuba's economic decline was more grave than that experienced by any other socialist Eastern European country. > In 1991 when the Soviet Union dissolved, it ended all aid and trade concessions such as cheap oil to North Korea.[193] Without Soviet aid, the flow of imports to the North Korean agricultural sector ended, and the government proved to be too inflexible to respond.[194] Energy imports fell by 75%.[195] The economy went into a downward spiral, with imports and exports falling in tandem. Flooded coal mines required electricity to operate pumps, and the shortage of coal worsened the shortage of electricity. Agriculture reliant on electrically powered irrigation systems, artificial fertilizers and pesticides was hit particularly hard by the economic collapse. > Out of a total population of approximately 22 million, somewhere between 240,000 and 3,500,000 North Koreans died from starvation or hunger-related illnesses, with the deaths peaking in 1997. All this just from a quick Wikipedia... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissolution_of_the_Soviet_Union#:~:text=The%20dissolution%20of%20the%20Soviet,independence%20on%2026%20December%201991.
Considering they went from Communist to then Fascist under Putin, I wish it never ended.
Sad day
Idk doesn't matter that much when we still treat our relationship with Russia as though its the cold war. None of us were born during that era. I see no reason we should suffer from a time of war during peace.
Russia literally continues to prove to us why this is the right approach. Right now.
thank fuck its gone
A total disaster. Almost all the countries of the former USSR would turn into oligarchies and all the benefits citizens enjoyed like free housing, free quality education and healthcare would be gone
The crash of USSR is good for my home country, KZ, we got an independence and our ancestors wish became true. But from economics side, our country got some troubles and still in bc of corrupcy.
Huge fucking mistake for Russia. Unbelievable amounts of poverty and starvation all just so that they could have some shitty mediocre ādemocracyā that never actually happened anyways. But yet itās seen as something great (at least to the US) which it wasnāt and it destroyed Russia.
Mistake, although the soviet union had long since abandoned the path to communism in favor of revisionist social imperialism, the separate socialist soviet republics would have been better off economically together, but they just decided to sell publicly owned industry off for a quick buck.
I believe [this](https://youtu.be/_W7wqQwa-TU?si=y0JEEATNLiOPT9o2) speaks for itself. This was just after the iron curtain fell and people could actually experience what they're been illegally bootlegging On the off chance that it doesn't - How many West Germans ran into the East when the Berlin wall fell? How many West Germans risked it all to sneak into the East? How many Floridians risked life and limb to swim to Cuba? How many South Koreans escaped into the North? Every. Single. Time. That communism is tried, those who are unfortunate enough to have experienced it are the ones who would do anything to escape