this post was submitted on 09 Apr 2025
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I don't know about Mao, but while Stalin being an evil dictator wasn't an accident, Lenin being an evil dictator was. The Russian revolution wasn't just the Bolsheviks; there were many different groups of which the Bolsheviks simply happened to come out on top because of a ton of coincidences and bad decisions by everyone else.
The Ukrainians did it until they were invaded by the Soviets, and Rojava's experiment seems to be mostly successful.
Socialism never promised to be able to survive an assault by a vastly superior military force, that's not how that works. It doesn't promise to spread global revolution either.
That's literally the thing though, and perhaps where the USSR went wrong. There is no magic bullet that would make a small nation able to survive a large attack, asside from strong allies with a ton of bigger nations, and sadly being different, and a possible threat to the status quo, doesn't help with that.
That's like saying being a serial killer helps survival over being a law abiding citizen that cares about others. Proof when I put a law abiding citizen and a serial killer in a locked room... the law abiding citizen doesn't live as long. Of course the reality is, being a serial killer is evolved as the exception rather than the rule in humans, because, with numbers not making enemies is a more succesful strategy than always making them.
Socialism without an underlying set of morals beyond socialism is doomed to fail. It invites end-justifies-means to implement socialism, which taints it beyond repair.
Then what were they?
Agree, but socialism doesn't have to be Marxist. Like, Rojava is pretty rad and that's, if anything, just the most modern iteration of libertarian socialism.
I know, but that's slowly changing. And I think that's more true among the most politically engaged people. But that's true of every group, if you go to in person conservative groups you'll only find the worst of the worst on the farthest right. I'm not convinced it's not the same phenomenon with socialists. But idk, I'm just talking out of my ass at this point honestly.
But that inherently means liberal, no? I was under the impression that social democrats supported private ownership of the means of production. If you believe that should be illegal doesn't that mean you can't be a social Democrat?
Fair enough, I guess I find myself in an awkward place between socdem and socialist then, but the more radical end of the reformist spectrum fits. Not sure what to call that, other than reformism vaguely inspired by more libertarian socialism and sub-municipalism.