https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumgait_pogrom
Sometimes tanks need to be sent :t34::t34::t34::t34:
The more I learn about the Hungarian uprising, the more tanks I become
Most people just know "There was an uprising against communism, and they sent in tanks to put it down." Never mind all the details.
"authoritarianism" means nothing more than use of power the speaker doesn't agree with
Glasnost would have been better if the CPSU had allowed freedom of speech and similar within the bounds of socialist ideologies, like liberals do (dissenting ideologies aren't outright banned, but seeing anything but forms of liberalism in the media and popular consciousness is very rare). Obviously, this isn't a sure fix and would have its own problems, but yeah.
Unfortunately, Gorbachev & pals were libs, so they went for socdems, libs and various kinds of horrible nationalistic ghouls. Which coupled with the chaos of the market reforms, guess who profited from?
Khrushchev and the other crypto-Bukharinites who succeeded him demonstrate why anyone who thinks you can dissolve the Dictatorship of the Proletariat before the victory of global Communism promptly needs a bullet to the head.
You might think communism sounds good now, but they took away my grandfather's farm and locked him up just for inciting a few mass lynchings
