Post by @Cowbee@lemmy.ml

2026-10-22 10:50 UTC

The ideological struggle that led to the Bolshevik civil war was not one of “authoritarianism” vs. “communism,” it was a war between Stalin’s centrist faction, which had the broadest support within the Bolsheviks at large, as well as Trotsky’s “left-opposition,” which distrusted the peasantry and felt that socialism was impossible without a revolution in western Europe. What changes do you believe those found guilty in the Moscow Trials and purge in general wished to enact that would have made the USSR “communist?”

Replies (1)

@GreenBeard@lemmy.ca 2026-10-22 15:30

Trotsky was kind of on to something, no? Yes, we can all agree that in the short term direct transition to real communism would have been a bridge too far to accomplish in a single generation, especially going from a largely pre-industrial Russia directly to a socialist society. People broadly lack the political will and understanding of how bad capitalism can get until they live under it. That said, there were more effective ways to actually move toward real socialism rather than an iron grip that gradually broke itself with its inefficiency. Unfortunately Stalin and his centrists were exactly the kind of довбойо́би to think they could strong-arm the process. In doing so he ended up undermining the whole project. I honestly do not know that the men murdered in the purge would have had a better answer. But they certainly understood the question a lot better than those holding the “trials.”

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