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In "classical liberal terms" laissez-faire capitalism already proved itself as a total failure during the age of the Great Depression.
That's actually propaganda from the radical left who exploit the GD to attack Capitalism. This is the "useful" part of the idiots Lenin was talking about.
Delving into the GD's causes and history would be a gross detraction from the topic.
As I've said - I've never read Lenin and not going to change my habits now, however when I read the reviews there - ( to quote one of them - )
"Lenin believes, again rightfully so, that members of an industrial and productive monopoly will begin to sit on the board of directors, intermingle with, and holds strong ties, with monopoly banks, or those that garner profit via `Finance Capital.' Again, this is no surprise today. If you analyze who sits on the board of most of Wall Street's banks, along with GE, Lockheed Martin, Shell, etc, you'll find the same names cropping up. Thus, there is no real democracy in this `free market,' there is influence and oligarchy. A financial oligarchy to be precise."
it's difficult to argue with this observation. Things are coming to complete the full circle.
Correct. Lenin was also a "consequent" Marxist, who observed that Govt is a political instrument of the economical ruling class.
Therefore, oligarchs and Govt are two sides of the same coin, and feed off each other, in a rising spiral of power.
That's is why the concept of a limited Govt, with only specific and enumerated powers (and no more), with checks and balances, a fractured Govt partitioned in three independent branches, with opposite interests, and even designing a local Govt antagonizing the central Govt -- remains the most cutting edge, innovative barrier to all-too-powerful central Govt that oligarchs can use to further their interest and exploit the working class.
This is the design of the US Constitution, which has been under attack by oligarchs since its inception, and it getting more vicious.
If you are on 3rd grade, and I am on 8th grade, why shouldn't I teach you? Don't take this as condescending, but why shouldn't Russians learn from more civilized societies?
"To learn" as in what?
Why do you think they were willing to don the threat of Communism to the "civilized world," why do you think they voted for Yeltsin, why do you think they've let their guard down? Precisely because they wanted to live like "more civilized societies." So what they've got in return - are you aware of it?
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Many EE countries did this. EE students and intelligentsia went to revolution because they wanted to become like "Western Europe" or "USA."
I repeat to you again - the E.E. countries were the small fish to fry, they never had any political strength/value in modern history and were mostly used as a "buffer zone" between Russian and German interests. Under the circumstances they were regarded as a future convenient cheap labor supply for German capital and ( yet again) a possibility to expand the borders of NATO.
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They looked up to a more advanced society, and said "hey, we want to become like them." It has actually worked well for many of them.
Yes, it worked the best for the four countries of the "Visegrad group" as I've already said, because Germans took what they could get under the circumstances and they showed a very Christian and benevolent side of their nature. This means that they didn't treat these four as their slave labor, but allowed them to share in prosperity the way Germans knew it, not denying the social aspect to their newly-acquired "economic extension."
However it was not a case with Russia and Russians, where Americans got in to "arrange the changes." Their ideas towards Russia were quite different not only in terms of "money to be made" for their corporations, but in terms of breaking that country apart in the long run. Under these *arrangements* Russians ( I am talking about your average people, not the small percentage of "liberals" on top, serving their new masters from overseas) so the majority of Russians got a very rotten deal, they were simply duped and lied to by both their so-called "new "liberal" elite" and Americans alike. To which the reaction soon followed. The rest is a history, I'll let you now listen to ( and enjoy) what Russians in Russia think, coming to their own conclusions through their own Russian ways of mind)))
That's actually propaganda from the radical left who exploit the GD to attack Capitalism. This is the "useful" part of the idiots Lenin was talking about.
"The phrase is often attributed to Lenin in the West. However, in a 1987 article, American journalist William Safire noted that a Library of Congress librarian had not been able to find the phrase in Lenin's works.[1] The book They Never Said It also suggests the attribution is false.[2"
This expression ( when translated into Russian) doesn't even sound right.
So think ( and check) before you are pushing propaganda of the "radical right."
"The phrase is often attributed to Lenin in the West. However, in a 1987 article, American journalist William Safire noted that a Library of Congress librarian had not been able to find the phrase in Lenin's works.[1] The book They Never Said It also suggests the attribution is false.[2"
This expression ( when translated into Russian) doesn't even sound right.
