Over 100 years ago, Russia became core of USSR and the pioneer of international struggle for workers’ liberation, poverty lifting, enlightenment, scientific progress and propagation of socialism and communism.
Now – in my humble and maybe biased by liberal propaganda view – Russia is one of the most reactionary, conservative, backward-looking, clerical country. Please excuse me posting some liberal, imperialist shit here, but seems that Kremlin officially admits going far-right: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/kremlin-finally-puts-together-ideology
Speaking locally, there seems to be evidence that Polish far-right party PiS (Law and Justice) is backed by Kremlin as well as the extremely influential priest, Tadeusz Rydzyk, founder and director of the ultra-catholic, conservative Radio Maryja station has/had ties with Polish and Russian security services before the end of People’s Republic of Poland and USSR (sic!). I have some generally available videos, but in Polish, sadly.
Could you tell me how far this is true? If so, what purpose had the late communist states and today’s Russia in spreading far-right propaganda? WTF went wrong?
I’m going to disagree here. While there are right wing elements in Russia and there is a lot of nationalist sentiment, it’s also a fact that communism is still very popular. Polls consistently show that most people see USSR in a positive light, and many people consider the Soviet system to be generally correct. KPRF has a lot of support which appears to be growing. It might not be perfect, but it’s certainly not a far right party.
For example, here’s a recent poll from Russia:
And here’s another poll showing that most people think the Soviet economic system was more correct
Russia is also increasingly falling into China’s orbit and it doesn’t escape people in Russia that going back to a socialist system would result in similar benefits that people in China are currently enjoying.
That is all true, and it is somewhat uplifting. However, there is a long way for Russia to be a communist country, also many people can be just nostalgic about their youth, as well as many people may remember USSR as the late one, where many of ideals of the original Bolsheviks were compromised. Some of them just miss «the strong nation», not the Bolsheviks’ ideals of creating a just workers’ society and propagating it to the whole World. Without clear and not-too-pragmatic socialist leadership, they see a shadow of a shadow. I think KPRF is exactly in this flavour – the flavour of late USSR. But with no serious alternatives, their popularity gives me joy as well.
For sure, there is a long way back to communism, and the path is not at all clear right now. KPRF definitely leaves a lot to be desired, but I do think keeping the idea alive is important. In the end, if Russia manages to find its way back to the light then whatever form communism takes in Russia will be rooted in the current conditions and contradictions. USSR mostly acts as an ideal to inspire people, and as long as this ideal is popular then there is hope.
Considering that, do you think it’s possible for Russia to have successful reforms into social democracy or socialism? I don’t see a revolution on the table.
It’s hard to say to be honest. I don’t think there’s any revolutionary potential either right now. However, I do think that reforms that bring Russia ever closer to Chinese model are indeed likely. In fact, we’ve already seen some of this happen out of necessity after the start of the war. There’s a lot more state control over business now, and state owned enterprise is playing an increasingly central role in the economy.
Also worth noting that a full on counter revolution wasn’t required for transition to capitalism. So, perhaps we will see a similar shift back towards an explicitly socialist system. There is going to be a power vacuum after Putin is gone, and that will be an opportunity for change. I don’t think we’ll be seeing any drastic changes until that time.
I’m not very knowledgeable about either country, but I’m not sure if there’s any benefit in the Russian state having better control of businesses and the economy, if the workers have no control over the state. Maybe it’ll be more efficient, but I don’t see how that efficiency will be directed at people’s needs.
And I hope Putin only dies/retires after NATO is no longer a threat. There’s no country Westerners want to destroy and dismantle as much as Russia, and a shaky transition might be too much.
I think that having an economy organized in this way lowers the barrier for the transition. For example, if the capitalists were overthrown politically, then it just becomes a matter of democratizing state owned workplaces without having to wrestle them away from the oligarchs first. And agree that the best chance to break NATO would be if the current leadership finishes what they started. This is the primary contradiction in the world right now.
KPRF expects a center-left shift in Putin’s politics as Putin has said that capitalism is dead. But so far he hasn’t spoken of an alternative. https://tass.com/economy/1352463
SR (“21st-century socialist” party, 3rd largest party in the Duma) believe that Putin is the only “socialist” in Russia’s leadership (because thanks to him their social laws and initiatives have been accepted) and they support him electorally to reduce the influence of United Russia which also backs him. At the same time, they are also looking to unite with KPRF.
https://www.rbc.ru/politics/25/12/2017/5a40bc719a79470d6296e296?from=newsfeed
Okay, I am manifesting this so hard right now!
I think the system is too stable with Putin at the head, and his personal conservatism trickles down into all of the country’s institutions.
Maybe when he dies there will be an opening for someone or some group with another vision for the country. Nobody who gets thrown around as a potential successor to him now has anywhere near the political capital he has, and would have to perfectly navigate a transition to a post-Putin political system in order to remain on top, something which might be made impossible by conditions outside of their control.
That’s my thought.