On 12/15/15 3:53 PM, Joseph Green wrote: > The importance of defeating the Axis should not be forgotten. But the > imperialist acts of the Stalinist as well as Western governments should not > be forgotten either.
I agree but it is doubtful that the USSR would have ever created a war machine unless it had been invaded. Stalin was basically very conservative, looking at the USSR in the same way that a trade union bureaucrat looks at his social base of dues paying members. Strikes only occur as a last resort. Capitalism is an expansionary system by contrast. Capital needs new markets and sources of raw materials in order to reproduce itself. The USSR's imperialism was political in nature, not economic. For example, it subsidized nations within its sphere through oil subsidies, including Cuba. Its domination of the republics within the USSR such as Georgia and Ukraine was an extension of how the Tsars ruled, having nothing in common with, for example, the USA's conquest of Cuba, the Philippines, Hawaii, etc. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
