Finally reading Blackshirts and Reds, which is really fun. The chapter on the fall of the USSR basically blames it on a lack of treats. Parenti argues that workers were kind of lazy since the USSR was a workers' state, and that meant that the quality of consumer goods declined—which was also a result of the USSR being forced to build shitloads of weapons to protect itself from the USA. I think Socialism Betrayed actually made a better argument for the fall of the USSR (too much petite bourgeois scum created by Khrushchev), but Parenti's point is still valid IMO.
Also reading A Grain of Wheat by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, a book about Kenya's independence recommended to me by people here when I asked for anti-colonial novels, and really enjoying it. I started before the queen ate shit but it's become even more topical since then.
I think his USSR criticisms are the best part of the book. I agree that "fun" is a good way to describe him - his books aren't serious academic tracts but are easy and pleasant to read. But I think in left spaces like here there's a pretty significant dearth of good-faith criticism of previous and current socialist regimes, and it leads to some serious :brainworms: or at least leaves us open for not being able to sound serious about communism. Like you have to spend your whole life campaigning for communism like :parenti: before we'll accept criticism of the USSR in good faith, so we definitely need those voices. He does force issues in that chapter that a lot of comrades like to shrug off, but serious leftists need to take seriously - especially the part about cautioning against idealized notions of human nature around page 65.
If you are interested in further principled criticism of the USSR, Stand for Socialism Against Modern Revisionism provides the clearest explanation I have found for how the USSR went from Stalin to Gorb. Central to the analysis is the idea that the party beaurocracy lost its connection to the people and became a separate class with a fundamentally petty-bourgeoise conciousness.
FWIW the author is obviously extremely dogmatic but the framing has been a helpful tool for developing my own understanding!
Finally reading Blackshirts and Reds, which is really fun. The chapter on the fall of the USSR basically blames it on a lack of treats. Parenti argues that workers were kind of lazy since the USSR was a workers' state, and that meant that the quality of consumer goods declined—which was also a result of the USSR being forced to build shitloads of weapons to protect itself from the USA. I think Socialism Betrayed actually made a better argument for the fall of the USSR (too much petite bourgeois scum created by Khrushchev), but Parenti's point is still valid IMO.
Also reading A Grain of Wheat by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, a book about Kenya's independence recommended to me by people here when I asked for anti-colonial novels, and really enjoying it. I started before the queen ate shit but it's become even more topical since then.
I think his USSR criticisms are the best part of the book. I agree that "fun" is a good way to describe him - his books aren't serious academic tracts but are easy and pleasant to read. But I think in left spaces like here there's a pretty significant dearth of good-faith criticism of previous and current socialist regimes, and it leads to some serious :brainworms: or at least leaves us open for not being able to sound serious about communism. Like you have to spend your whole life campaigning for communism like :parenti: before we'll accept criticism of the USSR in good faith, so we definitely need those voices. He does force issues in that chapter that a lot of comrades like to shrug off, but serious leftists need to take seriously - especially the part about cautioning against idealized notions of human nature around page 65.
If you are interested in further principled criticism of the USSR, Stand for Socialism Against Modern Revisionism provides the clearest explanation I have found for how the USSR went from Stalin to Gorb. Central to the analysis is the idea that the party beaurocracy lost its connection to the people and became a separate class with a fundamentally petty-bourgeoise conciousness.
FWIW the author is obviously extremely dogmatic but the framing has been a helpful tool for developing my own understanding!
Very late response but thank you, I'll check this out.
o7 happy reading comrade!