I was wondering why the USSR is universally beloved among Marxist-Leninists but other AES states tend to be more controversial. So I looked into it.
Saved Europe from Fascism Abolished private property Abolished wealth accumulation Centrally Planned Economy, quotas, prices, wages, EVERYTHING State Atheism - BASED Universal Literacy First Man Into Space Public Healthcare Public Housing Public Transportation
Holy sea cow SpongeBob! Any anarchist would fall out of their chair if one of their projects achieved even one of these things.
What in your opinion are the greatest policies and achievements of The USSR?
This was the first successful socialist uprising in the world, which transformed Russia from a poor and backward feudal country into a leading economic, political, military, scientific, technical, cultural and educational power!
Russia went from a backwards agrarian society where people travelled by horse and carriage to being the first in space in the span of 40 years. Russia showed incredible growth after the revolution that surpassed the rest of the world:
USSR provided free education to all citizens resulting in literacy rising from 33% to 99.9%:
USSR doubled life expectancy in just 20 years. A newborn child in 1926-27 had a life expectancy of 44.4 years, up from 32.3 years thirty years before. In 1958-59 the life expectancy for newborns went up to 68.6 years. the Semashko system of the USSR increased lifespan by 50% in 20 years. By the 1960's, lifespans in the USSR were comparable to those in the USA:
USSR ended famines https://artir.wordpress.com/2017/02/04
Quality of nutrition improved after the Soviet revolution, and the last time USSR had a famine was in 1940s. CIA data suggests they ate just as much as Americans after WW2 peroid while having better nutrition:
USSR moved from 58.5-hour work weeks to 41.6 hour work weeks (-0.36 h/yr) between 1913 and 1960:
USSR averaged 22 days of paid leave in 1986 while USA averaged 7.6 in 1996:
https://www.ilo.org/public/libdoc/ilo/1994/94B09_66_englp2.pdf
https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ebs.t05.htm
Had the 2nd fastest growing economy of the 20th century after Japan. The USSR started out at the same level of economic development and population as Brazil in 1920, which makes comparisons to the US, an already industrialized country by the 1920s, even more spectacular.
Free Universal Health care, and most doctors per capita in the world.](https://www.marxists.org/archive/newsholme/1933/red-medicine/index.htm) 42 doctors per 10k population, vs 24 in Denmark and Sweden, 19 in US.
Had near zero unemployment, continuous economic growth for 70 straight years. The "continuous" part should make sense – the USSR was a planned, non-market economy, so market crashes á la capitalism were pretty much impossible.
In 1987, people in the USSR could retire with pension at 55 (female) and 60 (male) while receiving 50% of their wages at a at minimum. Meanwhile, in USA the average retirement age was 62-67 and the average (not median) retiree household in the USA could expect $48k/yr which comes out to 65% of the 74k average (not median) household income in 2016:
https://www.ilo.org/public/libdoc/ilo/1994/94B09_66_englp2.pdf
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/could-you-get-by-on-the-average-americans-retirement-income/
All education, including university level, free. 2
99% literacy.
Combatted sex inequality. Equal wages for men and women mandated by law, but sex inequality, although not as pronounced as under capitalism, was perpetuated in social roles.
Combatted Racial inequality.
Soviet power production per capita in 1990 was more than the EU, Great Britain, or China's in 2014. GDP took off after socialism was established and then collapsed with the reintroduction of capitalism:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Soviet_Union_GDP_per_capita.gif
The Soviet Union had the highest physician/patient ratio in the world. USSR had 42 doctors per 10,000 population compared to 24 in Denmark and Sweden, and 19 in US:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0735675784900482 (use sci-hub for access)
USSR defeated a smallpox epidemic in a matter of 19 days https://www.rbth.com/history/331857-how-ussr-defeated-black-smallpox
The Social Consequences of Soviet Immunization Policies https://web.archive.org/web/20240218132709/https://www.ucis.pitt.edu/nceeer/1997-812-03g-Hoch.pdf
USSR produced many firsts in the realm of science and technology:
These are just some of the biggest technological and social achievements of the Soviet Union.
What happens after the USSR collapsed, and what came with capitalist privatization:
For an overview of the soviet experiment, watch this brilliant talk by Micheal Parenti, or read his article, Left anticommunism, the unkindest cut.
Also read this great article by Stephen Gowans, Do publicly owned, planned economies work?. Audio on youtube
academic studies on USSR
Professor of Economic History, Robert C. Allen, concludes in his study without the 1917 revolution is directly responsible for rapid growth that made the achievements listed above possible:
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