To be clear, I don’t believe you are a subjective idealist. I believe that your nostalgia for a once great and now lost USSR has colored your analysis, but I believe you in general are more of a materialist. My critique of certain points of yours as metaphysical or idealist is constrained to those positions.
As for the progress in China, it’s already happening at a breakneck pace. Conditions are improving in China faster than anywhere else in the world. So what if they made a deal with the western devil? The soviets did so too during the NEP, the CPC revisited that idea and modified it to their contemporary conditions. Any comparison between the snake Khrushchev and Deng Xiaoping has to be understood in that Khrushchev downplayed the entirety of socialist construction thus far, creating historical pessimism, while Deng made it clear that Mao and Stalin were to be upheld, and that class struggle was alive and must be carefully fought.
The Soviet models of socialism were not idealist, nor subjective. It was materialist, worked well, and was well-suited to the Soviet Union’s conditions. My issue was the idea that if, say, Bolivia’s ongoing protests erupt into revolution, that they should copy some period of the Soviet Union’s models of socialism, rather than learn from it and adapt to their own conditions. Bolivia’s conditions are not the same as the USSR’s.
As for Trotsky being for the NEP and Stalin being against it, the NEP ending early ended up being fortuitous in preparing for World War II. Had World War II not been on the horizon, then perhaps extending it may have been correct, to help develop light industry more. In China’s case, their socialist market economy was handled in such a way as to rely on largely de-industrialized economies, thus the risk of war was lower while in the USSR a war was always around the corner.
As for “western Marxism,” in the west it is used as a pejorative against Marxists that vulgarize Marx and Lenin, opposing socialist states. I am happy that you meant no offense by it, comrade.
As for the progress in China, it’s already happening at a breakneck pace. Conditions are improving in China faster than anywhere else in the world.
You know I disagree… )))
What’s wrong with Stalin’s industrialization in the 1930s? Which Mao wanted to replicate with abandon. Don’t you think Mao’s thinking back then, ardently, is similar to mine now? That is, Mao wanted to build the USSR in China.
I think Stalin’s “Great Leap Forward” is much more impressive than the “Great Leap Forward”… I’ll Google it now.
Mao Zedong (September 27, 1954 – April 27, 1959)
Liu Shaoqi (April 27, 1959 – October 31, 1968)
Dong Biwu (Acting Chairman from October 31, 1968 – January 17, 1975)
From 1975 to 1982, the position was abolished, and the functions of head of state were performed by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress.
Li Xiannian (June 18, 1983 – April 8, 1988)
Yang Shangkun (April 8, 1988 – March 27, 1993)
Jiang Zemin (March 27, 1993 – March 15, 2003)
Hu Jintao (March 15, 2003 – March 14, 2013)
Xi Jinping (March 14, 2013 to present)
In ten years, Stalin transformed a largely agrarian country into a power capable of fighting the EU on equal terms, single-handedly, and ultimately bringing them to their knees.
Comrade, honestly, how can you even compare these two?
“snake Khrushchev”
Yes, he discredited Stalin, to the delight of the West, but he did so for careerist and ambitious reasons. But he was a hardened and devoted Soviet communist. It wasn’t that he wanted the New Economic Policy (NEP)—on the contrary, he abolished the last bastion of private enterprise in the USSR. He abolished Stalin’s artels, a grave mistake when light industry slumped, followed by shortages, and, as a consequence, the trade mafia emerged. Khrushchev should have developed the artels, not stifled them. Khrushchev’s second mistake was becoming hooked on oil, a habit Russia still can’t shake.
But he cared about the people; under him, the process of mass construction of free housing for the proletariat, the so-called “Khrushchev-era buildings,” began.
So what if they made a deal with the western devil?
The main thing is that the soul remains untouched.
The soviets did so too during the NEP
Capitalism is a transitional stage from feudalism to socialism. Russia didn’t have capitalism at that time, just like China didn’t. The New Economic Policy (NEP) was improvised capitalism. It was necessary because the country was on the brink of survival. And it really boosted the economy.
But Stalin, at some point, said “Stop!” And he didn’t do it without reason. Industrialization requires a huge amount of resources and labor. The NEP is a bunch of small businessmen. Who will build these factories under the NEP? Who will organize this construction? 80% of the population are peasants, who will certainly remain on the land, will plow the land, and sell their harvest as private farmers. How can they be lured to the city? No one raped the peasants back then; they could easily run away. How can we offer them better conditions than if they remained in the villages? Tens of millions need to be resettled. Don’t forget that industrialization was carried out by peasants with their own hands, as was the case in China.
