George Callaghan
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
Submitted by George Callaghan…
I am a convinced anti-communist but as a fair minded person I cannot help but marvel at the achievements of the USSR. Consider the seemingly insurmountable problems confronting Russia in October 1917. The First World War was still ongoing, the country was teetering on the brink of internecine civil war, 70% of the population was illiterate, the transport network was dysfunctional, there were severe food shortages in the cities and the army was mutinous. As the Russian Civil War broke out several foreign countries intervened to assist the Whites against the Red.
The Russian Civil War was as savage as only civil wars can be. When the dust settled the Soviet Union was founded in December 1922. The Communist Party strove to bring about a total transformation of society. Almost every country was hostile. Most foreign governments refused to recognize the Soviet Government as legitimate. Despite these unpromising circumstances the USSR attained some remarkable achievements.
Many professional class people fled the country after 1917. This made the government’s ambitious goals even harder to achieve. The USSR soon began the mass production of doctors. Health improved dramatically. The USSR was the first country to have a female majority medical profession.
Within twenty years the USSR had all but abolished illiteracy. The USSR was the most feminist country on earth. Women were admitted to all educational courses and all careers. Women were allowed to join the army and serve in combat roles. The USSR had risen from a very low industrial base at the time of its foundation to have the second largest industrial output in the world by 1945.
The Soviet victory in the Second World War is surely the immortal accomplishment that we should all cherish. It was a triumph bought at a price so dear that it defies contemplation. The unimaginable suffering of the Soviet people does not garner sufficient recognition abroad.
The USSR continued to struggle against racism and religious prejudice. The Soviet people were committed to battling against reactionaries and obscurantists.
The cultural accomplishments of the USSR are not sufficiently appreciated in the West. Architecture, music, ballet, literature and film all thrived. Not many people will know that there was even a Soviet fashion industry.
Stalinist neo-classical architecture is handsome and practical. You may know of Shostakovich and Kharchatian. Muslim Magomed and Uzeir Hajibeyov are two Azerbaijani composers from this era.
The USSR was known for promoting sport and entertainment. The Soviet medal haul was deeply impressive.
Mosfilm cinema produced scores of enthralling and heartwarming films. One of these won the Oscar for best foreign language film in 1979.
There were some very negative aspects to the USSR. Stalin’s cruel repressions caused immeasurable suffering. The state planned economy was inefficient. Excessive ideological rigidity meant that Stalin would not acknowledge that his wrongheaded policies were causing famine.
It is the people of the USSR that I admire and not the government. That point cannot be emphasized enough. The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) made many grave errors. It is hard to remember how it all began. It grew out of the trades union movement. Its objectives were ending privation and bringing about an equitable settlement.
The USSR was dissolved in 1991. By that time almost everyone could speak at least basic Russian. Gender equality was stronger in the USSR.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
Very interesting, thank you. A few more aspects might be mentioned: Industrialization of the Soviet Union under Stalin, due to the requirements of machinery and weapons during World War II. A huge housing programme, so that people did not need to live in slums under subhuman conditions. Free schools and universities for all Soviet citizens, the education system was excellent. Free medicare. A very advanced space programme (no, the US never landed on the moon, as they pretended). Excellent development in sports. And so on, and so forth. Unfortunately, western historians are trying to rewrite Soviet history. The Cold War… Read more »
This is putting lipstick on a pig. “Many grave errors” hardly does justice to the centrality of a vicious police apparatus, an arbitrary judicial system, arrest and imprisonment to staff the Gulag system, a third-world health system, forced psychiatric chemical injections, persecution of dissidents, deliberate starvation, starvation and freezing in the camps, destruction of Christian churches, regimented daily life, untouchable apparatchiki, revolution and subversion abroad, and a tiny, privilege elite. It was a ghastly system based on regimentation, theft, and a denial of basic rights to life, liberty, and property. A mere 1% of the population lorded it over the… Read more »
What, no mention of the Jewish-run (84%) Genocide of Christian Slavs that began in 1917, not under Stalin, but under Lenin 1/4 Jew and Trotsky/Bronstein 100% Jew? The GULAG itself was founded and conceived, not by Stalin, but by Lenin, Trotsky and Dzerzhinsky (A Pole) and perfected by 100% Jew, Matvei Berman. By 1934 every one of the Administrative Districts of the Gulag was headed by a Jew and most of the up-close work in the GULAG was done by Jews or farmed out to the Odessa Jewish Mafia which ran the GULAG at the barracks level. It is as… Read more »
Plse ignore the version I am replying to. I was in mid-edit and the edit was not accepted due to some kind of timeout.
The edited version appears above this version.
If a mod can remove the earlier version (19:22) I would appreciate it.
“Consider the seemingly insurmountable problems confronting Russia in October 1917” writes Callahan. In fact, 1917 was not the end but the beginning of the existential struggle for the survival of Russia which, arguably, only ended with the demise of Yeltsin. 1917 was the first “Color Revolution” in history. It was staged by the Global Banksters with the, then still queasy, compliance of the USA but with full support from England and the about-to-be-toppled, (defeated by Russia primarily), Austro-Hungarian Empire. The name of the Global Jewish ‘fixer’ who kept the ‘Russian Revolution’ (neither Russian, nor a revolution) topped up with money… Read more »
Thank you for the article. I would not blame Stalin so harshly. At that time there was such a political situation, besides this, as you say, all states were against the USSR, they waged a propaganda and subversive war against the country, in other matters as now. There were enough people who did not see the USSR and the system there are such people now. But now we live in democracy and freedom of speech and I think that in Russia we have more freedoms than in America.
I’m a little surprised that The Duran would post such a piece. Read the book The Soviet Achievement it denies the deaths and torture of millions in order for communism to be successful. What about the Holodomor of Ukraine? This is disappointing.