Thread: Is Russia a democracy? Плюс то же о некоторых других странах

I'm no expert but it seems to me that Karl Marx and his "Proletarians of all countries, unite!" didn't have in mind the middle-classes or Germany alone... Had it been the case, surely the USSR wouldn't have stolen the motto.

Originally Posted by Lady Maria

I'm no expert but it seems to me that Karl Marx and his "Proletarians of all countries, unite!" didn't have in mind the middle-classes or Germany alone... Had it been the case, surely the USSR wouldn't have stolen the motto.

I don't think they took it so much. The problem that Russia had after the proper revolution, was that Marx theory didn't fit Russian conditions. Marx said the socialist revolutions will happen in industrialised states. His entire philosophy was based on that. But Russia was not industrialised at the time. So Lenin refined/tweaked it to fit the Russian conditions (Leninism).
And when they implemented socialism in Eastern Europe, they did it a lot more slowly and methodically, not in a dramatic revolutionary fashion.

Many people who were communists totally rejected the USSR because it had a motto which went something like "socialism in one country first", and said to defend the accomplishments with violence if necessary. I think that essentially goes against Marxism.

Marx was an internationalist and didn't believe in nation states or national armies. So there was quite a clash between what the USSR did, and textbook Marxism, early on. But some Communists thought Lenin was more practical than Marx, and became Leninists. There is also quite a big difference between Leninism and Maoism, but I must say I don't know precisely what that is/was about.

Meanwhile, interestingly, no industrial state has had a sponteneous socialist revolution unless you count election victories in a few South American states recently. It might still happen in the future, but as of right now, it looks like Marx theories remain theoretical...

In my childhood I used to wait for the bus home, next to a socialist bookshop, and lord almighty, were these people prolific writers, or what! They had exhibitions in the window with all books by so-and-so and it was mind blowing how much these political philosophers and statesmen managed to write. Anyone who's anyone in socialism has written at least 10 books and for every book there are 10 more books discussing the original. I wonder if anyone reads that stuff anymore?

Oops I just realised that this is a deviation from the topic. I suppose it might have to be deleted.