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how did Khrushchev f*ck up? (lemmygrad.ml)

submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Dear comrades,

As we all know there are two soviet eras pre and post death of Stalin. We all know Khrushchev basically did a coupe detat, by killing all Stalinists and also by starting the anti Stalin propaganda. We know he was the cause of the Soviet Sino split.

But what exactly caused the split? What policies did he push that were reformist or capitalist in nature ? How exactly did he fuck up? I know the results, but I lack in knowledge of the causes.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Do you have any book recommendation on that topic?

[–] [email protected] 33 points 2 months ago (2 children)

"Socialism Betrayed - Behind the Collapse of the Soviet Union" by Roger Keeran and Thomas Kenny. An absolutely indispensable book to give you a starting point and moderately deep insights.

There are more books, like "The Destruction of the Soviet Economic System - An Insider's History" by Vladimir Kontorovich, I suggest you put those off for later, as they are more detailed but dry, filled with technical language.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago

Thanks! I'm adding them to my reading list.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Thanks comrade

[–] [email protected] 21 points 2 months ago (1 children)

It's not directly about the topic, but there is a lot of context that indirectly shows how Khrushchev and Trotsky both essentially operated as wreckers when it came to anything involving Stalin. I have no respect for Trots anymore after reading the things both Trotsky and Khrushchev said and wrote, not due to having a pro-Stalin bias (I was neutral on him at that time I read these), but because they essentially served neoliberal interests and did everything in their power to dismantle or cripple the Soviet project along the way. In particular, they tried to reverse all of the progress that was attributed to Stalin.

"Stalin: History and Critique of a Black Legend" Domenico Losurdo. It uses references mostly from Stalin's detractors to paint a portrait of him, whether he was good or bad. There are two sources that I think are from two English translations that you can get for free, but I don't really know the differences:

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 months ago

There are two sources that I think are from two English translations that you can get for free, but I don't really know the differences

The one from Iskra Books is most likely better. The one on Prolewiki is the English translation of a Portuguese translation of the original Italian, whereas the one on Iskra Books is a direct English translation from the original Italian.