How the USSR didn't follow traditional guidelines

[{GR}Raine]

First off, what special form of communism did the USSR associate itself with, and how did it not follow those guidelines? Also, what major points did the USSR not follow when it was in full power?

I'm thinking of doing a paper on how the USSR wasn't a real communist country, so any assumptions of communism can't be made based upon them. Of course, I realize that its centralization of government, not the ruling of the people, and it's unwillingness to abolish power were main points, but I need better details. thanks.

[Martin Blank]

On the Lessons of the USSR Experience (http://www.communistleague.org/wr/stories/wr2005q1-ussr.html)

Miles

[tatu]

What point in USSR history are we talking about here?

[{GR}Raine]

That's the other thing, I'm needing to know about its entire history, so from Lenin and the October Revolution, through Stalin and WWII, and then on afetr that, until it "collapsed"

[ComradeOm]

Try reading this debate (http://www.revolutionaryleft.com/index.php?showtopic=42349) I've been having for the past week or two. I'm fairly sure we've gone through the major points of Leninism and the October Revolution... several times.

[DisIllusion]

Don't forget to throw in Trotsky somewhere in there.

[Hiero]

It's rather stupid what you have done. You want to prove that the USSR was not Communist (in the sense it's ideology was Communisty) rather then doing a paper on what the USSR was. You just automatically assume the USSR was not communist without having done the research first.

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

Originally posted by [email protected] 22 2005, 06:21 PM
On the Lessons of the USSR Experience (http://www.communistleague.org/wr/stories/wr2005q1-ussr.html)

Miles
Great piece.

I loved it when I first read it months ago and I love it now.

[tatu]

Originally posted by [email protected] 23 2005, 06:40 AM
It's rather stupid what you have done. You want to prove that the USSR was not Communist (in the sense it's ideology was Communisty) rather then doing a paper on what the USSR was. You just automatically assume the USSR was not communist without having done the research first.
Good point.

{GR}Raine, you're going straight into this paper with a negative attitude about the USSR. As comrade Hiero pointed out, you need to do your research first before you can make your mind up.

[jambajuice]

Originally posted by [email protected] 23 2005, 06:40 AM
It's rather stupid what you have done. You want to prove that the USSR was not Communist (in the sense it's ideology was Communisty) rather then doing a paper on what the USSR was. You just automatically assume the USSR was not communist without having done the research first.
Soviet system was a bloated, monsterous, political machine. That is not communism.

Compared to the royal government it replaced? It replaced a bloated, monstrous, political machine based on corruption and blood lines, for another monstrous, bloated, political machine based corruption and bureaucracy.

[tatu]

http://www.geocities.com/ncpcentral/stalin.htm

[Comrade Yastrebkov]

Originally posted by [email protected] 24 2005, 06:01 AM
S
"Soviet system was a bloated, monsterous, political machine. That is not communism."
What a great open-minded, carefully researched, intellectual and mature comment to make...


"Compared to the royal government it replaced? It replaced a bloated, monstrous, political machine based on corruption and blood lines, for..."

...A superpower that provided a counterbalance to the international imperialism of the USA, and created a dramatic improvement in living conditions for hundreds of millions of people on a scale never before or since witnessed in history. Replaced it with a society where everyone had enough food, clothing, and shelter; where elderly people had secure pensions; and where all children (and many adults) went to school and no one was denied medical attention.

Oh-oh, now I wait for the wild shrieks of "stalinist!" "soviet apologist!"...

[Rockfan]

Originally posted by Comrade Yastrebkov+Nov 28 2005, 05:55 AM--> (Comrade Yastrebkov @ Nov 28 2005, 05:55 AM)
[email protected] 24 2005, 06:01 AM
S
"Soviet system was a bloated, monsterous, political machine. That is not communism."
What a great open-minded, carefully researched, intellectual and mature comment to make...


"Compared to the royal government it replaced? It replaced a bloated, monstrous, political machine based on corruption and blood lines, for..."

...A superpower that provided a counterbalance to the international imperialism of the USA, and created a dramatic improvement in living conditions for hundreds of millions of people on a scale never before or since witnessed in history. Replaced it with a society where everyone had enough food, clothing, and shelter; where elderly people had secure pensions; and where all children (and many adults) went to school and no one was denied medical attention.

Oh-oh, now I wait for the wild shrieks of "stalinist!" "soviet apologist!"... [/b]
Yes you're right but you have to weight up everything and in the political domaine, in some parts of its existance but not all it could most deffernatly be concidered a "bloated, monsterous, political machine." However socaily at times it was also quite progressive.

[{GR}Raine]

Thank you guys for your answers. I've decided to just move my thesis around to the USSR's affects on Europe. I'll include how they didn't follow the communist style, but it wont be my main point.