I was always under the impression that Gorbachev was a naïve optimist who tried to reform the USSR too rapidly, but failed. So how exactly did he screw up and how could the USSR have been saved?

    • usernamesaredifficul [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      that's part of the problem not everything Stalin did should have been carried on forever. If Stalin said to pass the salt you wouldn't build a salt mine and continue funneling salt at him eternally.

      a state needs to adapt to changing circumstances and it cannot do that if it follows the leadership of a dead man. Stalin when he was alive was a great socialist but Stalin's ghost was not a capable leader

      • Candlejack [he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        Like everyone everywhere, no one is above critical examination, this includes Marx, Lenin, Stalin, and Mao. They all had their flaws and their great ideas both. But no one should ever uncritically parrot everything they did.

        Cause not all of their ideas were all that great. :v But if they weren't capable in some fashion the USSR wouldn't have lasted as long as it did. A country should be lead by people who are adapting to the material conditions the people find themselves in.