They got the idea that unions don’t exist under communism, but they glossed over the fact that that is because you don’t need workers to form a block against capital when there is no capital.
The soviet union had unions or just the one involuntary one if I remember correctly, but since it was essentially controlled by the state it wasn’t all that powerful. Cuba today does the same thing.
Should be noted that the soviet union was neither fascist nor communist. Fascism is a form of capitalism, and while many “communist states” (such as china) are capitalist, the SU had a planned economy.
I had one tankie try to convince me that since there was some limited workplace democracy in the SU this meant that workplaces were democratic, but if that is all that is required then I’m happy to announce that plenty of liberal democracies today are socialist.
Edit: oh woops the fascism vs planned economy thing was intended for another comment
The Soviet Union, rather than being just a planned economy, was an empire. It was a Russian empire that used Marxism as a front for its imperialist actions.
It’s more than something they did; it’s central to understanding how their economy functioned. With no imperialism, their controlled markets wouldn’t succeed. The exertion of state violence on member states for the benefit of Russians wasn’t a bug or inefficiency, but a feature.
They got the idea that unions don’t exist under communism, but they glossed over the fact that that is because you don’t need workers to form a block against capital when there is no capital.
The soviet union had unions or just the one involuntary one if I remember correctly, but since it was essentially controlled by the state it wasn’t all that powerful. Cuba today does the same thing.
Should be noted that the soviet union was neither fascist nor communist. Fascism is a form of capitalism, and while many “communist states” (such as china) are capitalist, the SU had a planned economy.
I had one tankie try to convince me that since there was some limited workplace democracy in the SU this meant that workplaces were democratic, but if that is all that is required then I’m happy to announce that plenty of liberal democracies today are socialist.
Edit: oh woops the fascism vs planned economy thing was intended for another comment
The Soviet Union, rather than being just a planned economy, was an empire. It was a Russian empire that used Marxism as a front for its imperialist actions.
It certainly did a bunch of imperialism, yeah
It’s more than something they did; it’s central to understanding how their economy functioned. With no imperialism, their controlled markets wouldn’t succeed. The exertion of state violence on member states for the benefit of Russians wasn’t a bug or inefficiency, but a feature.