Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2005 3:10 pm
It's more of a really basic (or "general") question that's so broad no one even wants to get into it.
Communism in its Soviet incarnation became a veil for pure authoritarianism. It was the quasi-religious opiate of the Soviet people, but it wasn't an ideal respected by the administration, so it became no more than a facade: the death penalty was re-instated (and effectively used even when proscribed), the peasants were abused to no end, and the workers were appreciated for their products and little else. Meanwhile scientists, philosophers, poets, homosexuals, and (at times) Jews were sent to the Gulag and likely death.
Communism was supposed to be the dictatorship of the proletariat: when the people were "ready" for true communism they would rule themselves wisely and efficiently. The people were not ready, and they believed this without question, which introduced the necessary element of (again) quasi-religious guilt that is so essential in tying a people to its faith. The "readiness" of the people was determined by the Premier, who in the worst and most memorable years of the Soviet Republic was Josef Stalin, a man with few classical scruples and a capacity for immense cruelty. The people would soon be ready for true communism, he would say, but for now they need a guiding hand! And there you have the dictator, the cult of personality, and the directed education, fawning masses, et cetera.
Were you really asking a question, or just trying to redirect the topic?
Communism in its Soviet incarnation became a veil for pure authoritarianism. It was the quasi-religious opiate of the Soviet people, but it wasn't an ideal respected by the administration, so it became no more than a facade: the death penalty was re-instated (and effectively used even when proscribed), the peasants were abused to no end, and the workers were appreciated for their products and little else. Meanwhile scientists, philosophers, poets, homosexuals, and (at times) Jews were sent to the Gulag and likely death.
Communism was supposed to be the dictatorship of the proletariat: when the people were "ready" for true communism they would rule themselves wisely and efficiently. The people were not ready, and they believed this without question, which introduced the necessary element of (again) quasi-religious guilt that is so essential in tying a people to its faith. The "readiness" of the people was determined by the Premier, who in the worst and most memorable years of the Soviet Republic was Josef Stalin, a man with few classical scruples and a capacity for immense cruelty. The people would soon be ready for true communism, he would say, but for now they need a guiding hand! And there you have the dictator, the cult of personality, and the directed education, fawning masses, et cetera.
Were you really asking a question, or just trying to redirect the topic?
