Question by Knowledge Is Power: If the USSR never had the Cold War would they have advanced passed socialism and into communism?
I think communists that have been in power only want socialism and not communism since they would have to give up control if they did which is unlucky for people with that type of power. Thoughts?
Answers and Views:
Answer by UCLA Bruins Student
As my friend tells me communist regimes are 100% socialist with never the intention of having communism. So no.
Read all the answers in the comments.
What do you think?
brucec83 says
I think Marx missed his timeline and a few economic stages. He also thought that Capitalism would never give in to Socialist reforms without violent revolution, so it is interesting that the societies that had violent revolutions were essentially feudal agrarian ones and the industrial ones he thought would revolt, compromised and became Social Democracies.
He thought we'd have worldwide communism by now, passing directly through Feudalism, Capitalism, Socialism. I think we have several economic stages that we have not even imagined (such as our current Global Mixed Free Market system) to go through before the state withers away and society becomes classless and consentual.
Material wealth must lose its meaning before you can have true Communism. Startrek matter replicators and holodecks or the second coming of Christ could do it. Watch China.
Wolfie says
The Russian Revolution was defeated by 1924. The defeat came as a result civil war instigated by wealthy Russians and supported by Western capitalist nations.
Russia was a socially backward country at the time. The largest class was the peasantry and the bourgeoisie were small, weak and cowardly. The proletariat, although small, were able to lead the revolution. After the German revolution kicked off in 1918 all things looked possible. Unfortunately the defeat in Russia allowed Stalin to seize control and institute a system of state capitalism. This meant that Communism was NEVER implemented in Russia…or anywhere else, for that matter.
In answer to your Q, Lenin was always very clear that communism could not survive in one country. Communism, like capitalism, needs to be an international system. Capitalism began life in the 'City States' of Italy but because it was isolated, and tried to exist in a Europe that was dominated by feudalism, it was very short lived. Even without the Cold War the Soviet Union would have needed at least one other Western capitalist nation to have a successful revolution in order to survive.
Gerald Cline says
Karl Marx was a utopian dreamer with ideas that were never practical in the real world. The Communists of the twentieth-century got about as close as it was possible to the utopian dream. It resulted in a distopian nightmare. Human nature makes "true Communism" impossible, and this was proved time and again during the last century.