Evgenia and I were talking a bit and I was taking some notes for our event tonight in NYC and I ended up typing up a very basic outline of something we’ve been thinking about lately — the connection between the USA and the USSR.
"Americans think they won the Cold War, and that they defeated communism. That’s true."
Nope. Big difference between defeating a state and "defeating" an ideology (or, in this particular case, a caricature of an ideology). The spectre of communism is still abroad (though much diminished at the moment).
"she and other Russians and really all former Soviet people are from America’s future"
Sort of. I'd say they're more like little Ghosts-of-Christmas-Yet-to-Come: there to warn workers of What-Might-Be:
"Before I draw nearer to that stone to which you point," said Scrooge, "answer me one question. Are these the shadows of the things that Will be, or are they shadows of things that May be, only?"
Still, the Ghost pointed downward to the grave by which it stood.
"Men's courses will foreshadow certain ends, to which, if persevered in, they must lead," said Scrooge. "But if the courses be departed from, the ends will change. Say it is thus with what you show me."
Too many Americans think of the New Deal as communism or even Stalinism even though it was explicitly designed to save American capitalism; FDR said that he save capitalism. Honestly, I prefer some form of socialism, but hey, I would love to bring back the New Deal with some added benefits like actual healthcare, but that’s Stalinism. /s
There are a few dead-enders here and there who espouse communist beliefs, and governments which claim to be communist, but the people have no power and show little commitment to the ideology - they almost inevitably revert to their programming by their mid-30s and swim upstream to suburbia to spawn, as Evgenia put it. No communist country seriously supports internationalism, and, just like the Westerners who knuckle under as they hit middle age, now conform to the norms of the international order. If anything like communism is ever to come, it will not share a lineage with these groups.
By the way, there are still Heaven's Gate believers in the world, too, but you can't say that the movement is still alive.
"There are a few dead-enders here and there who espouse communist beliefs" Big deal. People who call themselves one thing but do something completely different for poor reasons are a dime a dozen.
"they almost inevitably revert to their programming by their mid-30s and swim upstream to suburbia to spawn," >shrug< And the German Social Democrats of the Weimar Republic voted in favour of war credits, but they're still around. In any event, there are still actually existing communists around who are still educating and agitating even though they rarely, if ever, get close to power (or are hampered by the situation they find themselves in cf the communists in Kerala in India and Kshama Sawant in Seattle come to mind). As for nominally communist states, AFAIC, state capitalism is well past its best-before date.
"If anything like communism is ever to come, it will not share a lineage with these groups." Then it won't be communism. Every approach to power has its antecedents and linking threads, some more successful than others, but just to ignore that stuff that came before means either making the same mistakes or doing something that simply isn't what's on the tin.
And I'm not sure I'd call Heaven's Gate a movement when all they wanted to do was cut themselves off from the rest of the world.
Similarly, the attempted reform of the Soviet economy took on a DOGE-like “move fast and break things” tone, as the few people who still had some idea how the planning system worked were sidelined and the functioning systems were gummed up. The attempt to make the constituent republics “real” again also had the effect of severely disrupting supply chains, similar to Trump’s antics. Contrary to the hagiography by which Gorbachev wisely oversaw the inevitable dissolution of the Soviet Union, the events of his rule were chaotic and unpredictable to almost everyone involved, due to the unique combination of naivety and recklessness he brought to the table.
In summary, both were aspiring revolutionary dictators, aiming to revive an idealized heroic national past, and both relentlessly destroyed the state capacity necessary to carry out their stated goals. Both responded to economic discontent by heedlessly making things even worse. Both abandoned allies and cozied up to long-time enemies who did not actually have their nation’s interests at heart.
Maybe I am naive about Gorbachev, but my impression of him has always been that he was completely sincere about what he was trying to do. Perhaps the last sincere person in the Soviet Nomenklatura. As a result all the cynics like Yeltsin’s entourage, the Red Directors and various Soviet Republic Party bosses took advantage of his sincerity and naivety to rape and pillage the country. Trump is the opposite. He is a nihilistic cynic himself, seeing clearly that the system has no sincere defenders left in positions of power. That makes him more like Putin honestly. There’s a good reason why Putin and Trump understand each other very well. I feel Yeltsin was too drunk to be blamed for anything, the Leningrad crime bosses and KGB officers saw an opportunity and ran with it.
"Americans think they won the Cold War, and that they defeated communism. That’s true."