As for Trotsky being for the NEP and Stalin being against it, the NEP ending early ended up being fortuitous in preparing for World War II. Had World War II not been on the horizon, then perhaps extending it may have been correct, to help develop light industry more.
I’ve described the main points above.
To develop light industry, Stalin organized artels.
Note:
“Under I.V. Stalin, artels (production cooperatives) in the USSR were a vital part of the economy. They produced over 30,000 different products, supplying the market with essential goods—from food to electronics. By 1953, artels produced approximately 40% of all furniture and 35% of knitwear in the country.”
No problem, Comrade! Joseph Vissarionovich has thought of everything!
Products of the artel
During the war
Everyone in the cooperative has equal rights and receives the same salary. The director is elected annually from among the cooperative members, by the cooperative itself.
Stalin was correct about industrialization in the 1930s, especially considering the external conditions and environment the soviets found themselves in. The incredible rates of industrialization were unprecedented in history, and the fact that industrialization was completed is why the heroic Red Army was equipped and able to defeat the Nazi menace.
Mao’s economy was also fantastic at getting rapid growth. Under Mao, life expectancy similarly doubled, and production was rapidly expanding. At the same time, growth was unstable, and many areas were lagging behind. What the CPC identified as lacking was on the technological front, as well as the productive forces in general. Deng’s advancements did not overturn what Mao had created, they built upon it.
While Stalin’s artels were effective, and I was unaware of many of their specifics as you have now pointed out to me (thank you, by the way), they still did not have the same impact of undermining western production and accelerating technology transfer that Reform and Opening Up brought. I do not care for the “soul” being tarnished, the fact of the matter is that western technology is no longer a monopoly to hold on the world and enforce unequal exchange, and now China is eroding the foundations of modern imperialism and neocolonialism.
As for Khrushchev, I do not deny the benefits of the Krushchevkas and other advancements. However, I called Khrushchev a snake, because the snake had venom. In casting Stalin to hell, he created a sense of historical nihilism. His insistence that the USSR had abolished class was also shortsighted. These fundamental errors weakened the CPSU, and created the foundation for further errors in Gorbachev’s reforms. The CPC watched and refused to make the same mistakes.
To be clear, I don’t believe you are a subjective idealist. I believe that your nostalgia for a once great and now lost USSR has colored your analysis, but I believe you in general are more of a materialist. My critique of certain points of yours as metaphysical or idealist is constrained to those positions.
As for the progress in China, it’s already happening at a breakneck pace. Conditions are improving in China faster than anywhere else in the world. So what if they made a deal with the western devil? The soviets did so too during the NEP, the CPC revisited that idea and modified it to their contemporary conditions. Any comparison between the snake Khrushchev and Deng Xiaoping has to be understood in that Khrushchev downplayed the entirety of socialist construction thus far, creating historical pessimism, while Deng made it clear that Mao and Stalin were to be upheld, and that class struggle was alive and must be carefully fought.
The Soviet models of socialism were not idealist, nor subjective. It was materialist, worked well, and was well-suited to the Soviet Union’s conditions. My issue was the idea that if, say, Bolivia’s ongoing protests erupt into revolution, that they should copy some period of the Soviet Union’s models of socialism, rather than learn from it and adapt to their own conditions. Bolivia’s conditions are not the same as the USSR’s.
As for Trotsky being for the NEP and Stalin being against it, the NEP ending early ended up being fortuitous in preparing for World War II. Had World War II not been on the horizon, then perhaps extending it may have been correct, to help develop light industry more. In China’s case, their socialist market economy was handled in such a way as to rely on largely de-industrialized economies, thus the risk of war was lower while in the USSR a war was always around the corner.
As for “western Marxism,” in the west it is used as a pejorative against Marxists that vulgarize Marx and Lenin, opposing socialist states. I am happy that you meant no offense by it, comrade.
You know I disagree… )))
What’s wrong with Stalin’s industrialization in the 1930s? Which Mao wanted to replicate with abandon. Don’t you think Mao’s thinking back then, ardently, is similar to mine now? That is, Mao wanted to build the USSR in China.
I think Stalin’s “Great Leap Forward” is much more impressive than the “Great Leap Forward”… I’ll Google it now.
