this post was submitted on 03 Dec 2024
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Afaik this happened with every single instance of a communist country. Communism seems like a pretty good idea on the surface, but then why does it always become autocratic?

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

What do you think 'Stalinism' is, besides "Marxism but bad" as framed by people who are already staunchly anti-marxist?

I’ve been told by people who hold communist ideals that there’s a difference between Marxism and the brutal totalitarian implementation that was Stalinism in practice. People far more knowledgeable than I am have made this distinction better than I can articulate.

Would you argue there isn’t a distinction?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Marxism isn't a religion, it's a social and political science. It's not a list of rules about what you're supposed to do, it's a method of understanding social and historical forces. The socialist revolution was supposed to happen in Germany according to Marx. When the conditions of the world change the people who are alive then are the ones who have to interpret and react to them. So Stalin was doing Marxism in the context of the 1930's soviet union.