askchapo

I have to admit I'm a little nervous asking this. But how can one read more truthfully about what happened in Soviet Union with regards to gulags with forced labor and purges or executions of innocent people? I say 'innocent' because I know reactionaries got 'caught up' in that and, frankly, I don't care. But it's hard to know how far that went and how it impacted innocent people, as many people have said that it did and Khrushchev mentioned in his (in)famous speech.

For the record, I don't think Stalin was total evil Communist bad guy and that the 'wrong enemy' was defeated in WW2 and other crypto-fascist interpretations. I'm not saying that because some innocent people were killed under Stalin that therefore Stalin is evil, the same critique can be laid against the US (the suffering of innocents in its own prison system, for example) and it is more than likely far more guilty. I also don't really think Holodomor was an 'intentional genocide' or whatever, I know that is overblown by fascists. And I know lots of good happened in Soviet Union for common people but I also see it as a flawed system (only natural given its context in the world, no hate there) with a flawed leader (also natural given human beings) but how can Leftists better understand what happened with regards to the use of violent repression by the USSR? Or how is it reconciled, for lack of a better word, with Stalin as a leader to still uphold?

Among anarchists it's easy to just dismiss, and sometimes there is truth in the critiques, but I'm trying to also grow politically after many years so understanding what happened to dissidents and non-reactionaries is important to me in my understanding of how to view Stalin, in particular. When I was a kid I had a flag of the USSR in my room, then I found myself in anarchist spaces and highly critical of USSR, now I'm older and less idealistic and I know things are messy and it's honestly a miracle that Communism even had the chance it did with USSR despite flaws so I'm trying to understand it and honor it better.

I don't know if that was a clear question, sorry, kinda not doing great right now so I'm having a hard time formulating this while also assuring that I'm not a raging ultra (not anymore anyway) nor lib about it but would love to hear about this.

I cross-post like mad to other Lemmys for exactly moments like these.

This is a good idea.

why's my hog so fat

i have a theory it may have eaten all of the grain

I have a question that I hope some of you will entertain. This is not meant as a criticism, but rather a sincere curiosity on my part. While there are numerous examples of how things can or could function in socialist societies, I am curious about anarchist societies. There appear to be various instances where there is no common answer, even within anarchist circles (as far as I know). Please note that I am not an anarchist (yet), so I would love to be enlightened.

How does healthcare look under anarchism, especially on an industrial large scale? How do you decide what gets build like lets say you need more energy how do you take care of that.I understand that this might seem like an abstract question, but when looking at socialist societies, there are examples of how things 'could' be done. However, I have no idea how things like that might look in an anarchist commune of California, for example.

Are there any reading materials on concrete ways how anarchist societies could function in modern times? I am aware that we have anarchist comrades, and I would love to learn more about it. Basically I think Anarchism sounds really cool but I have a hard time wrapping my head about how a functioning anarchist society would/could look and operate. Like are there books about bureaucracy under Anarchism ?

Hggnnnhnhm

Where can I learn about China's recent economic history? I'm particularly interested in Deng Xiaoping's reforms and how they managed to resist being exploited like Africa is being right now despite opening up its markets.

I shall help as well.

How does a socialist system regulate the distribution of goods that cant be distributed, like lakefront housing. There's only so much room for it and more people want it than could have it

What's the difference between communism and anarchism? It seems like the end goals are similar.