01-16-2024, 02:55 PM
(01-16-2024, 02:45 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: I would disagree. Sure, there was a large element of that in the latter years especially, but it wasn't always just a concern for one-upping the west. Sure, there was a good bit of that, but keep in mind how the revolution really kicked off and the intention behind it. I say this, though, and my wife's opinion on this when I discussed this conversation with her just now was that it was the whole "power corrupts" thing, to which I retorted that doesn't fly when it was corrupt from the start. Regardless, they did engage in the more left-wing economic policies despite not being liberal in any sense of the word.
I'm not ignoring the reasons for the revolution, but they're not part of my argument in this regard. As you just discussed, once in power this inferiority complex, once again, became a motivating factor. You could be a Czarist or a Bolshevik, but at the end of the day you were still a Russian. I think the rank and file genuinely bought into the promises of communism, but for the higher ups I think a large percentage of them just wanted to seize power.
Quote:Yeah, but we saw this prior to WW2, as well. I mean, Hitler called his party socialist while hating communists so much he reneged on his alliance and put communists in death camps.
Absolutely, but the question was why doesn't it happen now, was it not? At least that's what my entire answer was addressing.
Quote:Depends. Do they understand the difference between the different flavors of communism?
True communism has never actually been tried.
