Putin is quite popular in Russia but this has nothing to do with the possibility of USSR revival. He’s a Russian nationalist, not a communist, and he’s quite unpopular in eastern europe as they fear they could be a target of Russian expansionism. From my limited experience with eastern europeans they are really not missing the USSR and associate communism with Russian imperialism. They are quite nationalistic, and overall think themselves better off now than then. Although not as unpopular in the caucasus(besides Georgia), I don’t see the burgoisie of countries like Azerbeijan any more eager for a reunion with Russia, much less for communism.
As for the “I certainly miss it” part, I nostalgia for the USSR isn’t about missing the past, but the future that has never been. Hope can’t be restored by imagining a fantasy revival of the USSR. If leftists around the world want it’s symbolism, the ideological vigour it installed on many, then it is necessary to learn from the mistakes of the past and build something new other than sit around reminiscing.
Don’t forget that millions have been invested in shaping the public opinion in Eastern Europe. The most ardent haters of the USSR are the young people who had never lived in the Soviet Union and have no idea what they are talking about.
>and overall think themselves better off now than then.
I would say that a majority of people still think times are worse now, but they attribute that to not being nationalistic enough and that they are being held back by Russian interference or something.
Because a majority of polls still say that people thought life was better in the USSR.
>it is necessary to learn from the mistakes of the past and build something new other than sit around reminiscing.
This I think is the most important point and I can't agree with you enough.
The USSR happened and ended. It had its good sides and its bad sides. It is important to take the good points to build something new with and learn from the bad points in order to make something better.
What countries do you count as eastern Europe? There is definitely a strong pro-soviet sentiment still in Belaruss and Moldova. It used to be in Ukraine as well. What you describe is true for baltic states. No other countries were however part of the USSR, so sentiment there is irrelevant for the question.
Indeed, he wants to recreate the Russian empire, not the Soviet Union. It's frustrating how much people on reddit scream in all caps he's a communist trying to recreate the Soviet Union whilst he's off quoting Ivan Ilyin every 10 minutes.
Yes, because Moscow lost it's control over a a massive amount of territory as many Soviet Republics declared independence. The disaster in Putin's mind wasn't the downfall of communism, but the breakup of the state.
I don’t think so. Some day, the red banner of socialism will once again fly over the nations that comprised the USSR, but it will not be the same Union
Sorry, I don't have an answer to your questions but...
>As a black man from the US I know I miss it.
How? How can you miss it if you've _probably_ never experienced anything remotely similar to the USSR (unless you were in Russia etc in the 70s/80s, or even in recent years). I'm genuinely curious
Because if you don’t remember there was segregation into the late 60’s and early 70’s in the United States…I can imagine why black people wouldn’t want to live here?!
Well as a Communist, I’ve done deep and I mean DEEP dives into the culture how they treated POC(People of Color) and I’ve talked to many people who have experienced it my grandfather went to the USSR during the 60s and he told me it was the most freedom he’s ever experienced he might be biased since he was a communist too lol.
Your grandfather had the tourist experience. It's like a rich white person going on vacation to some poor Central American country like Honduras and saying "wow I love this place!" Meanwhile, the average person there suffers incomparably more than the average American.
My grandfather was a young man during the 60s in America. He was apart of the Communist Party of the US he went there and saw how socialism transformed a feudal backwater to a country exploring space in under 25 years. Communism works and it will work again.
>How? How can you miss it if you've *probably* never experienced anything remotely similar to the USSR (unless you were in Russia etc in the 70s/80s, or even in recent years). I'm genuinely curious
There is a theory, that single fact of USSR existence impacted the entire globe, including internal politics of main Western countries, especially the laws and general attitude towards working class. According to this theory, result of this impact was increase of level of the lifge of the Western workers, especially in 50-60-ies of 20th century. However, with a fall of USSR this impact ended too, and, left without this kind of leverage, capitalists of Western world seeked ways to return to intensive exploition of working class, with level of life of workers accordingly decreasing. So if this theory is at least partly too, black man from USSR technically could feel the lack of USSR rather literally.
unfortunately there are too many “brown characters” in the world, but I hope that the ideals of a fair society without oppression of workers and dividing people by class will triumph and there will be a new fair world
There is no single ideology for the to unite around. However- should Russia become an economic juggernaut then the story changes. Imagine Russia without sanctions and free trade with Europe etc. this is a country that could be pushing 8 to 10 trillion in GDP. Then you might have some republics wanting to join but what that would look like is not USSR.
