I don’t want to get into a whole big theoretical discussion here on this topic. Maybe we can discuss this more thoroughly in a separate post.
I just think that mistakes were made in the implementation of national policies (like Korenizatsiya in the USSR, and in Yugoslavia’s own approach to the national question which leaned into the national differences rather than transcending them) which allowed reactionary nationalism to fester and eventually rise up again. I think nationalism should have been much more suppressed than it was, instead at times the USSR downright encouraged it, which in hindsight appears to have been a mistake.
I also think that the federal structure of these states contributed to their catastrophic break-up, and if the national republics had not been as given as much autonomy as they were, up to and including forming their own governments and ruling cliques, those break-ups might not have been as easy as they were for the traitors and national bourgeoisie of those republics, and the foreign forces scheming to achieve those breakups.
In all of these regards i think China has taken a better approach to preserving the stability of the unified state and ethnic harmony among the people. But we have the benefit of hindsight now of seeing the tragic result of the well-meaning but ultimately misguided policies of these first socialist experiments, which is why i don’t blame the communists of that time for making those mistakes. I do think we should learn from them and not repeat them.
We can’t close our eyes and pretend everything was perfect when we see how things ended up in Yugoslavia and between former Soviet Republics (not just Russia and the now Nazified Ukraine and Baltics, but also Azerbaijan-Armenia, conflicts in Central Asia, etc.). The idea of creating countries-within-a-country, which is what the Soviet and Yugoslav republics were, has not been a recipe for long term stability.
And while these were far from the only factors that led to the eventual breakups and wars, i think we have to acknowledge that they played a role.
I don’t want to get into a whole big theoretical discussion here on this topic. Maybe we can discuss this more thoroughly in a separate post.
I just think that mistakes were made in the implementation of national policies (like Korenizatsiya in the USSR, and in Yugoslavia’s own approach to the national question which leaned into the national differences rather than transcending them) which allowed reactionary nationalism to fester and eventually rise up again. I think nationalism should have been much more suppressed than it was, instead at times the USSR downright encouraged it, which in hindsight appears to have been a mistake.
I also think that the federal structure of these states contributed to their catastrophic break-up, and if the national republics had not been as given as much autonomy as they were, up to and including forming their own governments and ruling cliques, those break-ups might not have been as easy as they were for the traitors and national bourgeoisie of those republics, and the foreign forces scheming to achieve those breakups.
In all of these regards i think China has taken a better approach to preserving the stability of the unified state and ethnic harmony among the people. But we have the benefit of hindsight now of seeing the tragic result of the well-meaning but ultimately misguided policies of these first socialist experiments, which is why i don’t blame the communists of that time for making those mistakes. I do think we should learn from them and not repeat them.
We can’t close our eyes and pretend everything was perfect when we see how things ended up in Yugoslavia and between former Soviet Republics (not just Russia and the now Nazified Ukraine and Baltics, but also Azerbaijan-Armenia, conflicts in Central Asia, etc.). The idea of creating countries-within-a-country, which is what the Soviet and Yugoslav republics were, has not been a recipe for long term stability.
And while these were far from the only factors that led to the eventual breakups and wars, i think we have to acknowledge that they played a role.