Not socialist
Not human
And made of faceless men
More seriously, a lawful Social Democratic Party? Not since Nagy. Someone's either set up a really brilliant front organisation, or shat their pants in politburo. Putin makes the former more likely.
Yours,
Sam R.
Think somewhere between how free the Communist Party of Russia is under Putin and how free a United Front party is under the Chinese Communist Party
[1] Leningrad: American and British
[2] Kaliningrad: German
[3] Bukharingrad (founded 1991): American, British, French
[4] Vladivostok: South Korea and Japanese
[5] Odessa: American and British
[6] Atyrau: American**
...
...
[20] Penza Oblast: no significant investor yet
*Note ethnic Russian abroad are major investors in all economic zones
**Almost entirely by Chevron and Exxon oil companies
May, 23, 1996 - Soviet ministry of justice today broke up an attempt at unionization at an American managed Maytag washing machine factory. Per Soviet law, independent trade unions are illegal. Soviet spokesperson for ministry of Justice reaffirms that the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions (VTsSPS) already guarantees and protects rights of workers, thus making independent trade unions "unnecessary, redundant, and counterproductive to the march of socialism and interests of the proletariat"
-Associated Press
...hence the opening of our country to foreign investment is merely following comrade Lenin's exhortation that the capitalists will sell us the rope we us to hang them. The Soviet Union's technology in numerous fields have fallen behind that of the capitalist countries owing to incorrect interpretation of Marxist-Leninism during the era of stagnation. The factories and technological transfers from the western investment will advance the productive forces of the Soviet state and accelerate our march towards Socialism.
-Valentin Pavlov, People's Minister for Finance
Just as Khrushchev cast Stalin as the villain in the 1950s, reform era Soviet politicians used the ghost of Leonid Brezhnev as the scapegoat for every problem the Soviet Union was experiencing in the 1990s. Perhaps surprisingly, people objected less to Pavlov or Ryzkov attacking Brezhnev than to Khrushchev attacking Stalin. Probably because there were really two parts of Stalin: the man who won the Great Patriotic War and gave the Soviets superpower status, and the man who murdered millions of his own citizens. Lots of people remember Stalin only for the former and gloss over the latter. Meanwhile when people think of Brezhnev they just remember the shortages.
As it turns out it's easier to hate the guy who made you stand in line to buy meat than the guy who put your grandparents in the gulags
-ABC interview with Jack F. Matlock Jr, former US ambassador to the Soviet Union, May 1996
...hence the opening of our country to foreign investment is merely following comrade Lenin's exhortation that the capitalists will sell us the rope we us to hang them. The Soviet Union's technology in numerous fields have fallen behind that of the capitalist countries owing to incorrect interpretation of Marxist-Leninism during the era of stagnation. The factories and technological transfers from the western investment will advance the productive forces of the Soviet state and accelerate our march towards Socialism.
As it turns out it's easier to hate the guy who made you stand in line to buy meat than the guy who put your grandparents in the gulags
Quick question, how socially conservative is this USSR, what is the relationship with the ROC like? I'm not surprised with this volte-face vis-a-vis foreign investment if they can sell it as a necessary measure like the NEP was, and the relations with the Weimar Republic in the interwar era.
I wonder what happened with Yugoslavia did it still break up or did it Survive? Anyways I will follow this timeline![]()
That is a pretty odd Marxist interpretation of foreign investment.
That is a pretty odd Marxist interpretation of foreign investment.
"AHEM", shouted the Ukrainians.
"What is socialism and what is Marxism? We were not quite clear about this in the past. Marxism attaches utmost importance to developing the productive forces. We have said that socialism is the primary stage of communism and that at the advanced stage the principle of from each according to his ability and to each according to his needs will be applied. This calls for highly developed productive forces and an overwhelming abundance of material wealth. Therefore, the fundamental task for the socialist stage is to develop the productive forces. The superiority of the socialist system is demonstrated, in the final analysis, by faster and greater development of those forces than under the capitalist system. As they develop, the people's material and cultural life will constantly improve. One of our shortcomings after the founding of the People's Republic was that we didn't pay enough attention to developing the productive forces. Socialism means eliminating poverty. Pauperism is not socialism, still less communism." -Deng Xiaoping
August 17, 2016 - An explosion occurred at the Afghan ministry of defense in Kabul today, killing the suicide bomber as well as 3 Afghan People's Army guards as well as a Soviet liaison officer. This represents the latest round of bombings claimed by Mujaheddin groups aligned against the pro-Soviet government in Kabul over the past month...