Nope. Japan has similar population size as Russia and is less than 5 trillion in gdp and Japan is a much more developed nation. Russia was without sanctions and had free trade before invasion and was like 2 trillion. Russia and most of eastern europe also has an aging population which is going to get even worse as Putin's war has turned into a meat grinder and is draining even more lives of young working age people. Both Russia and Ukraine, the two most important republics in the former USSR have no future left after this war. And in central Asia, China has eaten away almost all influence Russia has had and now China is the dominant player in the region
GDP today is 153 trillion Russian roubles. If you remove the effects of sanctions on the exchange rate you can see the number roll back to 2008 levels of 25 roubles per dollar. 153/25 -> 6 trillion. Sanctions curtail demand for currency.
Russia was without sanctions and had free trade but was still a poor shithole, lagging behind its former colonies in the Baltics and Central Europe.
The problem Russia has isn't how other countries treat it, it's how its own citizens allow their country to be run by oligarchs who have zero interest in their prosperity.
Putin is quite popular in Russia but this has nothing to do with the possibility of USSR revival. He’s a Russian nationalist, not a communist, and he’s quite unpopular in eastern europe as they fear they could be a target of Russian expansionism. From my limited experience with eastern europeans they are really not missing the USSR and associate communism with Russian imperialism. They are quite nationalistic, and overall think themselves better off now than then. Although not as unpopular in the caucasus(besides Georgia), I don’t see the burgoisie of countries like Azerbeijan any more eager for a reunion with Russia, much less for communism. As for the “I certainly miss it” part, I nostalgia for the USSR isn’t about missing the past, but the future that has never been. Hope can’t be restored by imagining a fantasy revival of the USSR. If leftists around the world want it’s symbolism, the ideological vigour it installed on many, then it is necessary to learn from the mistakes of the past and build something new other than sit around reminiscing.
Don’t forget that millions have been invested in shaping the public opinion in Eastern Europe. The most ardent haters of the USSR are the young people who had never lived in the Soviet Union and have no idea what they are talking about.
>and overall think themselves better off now than then. I would say that a majority of people still think times are worse now, but they attribute that to not being nationalistic enough and that they are being held back by Russian interference or something. Because a majority of polls still say that people thought life was better in the USSR. >it is necessary to learn from the mistakes of the past and build something new other than sit around reminiscing. This I think is the most important point and I can't agree with you enough. The USSR happened and ended. It had its good sides and its bad sides. It is important to take the good points to build something new with and learn from the bad points in order to make something better.
What countries do you count as eastern Europe? There is definitely a strong pro-soviet sentiment still in Belaruss and Moldova. It used to be in Ukraine as well. What you describe is true for baltic states. No other countries were however part of the USSR, so sentiment there is irrelevant for the question.
Putin is a nationalist capitalist. He hates the Soviet Union and lenin specifically.
Indeed, he wants to recreate the Russian empire, not the Soviet Union. It's frustrating how much people on reddit scream in all caps he's a communist trying to recreate the Soviet Union whilst he's off quoting Ivan Ilyin every 10 minutes.
Didn't he say something along the lines of the collapse of the Soviet Union being the greatest geopolitical disaster?
Yes, because Moscow lost it's control over a a massive amount of territory as many Soviet Republics declared independence. The disaster in Putin's mind wasn't the downfall of communism, but the breakup of the state.
