hi sorry to bother you but i was wondering what are some reasons you hate stalin and the ussr so much? this might be a stupid question but im still new to socialism and my sources of information seem to be quite sympathetic to the way of the tank sometimes
Just getting around to this ask, sorry.
One of the most prime reasons is the Soviet-Nazi non-aggression pact, known formally as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. As the description implies, the MRP was a peace treaty signed between the Soviets and Nazis about a week before the invasion of Poland.
The Nazis commenced their invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939, and the Soviet Union theirs on 17 September of the same year (1 day before my birthday, but beside the point). The two nations divided up Poland, and despite having the manpower, Stalin and his officials maintained the secret pact and did not stand up to Germany until Hitler broke the pact with Operation Barabrossa on 22 June 1941.
Stalin himself used antisemitic buzzwords in his dissertations against Trotsky, who was Jewish, or at least of Jewish ancestry. The Soviet state-run press spoke of Jews as âgroveling before the West,â helping âAmerican imperialism,â âslavish imitation of bourgeois cultureâ and âbourgeois aestheticism.â
There was also the suggested âJewish Autonomous Oblastâ, which wouldâve sequestered the Jewish population of the Soviet union in the far east, bordering the bitterly-cold Heilongjiang province in China. From Wikipedia, Stalin and Antisemitism:
To offset the growing Jewish national and religious aspirations of Zionism and to successfully categorize Soviet Jews under Stalinâs nationality policy an alternative to the Land of Israel was established with the help of Komzet and OZET in 1928. The Jewish Autonomous Oblast with the center in Birobidzhan in the Russian Far East was to become a âSoviet Zionâ. Yiddish, rather than âreactionaryâ Hebrew, would be the national language, and proletarian socialist literature and arts would replace Judaism as the quintessence of culture. Despite a massive domestic and international state propaganda campaign, the Jewish population there never reached 30% (as of 2003 it was only about 1.2%). The experiment ground to a halt in the mid-1930s, during Stalinâs first campaign of purges, as local leaders were not spared during the purges.
Iâm not Jewish, but their poor treatment in the Soviet Union is a major reason why I donât stand behind it. The aesthetics might be nice, and we can respect legendary Nazi-killers like Vasiliy Zatzyev and Lyudmila Pavlichenko without looking up to statism or Stalinism.
The origins of the Soviet Union are even stranger. Lenin supported a system of state capitalism, which is what the Soviet Union started as, and what it remained as until its death in 1991. From Lenin, The Tax in Kind:
State capitalism would be a step forward as compared with the present state of affairs in our Soviet Republic. If in approximately six monthsâ time state capitalism became established in our Republic, this would be a great success and a sure guarantee that within a year socialism will have gained a permanently firm hold and will have become invincible in this country.
From Lenin, To the Russian Colony in North America:
The state capitalism, which is one of the principal aspects of the New Economic Policy, is, under Soviet power, a form of capitalism that is deliberately permitted and restricted by the working class. Our state capitalism differs essentially from the state capitalism in countries that have bourgeois governments in that the state with us is represented not by the bourgeoisie, but by the proletariat, who has succeeded in winning the full confidence of the peasantry.Unfortunately, the introduction of state capitalism with us is not proceeding as quickly as we would like it. For example, so far we have not had a single important concession, and without foreign capital to help develop our economy, the latterâs quick rehabilitation is inconceivable.Â
Additionally, the Soviets crushed anarchist movements in the Union. There was no room for error if you were in the Soviet Union- once the anarchists had served their purpose, they were often executed or âdisappearedâ to gulags.
The major example of this is the Kronstadt Rebellion. This originated when Soviet production plummeted and the anarchist sections of the Soviet Baltic Fleet deserted. They formed a new constitution of sorts in Petrograd:
Immediate new elections to the Soviets; the present Soviets no longer express the wishes of the workers and peasants. The new elections should be held by secret ballot, and should be preceded by free electoral propaganda for all workers and peasants before the elections.
Freedom of speech and of the press for workers and peasants, for the Anarchists, and for the Left Socialist parties.
The right of assembly, and freedom for trade union and peasant associations.
The organisation, at the latest on 10 March 1921, of a Conference of non-Party workers, soldiers and sailors of Petrograd, Kronstadt and the Petrograd District.
The liberation of all political prisoners of the Socialist parties, and of all imprisoned workers and peasants, soldiers and sailors belonging to working class and peasant organisations.
The election of a commission to look into the dossiers of all those detained in prisons and concentration camps.
The abolition of all political sections in the armed forces; no political party should have privileges for the propagation of its ideas, or receive State subsidies to this end. In place of the political section, various cultural groups should be set up, deriving resources from the State.
The immediate abolition of the militia detachments set up between towns and countryside.
The equalisation of rations for all workers, except those engaged in dangerous or unhealthy jobs.
The abolition of Party combat detachments in all military groups; the abolition of Party guards in factories and enterprises. If guards are required, they should be nominated, taking into account the views of the workers.
The granting to the peasants of freedom of action on their own soil, and of the right to own cattle, provided they look after them themselves and do not employ hired labour.
We request that all military units and officer trainee groups associate themselves with this resolution.
We demand that the Press give proper publicity to this resolution.
We demand the institution of mobile workersâ control groups.
We demand that handicraft production be authorised, provided it does not utilise wage labour.[7]
The Soviets responded to this by labeling them as members of the Black Hundreds, who⌠didnât actually exist anymore. They then forcibly retook the city from the socialists who had drafted a constitution and set out their goals in a fair manner, and executed upwards of 2000 people.
This is a long ask, and I can go into more detail if you need, but these transgressions are more than enough for most leftists to discard Soviet worship as a whole.
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