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[–] [S] 44 points 8 months ago (15 children)

Explanation: After overthrowing the Tsar in 1917, the Russian provisional government made preparations to hold the first free and fair elections Russia had ever experienced. Once the votes were in and the legislators seated in early 1918, it was apparent that the Socialist Revolutionaries (SRs) had won a near-majority, with aligned parties giving them a comfortable majority. The Bolsheviks had less than a quarter of the vote.

... the Bolsheviks decided to dissolve the national assembly by force, and take control of the government themselves, kicking off a ~4 year long civil war, which they, unfortunately, won, establishing the Soviet Union as an oligarchic bureaucratic despotism.

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  • [–] 13 points 8 months ago (14 children)

    And leftists are still stupid enough to trust commies today.

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  • [–] [S] 25 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    It happens far too often, certainly true.

    In the defense of leftists, though, I feel obligated to point out that this is a very commonly cited example of why 'Vanguard' parties made up of small groups of elites who are sure THEY know how to get to socialism (unlike the UNWASHED MASSES) are untrustworthy.

    When socialism arrives, it'll arrive by the people's hands, not against their will.

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  • [–] 6 points 8 months ago* (4 children)

    Those bastards aren't real communists and never were. Do not allow traitorous autocrats to redefine what communism means. They are traitors to the cause, nothing more.

    Same goes for tankies of all flavors. Such as ML tankies.

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  • [–] 5 points 8 months ago (2 children)

    When we can find a single instance of communism that didn't devolve into an auth hellscape I'll believe you.

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  • [–] 5 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    Those are not communism. At all. An autocrat using the language of communism is not communism.

    If I say I'm a gay fish, does that make me a gay fish? If no, then some dumbass country led by a ruler that you often cannot question, is by definition not communist, no matter what they call themselves.

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  • [–] 2 points 8 months ago

    It works the same way how capitalism is the pathway to fascism. If you give people a government structure that allows them to consolidate and abuse power, they will do so because humans are shitbirds. This is basic humanity 101.

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  • [–] [S] 1 point 8 months ago

    I mean, they are traitors to the cause, but other than how hilarious it is to call them out as indistinguishable from right-wing bootlickers except for their team colors... at some point, we do have to accept that there are fucking lunatics who are in broad alignment with our goals. Such is unavoidable in any ideology.

    MLs do, nominally, want communism. In the same way that both mercantilists and alchemists want gold - only one has a realistic conception of how to get there, while the other is busy chanting magic formulae and blindly following superstitious cults, but they are both definitely gold bugs.

    In that sense, I don't begrudge them the shared usage of the word 'Communist', especially considering the widespread usage during the SovUnion's existence - so long as we can emphasize that their red-painted fascist lunacy is not the only 'Communism'.

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  • [–] 3 points 8 months ago (5 children)

    What is your political belief system?

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  • [–] 8 points 8 months ago (4 children)
  • [–] 3 points 8 months ago (2 children)

    So... we're just getting an empty criticism of communism without being given a reference of what a "better" belief system may look like.

    mkay.

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