Re: [Marxism] Re: Hungary 1956

[Einde O'Callaghan <einde@xxxxxx>]

Waistline2@xxxxxxx wrote:
<snip>
> Those who revolted against so-called Stalinism have in history condemned
> perhaps two billion people to a certain death in today's world. Only the 
> bourgeois
> intellectual in the imperial centers cannot see the obvious.
>
> Tragic.
Stalinism collaspsed because of it's own inner contradictions and it's
inability to provide the people's of the Easter bloc with the ability to
achieve their aspirations. The history of Stalinism in those countries
ensured that there was no credible left alternative to the
get-rich-quick schemes offered by Western capitalism.

Socialism will only come about if it manages to inspire the masses, not
weigh down on them like a nightmare. I speak as somebody who lives in
the former Eastern Bloc - there is a certain nostalgia here for a return
to the social security of the former regime in contrast to the raw
capitalism of the present, but there is no great desire to return to the
negative aspects. And if we are talking about proletarian regimes here a
major question must be answered by defenders of the old regimes: why did
the proletariat stand back and let "their" states fall to renascent
private capitalism without even a semblance of resistance?

The thing that is often ignored by those who harp on about capitalist
restoration is the fact that there is a remarkable continuity between
the personnel of the old regime, both the political elite and the
controllers of the economy, and the present weilders of power - Putin
being a case in point, but by no means the only example. The only thing
that has changed is the ideological trappings used to justify the
present state of affairs.

Einde O'Callaghan


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