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Why does Parentti criticize the USSR so much (lemmygrad.ml)

submitted 1 month ago by znsh@lemmygrad.ml to c/asklemmygrad@lemmygrad.ml

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Reading Blackshirts & Reds and am at about 40% through the book. The amount of critique he is giving to how poorly the economic situation in the USSR was, how Stalin's way of running things and how people were negligible about their jobs because there was no reason to be competitive or to do a good job is honestly a bit stark. Is this anti-communism or is this just good faith criticism?

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[–] RedWizard@hexbear.net 0 points 1 month ago

And what was the outcome of this "mass heroism seldom paralleled in history"?

Parenti tells you in the previous paragraphs:

The latter course, I believe, would have produced a more comfortable, more humane and serviceable society. Siege socialism would have given way to worker-consumer socialism. The only problem is that the country would have risked being incapable of withstanding the Nazi onslaught.

So yes, the Soviets had two roads in front of them. Yes, one of them might have "produced a more comfortable, more humane and serviceable society." And yes, that would have been a better choice. Yet, history shows us what happens next. How long would that comfortable existence last against the Nazi blitzkrieg?

That is the point Parenti is making here. Often Stalin is criticized for the USSRs industrialization policy with out ever considering the consequences of taking the other path. We cannot relitigate history, we can only learn from it.

It's part of his greater point about siege socialism. That socialism under siege warps it's priorities in defense of the revolution. The people during Stalin's time sacrificed much in defense of the revolution. We can not simply judge socialism based on the form it takes while under siege.