Posted on 05/30/2002 3:25:15 PM PDT by Ivan the Terrible
"The meaning of peace is the absence of the opposition to Socialism." -Karl Marx
"Gentlemen, Comrades, do not be concerned about all you hear about Glasnost and Perestroika and democracy in the coming years. These are primarily for outward consumption. There will be no significant internal changes in the Soviet Union, other than for cosmetic purposes. Our purpose is to disarm the Americans, and let them fall asleep." -Gorbachev (1987)
"More socialism means more democracy, openness and collectivism in everyday life." -Gorbachev (1988)
"Our vision of the European space from the Atlantic to the Urals in not that of a closed system. Since it includes the Soviet Union, which reaches to the shores of the Pacific, it goes beyond nominal geographical boundaries." -Gorbachev, Nobel Peace Prize Lecture, delivered in Oslo,(1992)
(Note that Gorbachev, who had been out of office for six months, referred to the Soviet Union, not Russia.)
"The paramount global objective of the strategy of 'perestroika' is to weaken and neutralize anti-Communist ideology and the influence of anti-Communists in political life in the United States, Western Europe and elsewhere - presenting them as anachronistic survivors of the Cold War, reactionaries and obstacles to 'restructuring' and peace. Anyone who warns about Moscow's true objectives is automatically branded a 'Cold Warrior', even by people who have doubts about Moscow's motives."
Gorbachev's goal was to save Communism in Russia by convincing the world that Communism no longer existed.
The Russians can be Commies and our best friends at the same time. Oh wait, if forgot the Chinese to, but even sadder, they don't even hide that they are Communist. They don't have to, nobody seems to care.
And in my opinion the moon is made of green cheese, but that doesn't necessarly make so, now does that?
Hmmm why does that all sound so familiar? Oh yeah...
"In 1921 the economy of Russia lay in ruins. seven years of war and civil war had produced catastrophe. Industrial production stood at thirteen per cent of prewar volume; the grain harvest had fallen from 74 million tons in 1916 to 30 million tons in 1919 and continued to decline still further. Inflation was rampant, and although the Communists hated and feared it, they saw no alternative but to contribute to it by printing paper money. The immediate economic measures taken to meet the crisis could not be directly financial. nor could they involve any plans for extensive change in the structure of the economy. They aimed merely to persuade people to work and produce more, in the city or in the village, so that some kind of regular trade could be resumed, the urban masses fed, and the villages supplied with the goods for which they would willingly exchange their grain."...."Although as indicated the food tax was prompted by basically political motives, it also initiated the revival of the economy. The law provided that the peasant must pay the government a tax in kind consisting of a certain percentage, varying somewhat from region to region, of his produce; he could then dispose of the remainder on the free market. A year later the tax was fixed at a standard ten per cent. In 1922 also the peasant was permitted to lease and hire labor, although purchase and sale of land were still prohibited. By the Fundamental Law on the Exploitation of Land by the Workers, enacted in Hay 1922, the government guaranteed the peasant freedom of choice of land tenure, individual, communal, or other. Thus the villager was permitted, within rather broad limits, to manage his own economic life as he saw fit...."
"By 1923-1924 it was apparent that the regime was managing to stabilize itself, at least for the time being, as the economic revival made headway. The open although limited encouragement given to private enterprise led many in and out of Russia to conclude that "capitalism" had returned for good, and that the Communists had jettisoned their long-proclaimed ideological objectives, which might never have been seriously meant anyhow. The introduction of the NEP was the first in a long series of occasions in Soviet history when foreign observers decided that Communist doctrine was ceasing to be significant in influencing the Soviet Leaders."
By the way...the reason it should sound familiar is that before you Western intelligentsia forced Communism on us, 13% is what the Tsar took.
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