this post was submitted on 30 Oct 2023
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1923?
Lenin's body lays in the mausoleum on the Red Square for the last 99 years. Impersonators of him and Stalin walk around in their daily routine, asking money for photoes with them. In a shop not far from them, you can purchaze chinese merchandize with a soviet, russian flags, as well as with a monarchist-sympatising one, even though Romanovs are as dead as they were back then. Some items cost over a thousand of rubles, a sum that was enough to buy a factory - and that's after two recent denomonations. Pretty good that these crowds of international tourists don't count their money being there, these prices can easily drive someone insane.
See, in 1923 "the USSR fails" wouldn't surprise people, but "the USSR is a great power and also fails and also is still locally popular" would be hella disorienting.
Why do I picture confused Trotsky, going WTF in his glasses? Yes, it's going to last 70-so years in spite of your pessimism, no, you aren't a part of it and assasinated in Mexico, yes, this georgian chud is as power-hungry as he looks, no, unions won't become the waifu of proletariat, but yes, after the fall of Stalin you'd be pretty much reabilitated and some canadians would even direct a movie about rebelious youngsters named after you.
You couldn't buy a factory for rubles in 1923...
NEP was a thing though. Very limited and tightly controlled, but possible. Both NEPmen and foreign capitalists had a brief window while economy was healing.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/NEPman
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_concessions_in_the_USSR
I don't think one could be safe throwing them around like that though. Being big probably meant you have a particular relationship with local administration who don't find you too capitalistic.