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Alternatives to congress
(lemmy.world)
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this post was submitted on 16 Sep 2024
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Without a specific page or chapter number, I'm assuming you're pointing to the only paragraph that mentions "centralism". It just seems to repeat what I already replied to.
I'll explain further, then: At first, the lower body elects the upper body. The upper body decides everything. Then:
I'm referring to the book itself, you have a lot of confused ideas about the USSR itself. Blackshirts and Reds is another great "Myth Debunker."
Wrong. The lower bodies also decide things among themselves particular to issues specific to them, and elect delegates for the larger area. Imagine a soviet of a single factory, then a soviet of a city composed of delegates from all of the factories, then a regional soviet, etc. Each rung governs their respective areas with matters exclusive to them. These were workers with instant recall elections if needed.
Because the lower bodies vote on matters pertaining to themselves that don't affect others.
That's not really accurate. Diverse opinions were held and discussed, what was purged was liberalism and fascism, which were dangerous currents deliberately infiltrating the USSR, as well as wreckers like Trotsky who collaborated with fascists and liberals.
Secondly, Stalin fought against beaurocracy, it wasn't until WWII where the population was decimated and the USSR needed to be rebuilt that a beaurocratic class of "career politicians" began to take hold.
Again, I suggest reading more on the subject, you seem to be confused on the basic structure itself, causing other confusions to spring forth.
I appreciate that you're taking the time to politely respond.
Obviously, the lower bodies decide more minutiae and local stuff and can't go against the upper bodies' decisions, and that goes for pretty much every democracy, just like you said. I was talking about specifically the Supreme Soviet and its Presidium, which could also be abstracted into the presidiums of every soviet. I think that's the source of our confusion here. I'm looking at principles in making wide-ranging decisions, which are the things that can cause division. Not sure why I said üpper body".
Ah yes, known liberals and fascists such as the other two people who ruled with Stalin and whoever believed in genetics. If diverse opinions were allowed, what was the entire focus on eradicating factionalism?
Could you cite some sources or elaborate on fighting against bureaucracy? Why was bureaucracy established and why did it remain after the war? How wasn't Stalin before Lenin's death a career politician?
I have to sign off now until tomorrow.
The general line according to Stalin (e.g. in "Foundations of Leninism") was that there should be thorough and exhaustive debates among those with differing opinions within the Party but that, once a resolution was reached by a vote following the debate, further fighting on the topic as a Party official was essentially a form of wrecking, though of course matters were revisited periodically (for good and for ill). Even if you disagreed, you were then expected to go along with whatever the motion was in the interest of the integrity of the Party as an actor. This was "Diversity of opinion, unity of action" [edit: I got the motto slightly wrong, see cowbee]
I don't really have a developed opinion on it (I guess I should have left this to cowbee for that reason) but I definitely have sympathy for this approach when I look at it in the context of glory hounds like Trotsky being constantly contrarian for the sake of political brinkmanship instead of, you know, acting in good faith and believing in things besides that he should be top dog. There shouldn't be tolerance for people like that, and the long-term harm that Trotsky's opposition bloc did to the SU is hard to fathom.
You added good context to what I'm saying, good comment comrade.
Democratic Centralism can be hard to swallow if analyzed through an Anarchist lense, but ultimately the results and necessity of the matter speak for itself. Diversity in thought, unity in action.
Trotskyism is especially dangerous because it's essentially wrecker Marxism. Trotsky is often shown in a sympathetic light in western media and narratives, and prevents actual radicalization. New Leftists see a supposed Socialist with similar critiques of the USSR as the US State Department, and that's a far more comfortable pill to swallow in the west.
There's a difference between wrecking and having different opinions.
Losurdo's Stalin: Critique of a Black Legend is a good book going over this. Stalin agreed with Lenin about how the beauracracy could grow, so he actively tried to combat it. He even edited records of meetings to reduce his applause and increase it for others. Stalin was elected, yes, but the beauracracy wasn't solidified until Kruschev. The necessity of rebuilding infrastructure and a destroyed public led to a rise in opportunism that was completed under Gorbachev, introducing new fixtures of government that stood against the rest, harming the centralized system and resulting in dissolution.
I'd read the books I linked if I were you.
And Mendelian genetics wrecks the party with the unhinged liberalism of accurate science supported by half of Pavlov's students?
As for your books, you may realize that I am a bit short on time and do not have the energy to read 4 entire novel-length books instead of specific pages or chapters.
In the beginning of the USSR, there was legitimate struggle against bourgeois science, like race science. Genetics was unfortunately overly combatted in the crossfire. The USSR was still far more dedicated to scientific pursuit than Capitalist Countries, and managed to get a man to space before even the US.
Then just read Blackshirts and Reds. If your time is so short that you can't read even 1 short book on the topic of dispelling myths about the USSR, then your time is too short to argue with people online about it too, no offense. Blackshirts and Reds is recommended reading for new Marxists in general because it's short and to the point, and written in common American language without requiring having read books and books of Marxist theory to understand.
Okay, I'll try that book when I get home and get back later.
Great!
Let me start by saying that the general idea of this response is fair, but I checked and I think it's only 3 books, two of which are novella-length at best (I think the Losurdo one is a bit longer). I would furthermore like to encourage you to click on the link and glance at The Soviet World because it has a nice hyperlinked table of contents and most of the individual sections, clearly labeled by topic, are just a few pages each.
Showing nuance, nice.