Mao Zedong (September 27, 1954 – April 27, 1959) Liu Shaoqi (April 27, 1959 – October 31, 1968) Dong Biwu (Acting Chairman from October 31, 1968 – January 17, 1975) From 1975 to 1982, the position was abolished, and the functions of head of state were performed by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress.
Li Xiannian (June 18, 1983 – April 8, 1988) Yang Shangkun (April 8, 1988 – March 27, 1993) Jiang Zemin (March 27, 1993 – March 15, 2003) Hu Jintao (March 15, 2003 – March 14, 2013) Xi Jinping (March 14, 2013 to present)
In ten years, Stalin transformed a largely agrarian country into a power capable of fighting the EU on equal terms, single-handedly, and ultimately bringing them to their knees.
Comrade, honestly, how can you even compare these two?
“snake Khrushchev”
Yes, he discredited Stalin, to the delight of the West, but he did so for careerist and ambitious reasons. But he was a hardened and devoted Soviet communist. It wasn’t that he wanted the New Economic Policy (NEP)—on the contrary, he abolished the last bastion of private enterprise in the USSR. He abolished Stalin’s artels, a grave mistake when light industry slumped, followed by shortages, and, as a consequence, the trade mafia emerged. Khrushchev should have developed the artels, not stifled them. Khrushchev’s second mistake was becoming hooked on oil, a habit Russia still can’t shake.
But he cared about the people; under him, the process of mass construction of free housing for the proletariat, the so-called “Khrushchev-era buildings,” began.
The main thing is that the soul remains untouched.
Capitalism is a transitional stage from feudalism to socialism. Russia didn’t have capitalism at that time, just like China didn’t. The New Economic Policy (NEP) was improvised capitalism. It was necessary because the country was on the brink of survival. And it really boosted the economy. But Stalin, at some point, said “Stop!” And he didn’t do it without reason. Industrialization requires a huge amount of resources and labor. The NEP is a bunch of small businessmen. Who will build these factories under the NEP? Who will organize this construction? 80% of the population are peasants, who will certainly remain on the land, will plow the land, and sell their harvest as private farmers. How can they be lured to the city? No one raped the peasants back then; they could easily run away. How can we offer them better conditions than if they remained in the villages? Tens of millions need to be resettled. Don’t forget that industrialization was carried out by peasants with their own hands, as was the case in China.
I’ve described the main points above.
To develop light industry, Stalin organized artels.
Note:
“Under I.V. Stalin, artels (production cooperatives) in the USSR were a vital part of the economy. They produced over 30,000 different products, supplying the market with essential goods—from food to electronics. By 1953, artels produced approximately 40% of all furniture and 35% of knitwear in the country.”
No problem, Comrade! Joseph Vissarionovich has thought of everything!
Products of the artel
During the war
Everyone in the cooperative has equal rights and receives the same salary. The director is elected annually from among the cooperative members, by the cooperative itself.
The team is small, 10 people…
I didn’t know this, I said the phrase on my own.
Stalin was correct about industrialization in the 1930s, especially considering the external conditions and environment the soviets found themselves in. The incredible rates of industrialization were unprecedented in history, and the fact that industrialization was completed is why the heroic Red Army was equipped and able to defeat the Nazi menace.
Mao’s economy was also fantastic at getting rapid growth. Under Mao, life expectancy similarly doubled, and production was rapidly expanding. At the same time, growth was unstable, and many areas were lagging behind. What the CPC identified as lacking was on the technological front, as well as the productive forces in general. Deng’s advancements did not overturn what Mao had created, they built upon it.
While Stalin’s artels were effective, and I was unaware of many of their specifics as you have now pointed out to me (thank you, by the way), they still did not have the same impact of undermining western production and accelerating technology transfer that Reform and Opening Up brought. I do not care for the “soul” being tarnished, the fact of the matter is that western technology is no longer a monopoly to hold on the world and enforce unequal exchange, and now China is eroding the foundations of modern imperialism and neocolonialism.
As for Khrushchev, I do not deny the benefits of the Krushchevkas and other advancements. However, I called Khrushchev a snake, because the snake had venom. In casting Stalin to hell, he created a sense of historical nihilism. His insistence that the USSR had abolished class was also shortsighted. These fundamental errors weakened the CPSU, and created the foundation for further errors in Gorbachev’s reforms. The CPC watched and refused to make the same mistakes.