Quote Originally Posted by Deborski View Post
It is said that Lewis Carroll based his classic "Through the Looking Glass" on his own travels in Russia. I am not sure it was ever confirmed if this is true, but it would not surprise me in the slightest and in fact, in that context, Alice and the Cheshire Cat and the Mad Hatter all take on an even fuller dimension.
Really, he went to Russia?! Had no idea. I don't really see any correlation between Russia and Through the Looking Glass, but I'm not exactly a literature connoisseur.

Quote Originally Posted by Deborski View Post
I have a stack of issues dating back to the Brezhnev and Krushchev eras and they actually pointed out the flaws with capitalism fairly accurately. In fact, I was leafing through some of them recently and it struck me that the cartoons in them are still quite relevant today. In fact, maybe especially relevant.
I had the experience growing up of being subjected to a LOT of left wing stuff, anti-americanism etc. You don't have to be from the USSR for that, really. Once I started becoming aware of it, quite young, I totally resented having it subtly and not-so-subtly in-your-face from TV, radio and papers. Not because it wasn't true, but because it was tiresome and patronising.
And the social pressure was frustrating; woe to the child who'd not fully play along with the topics du jour in school. Peace, solidarity, anti-imperialism etc, etc. Oh well,

And I eventually (90s) I rejected it quite thoroughly, becoming a neo liberal, pro EU etc.

The trouble, like you say, is that the things the leftist people, are/were saying, is true. It's happening.
It can be substantiated, observed and it's going on right under your nose, whether you have a problem with it, or think it's acceptable. It's not a conspiracy or a daydream. That's why it's so hard to ignore it.

Whether revolution, and the ideas the Marx & co promoted are the actual solution, is another problem though. Perhaps they could diagnose the illness but their proposed cure was ultimately never going to work, or the price/flipside is too unacceptable.

In terms of the opinions stuffed down your throat, it's just been a U-turn, and instead of solidarity and all that, it's now globalism, political correctness, consumerism and myths about the utter evilness of, for example, communism. And now, just like then, some people drank the kool-aid [this is my fave american expression!] and will think exactly what media wants them to think.

For Russians though, the situation is so extreme! From Socialism and communist ideology for real, via "wild East" years and cowboy capitalism, to Putin's Russia of nationalism, conservative values and cronyist economy. One of the many things that makes Russia so fascinating. And probably the whole journey is also what makes Russians so cynical.