There are valid criticisms to be made of people like Stalin or Mao, but the moment that you start saying that things were worse than before your position is quite literally reactionary.
You're trying to claim that people in Russia were better off under the Tsar, which is absurd. People were poor and starving working as serfs (barely a step up from slavery), famines were extremely common, there was very little industrialization, and the government, rather than focusing on any kind of economic development or doing anything to address these problems, instead focused on shoveling people into the meat grinder of a pointless imperialist war, while the royals lived in extreme luxury. During the revolution, armies from nearly every major power invaded to stop the communists. Yet in spite of starting with a very poor country with massive international opposition, the communists successfully industrialized and developed to a point that they were capable of defeating the Nazi invasion, ended the constant threat of famines, and were able to challenge capitalist hegemony, and allowed an alternative for developing countries.
In China, it's the same picture. The corrupt, far-right Chiang Kai-Shek was preoccupied with two things, embezzling money, and eradicating the left with secret police and military aggression. He repeatedly backstabbed efforts to build a united front against the invading Japanese, who were committing all kinds of war crimes and atrocities, and had to be kidnapped by his own guards because of his unwillingness to focus on fighting back. The average life expectancy in China was around 32, right around where it had been under the imperial Qing dynasty. Famines were extremely common, and the farmers in China were some of the poorest people in the world. Once again, the communists faced massive international opposition, once again they triumphed, and once again, they developed the country and made massive improvements in people's lives. Life expectancy in China today is actually higher than that of the US - something that would've been unimaginable before the communists came to power.
Tell me more about how the peasants in Russia and China should've quietly accepted their lot in life, because rising up against the feudal nobility and the nationalists "only made things worse than before." Worse than before? There is no worse than before!
Lmao liberal.
There are valid criticisms to be made of people like Stalin or Mao, but the moment that you start saying that things were worse than before your position is quite literally reactionary.
You're trying to claim that people in Russia were better off under the Tsar, which is absurd. People were poor and starving working as serfs (barely a step up from slavery), famines were extremely common, there was very little industrialization, and the government, rather than focusing on any kind of economic development or doing anything to address these problems, instead focused on shoveling people into the meat grinder of a pointless imperialist war, while the royals lived in extreme luxury. During the revolution, armies from nearly every major power invaded to stop the communists. Yet in spite of starting with a very poor country with massive international opposition, the communists successfully industrialized and developed to a point that they were capable of defeating the Nazi invasion, ended the constant threat of famines, and were able to challenge capitalist hegemony, and allowed an alternative for developing countries.
In China, it's the same picture. The corrupt, far-right Chiang Kai-Shek was preoccupied with two things, embezzling money, and eradicating the left with secret police and military aggression. He repeatedly backstabbed efforts to build a united front against the invading Japanese, who were committing all kinds of war crimes and atrocities, and had to be kidnapped by his own guards because of his unwillingness to focus on fighting back. The average life expectancy in China was around 32, right around where it had been under the imperial Qing dynasty. Famines were extremely common, and the farmers in China were some of the poorest people in the world. Once again, the communists faced massive international opposition, once again they triumphed, and once again, they developed the country and made massive improvements in people's lives. Life expectancy in China today is actually higher than that of the US - something that would've been unimaginable before the communists came to power.
Tell me more about how the peasants in Russia and China should've quietly accepted their lot in life, because rising up against the feudal nobility and the nationalists "only made things worse than before." Worse than before? There is no worse than before!