So think ( and check) before you are pushing propaganda of the "radical right."
I don't need to think or check anything. I have read and studied Lenin extensively.
Wikipedia is wrong, as often is the case. If you read Lenin's works about Revisionism you'll find that "useful idiot" is a common expression and notion.
Lenin's October Revolution stumped Russia's transition from an agrarian / feudal society into an industrialized / Capitalist society. This is Lenin's own analysis BTW.
Yes it did. The only part you forget to take in account is that Russia already had a semi-colonial status in Europe, comparably to more advanced Western countries, and was risking to become yet another European full-fledged colony. If Russia existed in the vacuum, it would have had plenty of time for all the wonderful "transitions." But in the developing capitalist world where the logo was "eat or be eaten," it didn't have such luxury. That's why that Soviet revolution ( or whatever it has been called) and severance of financial ties to the West implemented by the new government was quite justified.
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Nevertheless, when you claim that your thinking is representative of what other 150 millions Russians think, it is "scary" whether you're wrong or right.
As I've said - enjoy the reality of things now. The rest is history.
Smarta***ness of American kind back in the nineties is not going to play out very well.
Not with the Russians - no, and it's not like Americans haven't been warned throughout history)))
Yes it did. The only part you forget to take in account is that Russia already had a semi-colonial status in Europe, comparably to more advanced Western countries, and was risking to became yet another European full-fledged colony. If Russia existed in the vacuum, it would have had plenty of time for all the wonderful "transitions." But in the developing capitalist world where the logo was "eat or be eaten," it didn't have such luxury. That's why that Soviet revolution ( or whatever it has been called) and severance of financial ties to the West implemented by the new government was quite justified.
The decade of 1910 wasn't the era of colonialism in EE. It was the era of empire collapses, independence and secularism. Militarily Russia was strong enough. Russia even tried to occupy Prussia during WW1, but Germans repelled it. Russian Army also beat the crap out of Austro-Hungarian empire.
Russia surely was suffering during WW1, and Bolsheviks saw an opening, were organized and went for it. Of course, justifications abound.
Smarta***ness of American kind back in the nineties is not going to play out very well. Not with the Russians - no, and it's not like Americans haven't been warned throughout history)))
Not sure who lied to you and said that you were polite, regardless of the out-of-context smilies.. BTW, I was living in Russia for part of the 90s, and still visit my old friends, so whatever I got from the 90s is Russian.
Russia does not posses sufficient clear and present danger to US as far as I understand. Putin and Obama got into a measuring contest like 2 years ago. In about 1.5 years our policy will change with the new president.
If Russian was a friend, I would be able to capitalize on my Russian, now only DOD jobs looking for Russian spies online, which I don't want.
There is global politics, polarity of the cold war was a world order, then Soviet Union collapsed and we found enemies in the Muslim world to keep our global dominance. I would imagine Russia as a friend is much more beneficial my safety as a US citizen. So all this spread of Russophobia is to whose benefit?
Russia has 2 countries that can potentially harm it, China and US. US has an economic relationship with China, while Russia and China are allied since the good old soviet times.... So from the stand of an average Russian, I would imagine that US is seen as the biggest threat.
If any-one cares about vote, i vote Russian... meaning if you ask me as a US citizen, who is the biggest threat to my country, I would say the US (as in "internal threat").
Not sure who lied to you and said that you were polite, regardless of the out-of-context smilies.. BTW, I was living in Russia for part of the 90s, and still visit my old friends, so whatever I got from the 90s is Russian.
See, I never asked anyone's opinion on this matter, but if you want me to be *polite,* then don't go "look at us, good boys and girls Eastern European countries - how nice, how civilized and prosperous we are. That's cause we are so bright, so intelligent, so freedom-loving and deserving, this prosperity is our own accomplishment - ours and ours only, while you Russians are bad boys and girls, that's why you can't get any of it, and it's all your fault and yours only."
I have no patience for this attitude of E.E.ans, so once in a while a dose of reality is in order.
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what Russians in Russia think, coming to their own conclusions through their own Russian ways of mind))) 
