What could and should have been

"My friend! We live in a wonderful time - a time of great construction, extraordinary discoveries, a time of the irrepressible movement of our society towards communism. Our wonderful time is full of the romance of creating something new, full of big dreams. Our tomorrow is the communism we built. Let's dream together today..."

Vasily Zakharencho in "Journey to Tomorrow" how he imagined the future of the USSR.

The Soviet Union might not exist anymore and did not manage to meet its own expectations and aspirations but I still believe in a society based on science, exploration and community. One that is free from the shackles of Capitalism.

This page is a permanent link to the reply below and its nested replies. See all post replies »

LeopoldBloom · M

The USSR was based on domination of the working class by an elite that controlled the government, religion, and private industry. It was no different from the U.S. in that regard.

Gloomy · F

@LeopoldBloom Access to "free" healthcare, guranteed employment for many citizens, the governments emphasis on collectivism and communal living leading to a strong sense of community and social cohesion. Central city planning solving the housing crisis and aiming to create communal living spaces, it at least abolished certain class hierarchies,smaller salary gaps between workers and managers, womens rights were better at the time than in the west, the government heavily invested in science, education and culture, ....

In those regards it was better and I believe in supression of religion. It should be a private thing and central planning is preferable in many regards but should be decentralised.

LeopoldBloom · M

@Gloomy The USSR was also hopelessly corrupt and its suppression of free speech stifled development and contributed to a massive carceral system, famines, and widespread contempt for the state. While Soviet-style communism definitely had some benefits, overall the system was unsustainable. Gorbachev recognized this, and the perestroika and glasnost programs were intended to counter some of these problems. It was of course too little, too late, and after oligarchs captured most of the country's wealth in the 1990s, we're left with the current dictatorship under Putin.

The Chinese seem to have managed the transition from a centrally planned economy to one that takes advantage of the creativity encouraged in a capitalist system. However, their heavy investment in manufacturing requires the rest of the world to serve as customers, and their system is built on endless expansion, same as ours is. China is currently attempting to colonize Latin America and Africa by financing development in those places in return for what amounts to debt peonage.

The European system of democratic socialism (letting the private sector handle production while the government provides a robust welfare state) seems to be working for them, at least at the moment. I'd like to see more places try something like the communalism and radical feminism currently being attempted in Rojava. It will be interesting to see what happens there if the Syrians and Turks back off.