My comments above inform my understanding of the Soviet experience under Stalin. The masses develop a stubborn confidence in their leaders until they learn otherwise either directly through their own experience or indirectly when presented with convincing evidence.
In the case of the Soviet masses, loyalty to Stalin was reinforced, despite their hardship and sacrifices, by their attachment to the goals and accomplishments of the October revolution. They were not only persuaded by state propaganda that Stalin was the worthy successor to Lenin, but took special pride in the Soviet industrialization drive and the promise of a better future at a time when the West was in the throes of depression and mass unemployment. It was only when the masses belatedly learned of the extent of state repression and the "cult of personality" three years after Stalin's death that they were prepared to transfer their allegiance to the new leadership under Khrushchev. Conditions in China are nowhere near as repressive as they were in USSR in the 30's nor is mass loyalty to Xi as intense as it was to Stalin, but the CPC leadership is still widely credited for rising living standards while the Western working class is observably losing ground. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#39591): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/39591 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/116549413/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
