I agree, German kids could have resisted, there was the White Rose and shit, and let's not forget the thousands of leftists thrown into the camps. It's not like people didn't know what they were doing was wrong, they just didn't want to take the risk of opposing the regime like the peers did. And to forgive them, punishes those who did resist. That's why Nazi collaborators deserve a swift execution along side the true believers.

Well Gorby purged the military leadership of the "hardliners" (actual communists) before he started his reforms. He really thought the left would be a bigger threat than the radical liberal opposition.

He also drastically slashed the military budget and conditions for the soldiers were already poor in the late 80s. The conscription system had been corrupted and many conscripts were abused and used as slave labor. Cutting the budget made these problems worse, and then the Warsaw Pact collapsed and the army lost all their foreign allies.

So by the time stuff starts really falling apart, the Red Army is left disillusioned and directionless. They try to intervene a few times but accomplish little more than shooting some protesters and making everyone angrier. Gorbachev meanwhile refuses to lead, and instead focuses his attention on blaming his subordinates and firing more "hardliners". When the August Coup happens, again Gorby refuses to take leadership or even a stance on it at all, and what's left of the army isn't willing to risk a massacre on behalf of, let's be honest, a desperate last ditch attempt to regain control of the situation.

Afterwards, many soldiers could make chaos very lucrative for themselves by becoming gangsters or running drugs/arms. The death of a nation is so tragic.

Well Gorby sort of had a plan, but it was a terribly naive one. He really thought the liberals would be cool with him being a social democrat, but nope, step aside loser. All or nothing.

For Yeltsin and his cronies, the lack of planning was part of the benefit, they didn't want any of the former bureaucrats or factory directors to be part of the process at all. They just gave every citizen worthless "privatization vouchers" that would entitle you to shares in the new private enterprises but they immediately lost all value because of the economic disaster they caused. Oh and they were unlimitedly transferable, so 90% of people just sold them for cash so they could keep eating. Those who were already rich or had political connections to the new government bought them all up and volia- nearly instantaneous economic oligarchy. All the achievements of October, swept away :lenin-rage:

"He will never combine the pleasure of grilling with the pleasure of riding a train" :cereal1:

The RailGrill: :grillman: :grill: :train-shining: :cereal2:

I’ll go ahead and say it was worse in Stalin’s Russia

wow so brave. It was worse to live in a unindustrialized backwater that was recovering from invasion and civil war than it is to live 100 years later in a modern western service economy where your every want is catered to. Thank you liberalism for your insightful conclusions.

gonna open an AroAce theatre where I fast forward through all of the romantic subplots to get to the good stuff and instantly cancel (worse than death) anyone who complains

Sorry for the inconvenience :ace-heart:

on the positive side, ideal revolutionary conditions will arise alongside worsening material conditions. people just need to be in a position to seize the opportunity.

while I think joining an org is worthwhile and you should try, everyone should also know that not every org is worth your time and energy. Many are just lib shit door knocking for the Democrats, but even some "hard communist" ones will just make you sell stupid newspapers on the corner to teenagers. These orgs make you feel used, exploited for free labor even. Also especially with the communist orgs you run a good chance of befriending a undercover police officer who will fuck with you and the org, often undercovers get into the leadership position because it's literally their job to be there unlike everyone else. So make sure you feel like you are actually participating in something you feel is meaningful. Maybe look for mutual aid like food not bombs

that is the risk you take when you run the country as a tyrannical hereditary monarchy. Your whole family becomes a problem.

this thread: chapos who can't handle that art is sometimes made on a stage so they try to denounce an entire activity as liberal like a AM radio host ranting about video games

they play this guy on the radio and it is just basic financial advice. "Pay debt because interest" level stuff. He doesn't seem completely awful but he's at least a bOoTsTraPs guy. Doesn't ever consider that people can be suck in debt situations that are mathematically impossible to get out of because of low wages (ie wage slavery).

F451 is good. I personally love Brave New World and it relates to modern society wayyyyyyy more that 1984. Huxley is the King of Dystopian SciFi and also on his deathbed he asked to wife to give him acid so he could die while tripping balls. Absolute legend.