The West has been destroying itself lately, imagine if the Soviets could take advantage of it
China, and truthfully most east asian socialist projects, are far more nationalist (and in some ways ethno-nationalist) than any of the european/american/african socialist projects were. The lines drawn for these countries tended to always be different than it was for the USSR and other allies (like cuba is a fairly diverse country already, and that made it easier to adopt a culture of internationalism).
if they ripped the rot out and went hard on it, sure. but with gorbachev’s reforms and his best case scenario? nah.
Okay so maybe they wouldn’t abolish capitalism, but the Soviet Union would be such an incredible thorn in the West’s side, simply by existing. Imagine if Venezuela got Soviet supplies to hold off against sanctions, or how much weaker the EU would be if the Warsaw Pact still existed. Im just writing fanfiction at this point but a girl can dream :)
Iran and China are both engaging in trade with Venezuela. China’s also becoming an alternative to the imf in Africa and pulling the rug out from under some of the oldest imperialist projects.
The USSR as it existed towards the end was totally united with the US on the middle eastern policy of the 1990s that eventually went on to become the Iraq war, the Afghanistan war, the Libyan invasion and the broader support of the Saudis against the Iranians. They probably would’ve held the same role in the Syrian conflict though, but that’s minimal compared to the other stuff.
The big thing that the USSR still existing would’ve done is prevent the EU from becoming the powerful force it is currently, and the Warsaw pact would’ve likely developed into something very similar to that of the EU today but centered around social democracy first rather than broader liberalism and austerity first.
A part of me worries that the prospect of world socialism died with the USSR and that at this point we’re just waiting out our slow death from climate change.
this is probably it tbh, we’ll see how China deal with their Billionaire class but I think we’re fighting a losing battle
world socialism along the lines and by the methods of the USSR died with the USSR. it’s our job to develop something new instead of wishing really hard for uncle joe to come back and save us.
They had one. Andropov. Had he lived I definitely think the USSR would be around today.
Capitalism probably would’ve still existed, but I would’ve liked the dynamic of competition between two systems around the subject of climate change. Just like they puched eachother in to space, they might’ve pushed eachother towards reducing emissions.
