Image Copyrighted by Samuel Blanc under Creative Commons License
Commenter Empror Penguin wrote in response to a recent post:
“Thus far history teaches us that to a greater or lesser extent a coercive hierachy always emerges in states that have had revolutions, exploits the people and most often screws up the economy.”
He further says that “Building the new society gives the select few the chance to exert a totally unprecedented tyranny over the lifestyles, habits and modes of thought of the populace as they try to bring the new society out from the womb of the old, a tyranny very rarely mirrored in regimes steadfast in their devotion to the ideals of their forefathers”.
And finally suggests that “people can claim it has never been tried (it has of course but seeing as it was rubbish [socialism] is redefined as not rubbish and thus rubbish [socialist] regimes were not [socialist])”.
Since this kind of objection is quite common, I figure I might devote a post to talking about the USSR and the other countries in its cru bloc. Read the rest of this entry »