Nope. Big difference between defeating a state and "defeating" an ideology (or, in this particular case, a caricature of an ideology). The spectre of communism is still abroad (though much diminished at the moment).
"she and other Russians and really all former Soviet people are from America’s future"
Sort of. I'd say they're more like little Ghosts-of-Christmas-Yet-to-Come: there to warn workers of What-Might-Be:
"Before I draw nearer to that stone to which you point," said Scrooge, "answer me one question. Are these the shadows of the things that Will be, or are they shadows of things that May be, only?"
Still, the Ghost pointed downward to the grave by which it stood.
"Men's courses will foreshadow certain ends, to which, if persevered in, they must lead," said Scrooge. "But if the courses be departed from, the ends will change. Say it is thus with what you show me."
The Spirit was immovable as ever.
Where is this specter of communism you speak of?
Too many Americans think of the New Deal as communism or even Stalinism even though it was explicitly designed to save American capitalism; FDR said that he save capitalism. Honestly, I prefer some form of socialism, but hey, I would love to bring back the New Deal with some added benefits like actual healthcare, but that’s Stalinism. /s
Truly, we are a brainwashed nation.
There are a few dead-enders here and there who espouse communist beliefs, and governments which claim to be communist, but the people have no power and show little commitment to the ideology - they almost inevitably revert to their programming by their mid-30s and swim upstream to suburbia to spawn, as Evgenia put it. No communist country seriously supports internationalism, and, just like the Westerners who knuckle under as they hit middle age, now conform to the norms of the international order. If anything like communism is ever to come, it will not share a lineage with these groups.
By the way, there are still Heaven's Gate believers in the world, too, but you can't say that the movement is still alive.
"There are a few dead-enders here and there who espouse communist beliefs" Big deal. People who call themselves one thing but do something completely different for poor reasons are a dime a dozen.
"they almost inevitably revert to their programming by their mid-30s and swim upstream to suburbia to spawn," >shrug< And the German Social Democrats of the Weimar Republic voted in favour of war credits, but they're still around. In any event, there are still actually existing communists around who are still educating and agitating even though they rarely, if ever, get close to power (or are hampered by the situation they find themselves in cf the communists in Kerala in India and Kshama Sawant in Seattle come to mind). As for nominally communist states, AFAIC, state capitalism is well past its best-before date.
"If anything like communism is ever to come, it will not share a lineage with these groups." Then it won't be communism. Every approach to power has its antecedents and linking threads, some more successful than others, but just to ignore that stuff that came before means either making the same mistakes or doing something that simply isn't what's on the tin.
And I'm not sure I'd call Heaven's Gate a movement when all they wanted to do was cut themselves off from the rest of the world.
What do you think of this (from Adam Kotsko)?
https://itself.blog/2025/04/12/trump-as-the-american-gorbachev/
[...]
Similarly, the attempted reform of the Soviet economy took on a DOGE-like “move fast and break things” tone, as the few people who still had some idea how the planning system worked were sidelined and the functioning systems were gummed up. The attempt to make the constituent republics “real” again also had the effect of severely disrupting supply chains, similar to Trump’s antics. Contrary to the hagiography by which Gorbachev wisely oversaw the inevitable dissolution of the Soviet Union, the events of his rule were chaotic and unpredictable to almost everyone involved, due to the unique combination of naivety and recklessness he brought to the table.
In summary, both were aspiring revolutionary dictators, aiming to revive an idealized heroic national past, and both relentlessly destroyed the state capacity necessary to carry out their stated goals. Both responded to economic discontent by heedlessly making things even worse. Both abandoned allies and cozied up to long-time enemies who did not actually have their nation’s interests at heart.
[...]
Maybe I am naive about Gorbachev, but my impression of him has always been that he was completely sincere about what he was trying to do. Perhaps the last sincere person in the Soviet Nomenklatura. As a result all the cynics like Yeltsin’s entourage, the Red Directors and various Soviet Republic Party bosses took advantage of his sincerity and naivety to rape and pillage the country. Trump is the opposite. He is a nihilistic cynic himself, seeing clearly that the system has no sincere defenders left in positions of power. That makes him more like Putin honestly. There’s a good reason why Putin and Trump understand each other very well. I feel Yeltsin was too drunk to be blamed for anything, the Leningrad crime bosses and KGB officers saw an opportunity and ran with it.