The neoliberal rationalization at the time - and still used to this day - is that the socialist economy was so inefficient that all that pain and suffering was necessary in order to make the economy more productive in the long term. Which is a brilliant excuse (in an evil way) because it’s all unprovable and ideology driven.
My response to that is, just look at where the economy of the USSR was in 1991 and imagine they never break up and adopt neoliberal capitalism. Even if you assume anemic growth… hard to see how the economy still wouldn’t have been better under communism. And then you’d also avoid all that needless suffering.
Of course liberals just blame “corruption” on why the capitalist turn hasn’t worked out so well for the former USSR. It’s not true but it helps them not think about it any further.
The neoliberal rationalization at the time - and still used to this day - is that the socialist economy was so inefficient that all that pain and suffering was necessary in order to make the economy more productive in the long term. Which is a brilliant excuse (in an evil way) because it’s all unprovable and ideology driven.
My response to that is, just look at where the economy of the USSR was in 1991 and imagine they never break up and adopt neoliberal capitalism. Even if you assume anemic growth… hard to see how the economy still wouldn’t have been better under communism. And then you’d also avoid all that needless suffering.
Of course liberals just blame “corruption” on why the capitalist turn hasn’t worked out so well for the former USSR. It’s not true but it helps them not think about it any further.