-Reuters
...thus the Afghan War ended in a stalemate, with the Soviets paying the higher price than the United States and Pakistan. The Communist government in Kabul, having survived several major Mujaheddin offensives in 1990-1995, was to control the northern non Pashtun parts of Afghanistan through alliances with various warlords. The ethnic Pashtun south has little more than nominal government forces outside of the major city of Kandahar, most of the south are controlled by various warlords in a loose coalition against Kabul and the northern warlord coalition.
Crucial to to the survival of the PDPA in the early 90s were the continuous deliver of Soviet arms and advisers. As the Cold War winded down in Europe, the Soviet army shrank and a significant number of surplus equipment made their way to the Kabul government, most important were the delivery of 200 fixed-wing fighter bombers. Soviet pilots, many of whom were displaced by the shrinkage of the Soviet armed forces, were allowed to resign and encouraged to "volunteer" to fight as mercenaries for the Afghan government. Attracted by good pay (paid ironically out of Soviet aid packages), they would pilot aircraft which were pivotal in defeating conventional Mujaheddin offensives against Kabul in the early to mid 1990s. Many Soviet army soldier and officers also found themselves in Afghanistan fighting as mercenaries under similar conditions.
-Afgansy, The Russians in Afghanistan, 1979-2001 by Rodric Braithwaite
....Just as important as continual Soviet support to the regime was the realignment of northern Warlords after 1991. The Tajiki warlord Ahmad Shah Massoud had being a thorn in the Soviet side and inflicted several defeats on Soviet forces during the 1980s in northern Afghanistan. By late 1991, however, he had being induced into and upheld a truce with Kabul and the Soviets for nearly a year. This is actually nothing new, Massoud had made and broken truce with the Soviets numerous times during the war. However, the length of the truce was alarming some of the more radical warlords in the south, who feared that Massoud was intentionally conserving his strength while the southern warlords and Kabul bled themselves white fighting each other and that he had plans to take over all of Afghanistan once his opponents were exhausted.
There is still no confirmation of who ordered the assassination of Massoud, there are rumors that it was the Israeli Mossad, the CIA, the KGB, the Afghan KHAD, or even the Arab expat-turned Mujaheddin Osama bin Laden. But most likely it was Mohammed Omar, founder of a group known as the "Students" (Taliban) which had attempted to unite the bickering southern factions into a force capable of taking over all of Afghanistan. What we do know is that on May 23, 1992, several men holding western passports gained access to Massoud under the pretense of obtaining an interview with him. But once Massoud got in front of the camera, the "journalists" triggered an explosion which killed everyone in the room.
In the aftermath of Massoud's death, the northern warlord coalition fractured but PDPA leader Mohammad Najibullah was crafty enough to take advantage of the situation. He turned the anger of the warlords over the death of their leader against the Mujaheddin in the south, he warned them that should be Pashtun warlords achieve victory in the war, they would be pushed out of all but a fraction of the country. He also promised to respect Islamic law and customs outside of Kabul, and to back off on imposing Communist modernization on the countryside. He promised to reform the PDPA into an Islamist Socialist party which would stay out of the business of governance of the areas controlled by the northern coalition. The alliance of Kabul and various tribes, clans and warlords of the north would continue to form the basis of Afghan government today....
-Ghost Wars by Steve Coll
Mohammed Omar [1960-1995] - founder of the group "Taliban" a group of Islamic extremists in Afghanistan dedicated to uniting warring Mujaheddin factions to win the civil war against the Communist government in Kabul. Killed in 1995 in battle against Afghan government forces, upon his death, the Taliban movement fell apart and the Mujaheddin reverted into internal infighting...
-Encyclopedia Britannica
... Afghan GDP per Capita 2016 (est): $1931
Soviet Troops in Afghanistan(est): 5500
Number of war related death in last year: 576
...
-Afghanistan Quick Facts, Quickfacts.com