Terrance of trillbilly's has been talking about this a lot lately since he's been reading a book on the subject. I really disagree with his offhanded takes on how this is socialism in one country's failing and the fault of Comintern policies, but it is interesting to hear how a bunch of socialists who still kept a liberal mindset felt they could just establish this utopia and not do the same shit other colonizers did. There is a reason Stalin was so opposed to this for a long time, gave it a try, and then reverted real fast.