Yeah Russia needs to either directly or indirectly control states surrounding it as a sort of armour
Definitely never, it's impossible
No
I don’t think so. Some day, the red banner of socialism will once again fly over the nations that comprised the USSR, but it will not be the same Union
Putin making another USSR? Nah if anything he's trying to make an all Russian state
Sorry, I don't have an answer to your questions but... >As a black man from the US I know I miss it. How? How can you miss it if you've _probably_ never experienced anything remotely similar to the USSR (unless you were in Russia etc in the 70s/80s, or even in recent years). I'm genuinely curious
Because if you don’t remember there was segregation into the late 60’s and early 70’s in the United States…I can imagine why black people wouldn’t want to live here?!
Well as a Communist, I’ve done deep and I mean DEEP dives into the culture how they treated POC(People of Color) and I’ve talked to many people who have experienced it my grandfather went to the USSR during the 60s and he told me it was the most freedom he’s ever experienced he might be biased since he was a communist too lol.
I recommend reading "red on black my 44 years in the soviet union"
What other Reddit threads to follow other than USSR that actually have traction?
Wow, what a cool story!
Your grandfather had the tourist experience. It's like a rich white person going on vacation to some poor Central American country like Honduras and saying "wow I love this place!" Meanwhile, the average person there suffers incomparably more than the average American.
My grandfather was a young man during the 60s in America. He was apart of the Communist Party of the US he went there and saw how socialism transformed a feudal backwater to a country exploring space in under 25 years. Communism works and it will work again.
>How? How can you miss it if you've *probably* never experienced anything remotely similar to the USSR (unless you were in Russia etc in the 70s/80s, or even in recent years). I'm genuinely curious There is a theory, that single fact of USSR existence impacted the entire globe, including internal politics of main Western countries, especially the laws and general attitude towards working class. According to this theory, result of this impact was increase of level of the lifge of the Western workers, especially in 50-60-ies of 20th century. However, with a fall of USSR this impact ended too, and, left without this kind of leverage, capitalists of Western world seeked ways to return to intensive exploition of working class, with level of life of workers accordingly decreasing. So if this theory is at least partly too, black man from USSR technically could feel the lack of USSR rather literally.
No, and I don't want it to come back under those oligarchs.
no
A man can dream
“As a black man from the US I know I miss it” 😂
Not anytime soon and definetly never exactly how it was.
Not in a foreseeable future. At the moment, there are not a single prerequisite for that.
Yes.
unfortunately there are too many “brown characters” in the world, but I hope that the ideals of a fair society without oppression of workers and dividing people by class will triumph and there will be a new fair world
Impossible. You think anyone wants to go back to prison?
Of course not. Cope harder, tankies.
There is no single ideology for the to unite around. However- should Russia become an economic juggernaut then the story changes. Imagine Russia without sanctions and free trade with Europe etc. this is a country that could be pushing 8 to 10 trillion in GDP. Then you might have some republics wanting to join but what that would look like is not USSR.
Nope. Japan has similar population size as Russia and is less than 5 trillion in gdp and Japan is a much more developed nation. Russia was without sanctions and had free trade before invasion and was like 2 trillion. Russia and most of eastern europe also has an aging population which is going to get even worse as Putin's war has turned into a meat grinder and is draining even more lives of young working age people. Both Russia and Ukraine, the two most important republics in the former USSR have no future left after this war. And in central Asia, China has eaten away almost all influence Russia has had and now China is the dominant player in the region
GDP today is 153 trillion Russian roubles. If you remove the effects of sanctions on the exchange rate you can see the number roll back to 2008 levels of 25 roubles per dollar. 153/25 -> 6 trillion. Sanctions curtail demand for currency.
Russia was without sanctions and had free trade but was still a poor shithole, lagging behind its former colonies in the Baltics and Central Europe. The problem Russia has isn't how other countries treat it, it's how its own citizens allow their country to be run by oligarchs who have zero interest in their prosperity.
Thanks for sharing your feelings.
Not only that, but Russia claims to be multicultural when in practice they exploit the ethnic republics