Russia going socialist again would certainly strengthen the anti-imperialist movement dramatically, and would give quite a lot of momentum on the western left. The fall of the USSR dramatically raised global disparity, as socialism wasn’t seen as a major threat:
Yep, that’s a very good point. The USSR was a boogeyman for Western governments that created the rise of modern social democracy. Which does reduce material harm… but I’d prefer for us to do a fucking revolution already and have real socialism instead.
I’m just not entirely convinced that Russia alone would have the resources and impact that the old USSR had before Gorbachev wrecked everything. The October Revolution was a very unique and complicated set of material conditions, and the Great Patriotic War was an important factor for all parties involved. There was a lot to the Cold War that relied on the Warsaw Pact as a geopolitical reality, that a socialist modern Russia simply wouldn’t have to the same power levels.
All that said, it is truly none of our business, and it is great that they even still have a communist party at all, and that that party is even a shadow of what the CPSU was.
All good points, but my point is also that the presense of the USSR bolstered socialist revolution globally as well. We can do it, with or without a socialist Russia, but bringing back socialism will dramatically improve our chances.
That it most certainly did! Large, powerful socialist countries, that aren’t particularly isolationist, certainly do that. After all, Western communist parties were a lot less useless when the Comintern was a thing. And while Lenin’s predicted revolutionary wave or domino effect theory may have ended up dead in the water after the October Revolution, it’s probably true that the more places we can make socialism happen in, the easier each further revolution will be to make happen.
Russia going socialist again would certainly strengthen the anti-imperialist movement dramatically, and would give quite a lot of momentum on the western left. The fall of the USSR dramatically raised global disparity, as socialism wasn’t seen as a major threat:
Yep, that’s a very good point. The USSR was a boogeyman for Western governments that created the rise of modern social democracy. Which does reduce material harm… but I’d prefer for us to do a fucking revolution already and have real socialism instead.
I’m just not entirely convinced that Russia alone would have the resources and impact that the old USSR had before Gorbachev wrecked everything. The October Revolution was a very unique and complicated set of material conditions, and the Great Patriotic War was an important factor for all parties involved. There was a lot to the Cold War that relied on the Warsaw Pact as a geopolitical reality, that a socialist modern Russia simply wouldn’t have to the same power levels.
All that said, it is truly none of our business, and it is great that they even still have a communist party at all, and that that party is even a shadow of what the CPSU was.
All good points, but my point is also that the presense of the USSR bolstered socialist revolution globally as well. We can do it, with or without a socialist Russia, but bringing back socialism will dramatically improve our chances.
That it most certainly did! Large, powerful socialist countries, that aren’t particularly isolationist, certainly do that. After all, Western communist parties were a lot less useless when the Comintern was a thing. And while Lenin’s predicted revolutionary wave or domino effect theory may have ended up dead in the water after the October Revolution, it’s probably true that the more places we can make socialism happen in, the easier each further revolution will be to make happen.