Do you want me to take you by the hand and show you the spectacular progress made in the eastern European countries? All run by dictators , all answering to the Bolshevik boss. Stalin was a dictator by definition. The USSR was just another colonizer. And I say all this because I have first hand experience, most some nostalgic books. That does mean the current system is good, I want it gone. But the romanticization of USSR remains nonsense.

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 3 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Repeating the same dogmatic claims isn't evidence. Stalin was definitionally not a dictator, and even offered to resign half a dozen times. The USSR was immensely liberatory.

[–] SamB@lemmy.world 0 points 12 hours ago (2 children)

I am just telling you how things were from the perspective of someone that lived those times and their aftermath. Long lines to everything, incompetence and kafkaesque bureaucracy, one factory that produced stuff efficiently had to be a crutch for the inefficient ones, people that had to work in mandatory coops including children. Oh, and the means of production never went to the people, it stood within the party. And that’s just the general stuff in both EE and USSR. I won’t go into details on how Stalin was the head of a single party which had absolute control over the people, ergo dictator. And I am sure he wanted to step down, just like Putin allowed Medvedev to be a puppet for a few years. Oh wait, this new Russian dictator actually truly stepped down for a bit unlike the pretend attempts from Stalin. Let’s be real.

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 2 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

Nobody is saying the USSR was perfect, but all you've brought is just personal anecdote. I've spoken to people that say much the opposite!

[–] SamB@lemmy.world 0 points 3 hours ago

I know exactly who thrived during those times. Party members. If you only listen to them, sure, you’re going to get a different story.

[–] QinShiHuangsShlong@lemmy.ml 1 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

I am just telling you how things were from the perspective of someone that lived those times

First 100 year old Lemmy user?

[–] SamB@lemmy.world 0 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Because the USSR fell 100 years ago.

[–] QinShiHuangsShlong@lemmy.ml 1 points 32 minutes ago* (last edited 29 minutes ago) (1 children)

Stalin was definitionally not a dictator

I am just telling you how things were from the perspective of someone that lived those times

You both were talking about Stalin and living through his dictatorial times? He died 76 years ago and if you lived through it I assumed you were an adult by the time he died.

[–] SamB@lemmy.world 1 points 2 minutes ago

Obviously it was implied that I meant the USSR times. I do have parents and grandparents that could narrate how awesome the gulags were.