The Soviet Union article capitalists loved to hate.
A Burbuja.info thread reopens the debate on the USSR: was it really a power that guaranteed housing, or a dictatorship of poverty? Data and opinions.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
The article about the USSR that capitalists hate: myth or reality?
In the middle of 2024, a thread on Burbuja.info revives a text that, according to its author, capitalists detest: a defence of the Soviet model based on surplus value and public housing. The debate pits those who see the USSR as an example of equality against those who brand it as poverty and oppression. Hard data, however, are scarce and emotions run wild.
The figures on Soviet housing
User Ramon Ramirez, the thread's main defender, provides links about the mass construction of housing in the 1950s and 1960s, the famous five-storey "khrushchyovkas" built under Nikita Khrushchev (1953-1964). According to the text, the socialist state provided housing for millions of workers after the war, guaranteeing the right to housing. However, critics like MañoKoAlfota reply that in the USSR people "were poorer than rats" and that accumulating wealth was an odyssey.
The concept of surplus value and state ownership
The thread opens with a classic Marxist definition: the capitalist lives off other people's work by appropriating surplus value. But opponents of the Soviet narrative point out that, in the end, the state also keeps the citizen's assets, as El centinela notes. The discussion drifts towards the nature of power: "divide and rule" for some, "defence of the working class" for others. Tensions rise with insults flying back and forth, and the thread becomes entrenched without clear conclusions.
Why is the debate still alive?
Beyond the shouting match, what is interesting is the persistence of these positions 33 years after the fall of the Wall. Forum user SBrixton tries to strike a middle ground: the USSR was not the best example of communism, and China today mixes capitalism and the state. But he is quickly accused of being a "leftie apologist". The thread ends with nobody budging an inch, reflecting the endemic polarisation of the topic.
The question that no forum user directly answers remains hanging in the air: if the Soviet model was so good, why did most of its heirs abandon it? Readers will have to dive into the discussion to judge for themselves.
Related debates on the forum
In the middle of 2024, a thread on Burbuja.info revives a text that, according to its author, capitalists detest: a defence of the Soviet model based on surplus value and public housing. The debate pits those who see the USSR as an example of equality against those who brand it as poverty and oppression. Hard data, however, are scarce and emotions run wild.
The figures on Soviet housing
User Ramon Ramirez, the thread's main defender, provides links about the mass construction of housing in the 1950s and 1960s, the famous five-storey "khrushchyovkas" built under Nikita Khrushchev (1953-1964). According to the text, the socialist state provided housing for millions of workers after the war, guaranteeing the right to housing. However, critics like MañoKoAlfota reply that in the USSR people "were poorer than rats" and that accumulating wealth was an odyssey.
The concept of surplus value and state ownership
The thread opens with a classic Marxist definition: the capitalist lives off other people's work by appropriating surplus value. But opponents of the Soviet narrative point out that, in the end, the state also keeps the citizen's assets, as El centinela notes. The discussion drifts towards the nature of power: "divide and rule" for some, "defence of the working class" for others. Tensions rise with insults flying back and forth, and the thread becomes entrenched without clear conclusions.
Why is the debate still alive?
Beyond the shouting match, what is interesting is the persistence of these positions 33 years after the fall of the Wall. Forum user SBrixton tries to strike a middle ground: the USSR was not the best example of communism, and China today mixes capitalism and the state. But he is quickly accused of being a "leftie apologist". The thread ends with nobody budging an inch, reflecting the endemic polarisation of the topic.
The question that no forum user directly answers remains hanging in the air: if the Soviet model was so good, why did most of its heirs abandon it? Readers will have to dive into the discussion to judge for themselves.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (18 replies).
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