If communism doesn't work, why did Russia achieved more progress during the Soviet Union than in the 500 years before its existence?

Question

Before the Soviet Union existed there was the Russian Empire.

The Russian Empire was a very poor country where the tsars and monarchy lived in palaces with huge armies of servants while the ordinary people starved to death.

In the 1800s, 1700s, there is barely any mention of Russia in the world history books, mainly because it was an unimportant and insignificant country compared to the British or French Empires.


As a comparison, in the early 1900s when the French had toilets, the Russians still used latrines to fulfill their biological needs.

All this ceased to exist with the raise of the Bolsheviks, the return of the government to the hands of the people and the creation of the Soviet Union.

10 years of communism were enough to transform the peasant nation of Russia into an industrial superpower.

The homeless and starving people ceased to exist in the USSR as the government provided the people with the basic needs for their survival.

All this while the poor American homeless people continued to starve to death on the streets of American cities without anyone even giving a danm about them.



If such rapid and amazing progress that made of the USSR a world superpower capable of defyin the USA, is not enough proof that communism worked, then I don't know what is.


You must be very stupid to think communism failed after witnessing all the achievements the USSR made under or rather THANKS to communism.

Answer 1

30,000,000 deaths during Stalins reign alone. (Deaths a a result of his policies and actions only).

Answer 2

You mean the FORMER Soviet Unions? The one that lasted for a measely 70 years?



Because Russia was developing EVEN FASTER before 1917 when they were more capitalist.



Btw they were never "communists" even they admit that - they were aiming for communism, and collapsed before they even got there

Answer 3

When the USSR failed we ;learned it was a very poor country. On a par with Mexico. Even today, after advances in the last 25 years the GDP of Russia is only a little more than Texas. So it is not that super.

Answer 4

Communism wasn't achieved in the Soviet Union, if by communism you mean Marx's theory of a classless society with no ownership of private property.

"Communism" as the anti-West and anti-capitalist political-economic ideology bound up with Cold War geopolitics is not the same as the Marxian communism contained in his writings. Officially, the Soviet Union was working toward communism, under the "direction" of the Communist Party.

Russia was a mostly agricultural country, semi-feudal in nature, which had to "progress" to capitalism before it could achieve liberal democracy then socialism then communism-the end stage, according to the classical Marxian analysis.

The Communist Party of the USSR didn't follow the program, but it did bring about rapid industrialization under Stalin's leadership.

The "progress" you are referring to is the industrialization of the Russian economy. Russia had to make great leaps to catch up with the West, which had already industrialized.

Answer 5

communism didn't last very long in the soviet union.

Answer 6

Is this a joke?

Answer 7

And during all this time, the free, Capitalist world had a more prosperous existence, with liberty, then went belly up trying to subsidize it's entire existence. Even the most successful Communist economy, China, is moving away from Communism. Since the 1970, they found that the more free market Capitalism was incorporated, the more prosperous the people and the State became.

Answer 8

Slave labor and reduction of services and supplies to citizens!

Answer 9

So, in theory, Communism works. It is about everyone being equal. BUT, the reason it didn't work, was because of the ruling. Harsh and corrupt dictators are the reason why communism is flawed. Also, to your main question, the reason was the Cold War. The had many tech and military advances. Their military strengthened. During the Russian Empire, there were no big international battles or super huge conflicts that forced it to advance. During the Cold War. there was.

Answer 10

And why hasn't it worked for the other hundred or so countries that tried communism?



Yeah, Cuba is doing so great right now...

Answer 11

The problem today we have is a lack of knowledge and understanding of modern Russian political standings . Most young US politically oriented officials are leading more towards studing Asian and Arab countries. And old ones only remember Cold war with USSR ,which was ended 25 years ago.

Answer 12

Communism allowed the government to force people to modernize. The complete loss of all freedoms and the 100 million people who died where just a side note.

Answer 13

What progress?. 100 million murdered. America has only murdered 56 million since 1973 from Democrat Abortion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YI67MuPwsX0

Answer 14

Perhaps my understanding of history is wrong but...



Didn't all civilized countries advance more in that time period than they had in the past 500 years?



If memory serves there was such a thing as THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION.



Also, your theory is flawed. You are comparing the lives of Russian peasants with upper class Europeans. Don't you realize that well into the Industrial Revolution there were poor peasants all over Europe, crapping in holes and starving to death?



And I must say, if proper toilet facilities are the marker for the "success" of communism, then what the heck happened at the 2014 Winter Olympics?

Answer 15

mineral resources, large country, slave labour, occasional famine...



the level of development of Soviet union slash Russia is not due to communism. imagine where Russia could have been without Lenin.

Answer 16

communism is supposed to be stateless, the soviet union was anything but



russia under stalin was a typical industrial society run by banker money