Re: Soviet balance sheet

[Wojtek Sokolowski <sokol@xxxxxxx>]

At 06:55 PM 3/30/98 -0800, Anders Schneiderman wrote:
>At 08:35 AM 3/28/98 -0800, Michael wrote:
>>Also in the Balance Sheet, we might include Stalin's brutal, but
>>relatively effective policy of suppressing/repressing ethnic hostilities.
>
>I don't see how you'd put that in anything other than the minus column.
>First off, it's hard to see how slaughtering or interning people is a plus.
> Second, this strategy was ultimately a failure:  once the repression
>stopped, the old ethnic tensions flared right back up again.
>


That is true only if you assume that ethnic hostilities ultimately reside
in human psyche, as bourgeois ideology wants us to believe.  If you assume
that ethnic conflicts are the sole product of social relations (or which
relations of production are a major part) - then the only logical
conclusion is that the social relations under the Soviet system did NOT
generate serious ethnic conflicts, but the re-introduction of
market-schmarket style bourgeois relations immediately re-ignited those
conflicts.

The biggest lie about conflicts in the x-Soviet empire, disseminated by the
Anglo-American propaganda machine, is that those conflicts have ancient
ethnic roots.  In fact, they have been re-introduced to the region, after
being nearly extinct under the "communist" rule, by the ruling elites
struggling for power.


As far as Stalin's social integration policies are concerned, I see nothing
wrong with attempts to eliminate ethnic enclaves and ghettos.  I wish the
Yanks did the same thing instead of cherishing "cultural diversity"
(translation: Black ghettos, White suburbs).




Wojtek Sokolowski
Institute for Policy Studies
Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, MD 21218
sokol@xxxxxxx
voice: (410) 516-4056
fax:   (410) 516-8233

Opinions expressed above are those of this writer only.  They do not
represent the views or policies of the Institute for Policy Studies, the
Johns Hopkins University, or anyone else affiliated with these institutions.