Comment on unsure why we are surprised lol
Cowbee@lemmy.ml 3 months agoWhat is a leftist, if not someone advocating collective owmership of Capital? Leftist isn’t a syononym for “good,” of course, but I fail to see how Marxist-Leninists aren’t leftists.
melpomenesclevage@lemm.ee 3 months ago
In the USSR the serfs were still serfs, the workers still didn’t own the means of production, and there was still a tiny room of delusional shit sticks making all the decisions, often wildly irrationally.
Better than one guy doing it, but no more, or not much more communist than the UK or France.
Cowbee@lemmy.ml 3 months ago
The USSR was a Worker State, owned and run by the workers. Soviet Democracy was the base model of decision making, along the formation of Democratic Centralism.
There were numerous struggles and issues with the USSR, of course. There was corruption, especially among the Politburo. The focus on heavy industry over light industry, though favorable during WWII, resulted in fewer luxury commodities, which resulted in liberalization and collapse.
Fundamentally, it is entirely silly to say that the USSR wasn’t leftist. It absolutely was, even if it was highly flawed and imperfect. In fact, it’s useful to analyze what went right (free eduaction, high home ownership, generous social safety net) and what went wrong (corruption, lack of luxury commodities, etc.) so as to come up with a better system.
That is, unless you think Marxism isn’t leftist, and think only Anarchism counts as leftist, in which case I really don’t know what to tell you.
melpomenesclevage@lemm.ee 3 months ago
The Bolsheviks killed all the communists. Including the Marxists.
Cowbee@lemmy.ml 3 months ago
That’s certainly a statement, backed up by nothing but posturing and not an ounce of analysis.
If you can meaningfully explain how Lenin and the Bolsheviks were not Marxists, I’d be very surprised, but I am willing to hear your case. What do you believe would have been the Marxist structure? The same as the USSR, just without the corruption? Is it just vibes and aesthetics?