Soviet Ideological Education and the Fall

[heiss93]

Soviet Ideological Education and the Fall

It is a bit idealist to suggest that ideas can have an influence in history. Nonetheless I'm a bit curious about high with constant education from 1917-1988 in the works of Marx, Engels, Lenin, the Soviet state was able to collapse so quickly. After reading some books on Soviet education it appears that children from Kindergarten up were educated about the ideas of Lenin. So the entire generation of Soviets born after 1917, grew up with Marxist ideas. And yet post-1991 capitalist bourgeoisie thought has taken over incredibly quickly. Except for nostalgia for Stalin, Marxism has largely been driven out of the Russia mindset.

This question can also be applied to the Warsaw Pact states in general.

Is this a result of improper ideology? Did the education system teach Marxism too little, or incorrectly? Or is it simply the fact that indoctrination does not work, and only material conditions influence thought. And thus the reason Marxist ideas have not taken hold after 70 years in power, was because of economic not ideological considerations?

[mykittyhasaboner]

Indoctrination does not work, no matter what ideology. And the education system probably didnt teach Marxism correctly(and the USSR wasnt exacty marxist, so the students couldnt really see an example) I think that capitalism was able to take over very quickly because capitalist mindset is disgustingly simple, compared to marxist ideology. (and because marxism as a whole was losing out to capitalism by the end of the cold war) Perhaps if the education in the USSR focused more on marxism compared to capitalism,(rather than just the works of Lenin, Marx and Engels) then the students would begin to understand early on that capitalism is shit, and marxism is the way to go.