Because the Soviets were assholes. I didn’t realize that would be controversial. I wish folks wouldn’t restrict the concept of anti-capitalism to the ussr. Raised fist? Red and black?
What assholes, liberating millions of feudal peasants and modernizing an entire country and eliminating hunger and poverty and spreading literacy and giving women rights and revolutionizing agriculture and medicine and defeating the nazis and inventing space travel and supporting liberation movements around the world. What absolute pricks.
Edit: just saw you lower down being relatively chill
I was going to send a DM to cowbee, but it may be worth knowng for others. I’m a bit older and may be a “normie” leftist with moderate anti-cap views and have unexamined prejudices about the USSR. I liked what I read from Lenin/Marx (one work each, i know!) but don’t like the reality of what I know of Stalin so don’t want that association. After reading some more, I’ll reexamine the USSR prejudices. So thanks to cowbee and folks who didn’t assume malice
Great on you for owning up! If you want to learn more about Stalin specifically, Domenico Losurdo’s Stalin: The History and Critique of a Black Legend is one of the best contextualizations of Stalin to date. Losurdo doesn’t make him out to be a saint nor an exceptional Hitler-like demon, but instead correctly places him in his historical context using western sources. Though, of course, it’s a disservice to the millions of soviets to reduce the achievements of the soviet union purely to Stalin.
You’re on a site where the majority of users are Marxists right now, we’re pretty big fans of the soviet union. It wasn’t some utopia, but it was incredibly progressive for its time. Life expectancy doubled, literacy rates tripled, healthcare and education were free and high quality, housing was free or low cost, wages increased and working hours lowered, and society was democratized. Anti-capitalism isn’t restricted to Marxism-Leninism nor to the USSR specifically, but over here we uphold actually existing socialism.
Civil and Fair, so thanks. I’ll also pay more attention to the instance in the future if only to not be so baffled. Even if folks consider the Soviets progressive for the time, my 2 cents is that tying modern anticapitalism to the realities of USSR, especially Stalinism, does a disservice to progressive movements and even Marxism. But as you say, it’s a minority opinion, so I’ll accept my downvotes. Thanks again
Marxism-Leninism has been used by billions of people around the world for the purpose of liberating the working classes. I think you should do more research before saying such things.
Lowkey yikes. I don’t want to associate myself with either graphic
Why not?
Because the Soviets were assholes. I didn’t realize that would be controversial. I wish folks wouldn’t restrict the concept of anti-capitalism to the ussr. Raised fist? Red and black?
What assholes, liberating millions of feudal peasants and modernizing an entire country and eliminating hunger and poverty and spreading literacy and giving women rights and revolutionizing agriculture and medicine and defeating the nazis and inventing space travel and supporting liberation movements around the world. What absolute pricks.
Edit: just saw you lower down being relatively chill
I was going to send a DM to cowbee, but it may be worth knowng for others. I’m a bit older and may be a “normie” leftist with moderate anti-cap views and have unexamined prejudices about the USSR. I liked what I read from Lenin/Marx (one work each, i know!) but don’t like the reality of what I know of Stalin so don’t want that association. After reading some more, I’ll reexamine the USSR prejudices. So thanks to cowbee and folks who didn’t assume malice
Great on you for owning up! If you want to learn more about Stalin specifically, Domenico Losurdo’s Stalin: The History and Critique of a Black Legend is one of the best contextualizations of Stalin to date. Losurdo doesn’t make him out to be a saint nor an exceptional Hitler-like demon, but instead correctly places him in his historical context using western sources. Though, of course, it’s a disservice to the millions of soviets to reduce the achievements of the soviet union purely to Stalin.
You’re on a site where the majority of users are Marxists right now, we’re pretty big fans of the soviet union. It wasn’t some utopia, but it was incredibly progressive for its time. Life expectancy doubled, literacy rates tripled, healthcare and education were free and high quality, housing was free or low cost, wages increased and working hours lowered, and society was democratized. Anti-capitalism isn’t restricted to Marxism-Leninism nor to the USSR specifically, but over here we uphold actually existing socialism.
Consider giving Blackshirts and Reds and This Soviet World a read, or check out the intro ML reading list I made.
Civil and Fair, so thanks. I’ll also pay more attention to the instance in the future if only to not be so baffled. Even if folks consider the Soviets progressive for the time, my 2 cents is that tying modern anticapitalism to the realities of USSR, especially Stalinism, does a disservice to progressive movements and even Marxism. But as you say, it’s a minority opinion, so I’ll accept my downvotes. Thanks again
Marxism-Leninism has been used by billions of people around the world for the purpose of liberating the working classes. I think you should do more research before saying such things.
Neither capitalist nor anti capitalist, but some secret third thing
(the secret third thing being fascism)
So, capitalism too
Fascism is probably heading more towards neo-Feudalism than sticking with traditional capitalism
No, no fascist country, even the longest standing ones like Franco’s Spain went back to feudalism, they remained firmly in capitalism.