Difference between revisions of "Soviet Union"

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{{group
 
{{group
 
|name=Soviet Union
 
|name=Soviet Union
|abbreviation = USSR
+
|abbreviation=USSR
 
|type=nation state
 
|type=nation state
 
|wikipedia=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Union
 
|wikipedia=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Union
|start = 30 December 1922
+
|start=30 December 1922
|end = 26 December 1991
+
|end=26 December 1991
 
|leaders=Soviet Union/Premier
 
|leaders=Soviet Union/Premier
|logo = Flag of the Soviet Union.svg
+
|logo=Flag of the Soviet Union.svg
|symbol = State Emblem of the Soviet Union
+
|description=An union of Russian-backed states led by communists. After a civil war it became the largest country and fastest-growing economy of the [[1900s]], and superpower from the [[1940s]]. Its 1-century history is full of mass starvation, Jewish influence, targeting by [[Bilderberg]], proxy-wars, and a lasting communist and cultural mark (including on other countries). Its role in saving [[Western Europe]] from [[Nazi Germany]] is often downplayed. Dissolved in [[1991]] into [[Russia]] and 15 other states.
|symbol_type = State Emblem
+
|symbol=State Emblem of the Soviet Union
|image= Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (orthographic projection).svg
+
|symbol_type=State Emblem
|image_caption = The Soviet Union after [[World War II]]
+
|image=Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (orthographic projection).svg
|headquarters = Moscow
+
|image_caption=The Soviet Union after [[World War II]]
|motto = Workers of the world, unite!
+
|headquarters=Moscow
 +
|motto=Workers of the world, unite!
 +
|sourcewatch=http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Soviet_Union
 +
|wikiquote=http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Soviet_Union
 
}}
 
}}
  
 
The '''Union of Soviet Socialist Republics''', abbreviated to '''USSR''' or the '''Soviet Union''', was a nominally socialist nation state on the Eurasian continent that existed between 1922 and 1991 with [[Moscow]] as its capital. <ref>Bridget O'Laughlin (1975) ''Marxist Approaches in Anthropology'' Annual Review of Anthropology Vol. 4: pp. 341–70 (October 1975) {{doi|10.1146/annurev.an.04.100175.002013}}.<br />William Roseberry (1997) ''Marx and Anthropology'' Annual Review of Anthropology, Vol. 26: pp. 25–46 (October 1997) {{doi|10.1146/annurev.anthro.26.1.25}}</ref> The separate Soviet Republics gradually became independent, meaning that the successor nation state, [[Russia]] is somewhat smaller in size.
 
The '''Union of Soviet Socialist Republics''', abbreviated to '''USSR''' or the '''Soviet Union''', was a nominally socialist nation state on the Eurasian continent that existed between 1922 and 1991 with [[Moscow]] as its capital. <ref>Bridget O'Laughlin (1975) ''Marxist Approaches in Anthropology'' Annual Review of Anthropology Vol. 4: pp. 341–70 (October 1975) {{doi|10.1146/annurev.an.04.100175.002013}}.<br />William Roseberry (1997) ''Marx and Anthropology'' Annual Review of Anthropology, Vol. 26: pp. 25–46 (October 1997) {{doi|10.1146/annurev.anthro.26.1.25}}</ref> The separate Soviet Republics gradually became independent, meaning that the successor nation state, [[Russia]] is somewhat smaller in size.
  
==Cold War==
+
==Official narratives==
The USSR was referred to as a 'superpower', often portrayed as locked in ideological and military competition with the other nation state to which that epithet was applied, the [[United States]]. Both were the leading producers of weapons of mass destruction.
+
{{YouTubeVideo
 +
|code=geKQnRx3-cc
 +
|align=left
 +
|width=500px
 +
|caption=The Soviet Economy, Explained - Asianometry
 +
|date=2021
 +
}}
 +
There are two official narratives of the Soviet Union.
 +
*One is its own, as the working class' own state and model society for a future world revolution. The narrative crumbled on its own as the government failed to live up to these stated ideals, with the large-scale repression under [[Stalin]] in the 1930s and 40s, and its failure to create sufficient economic growth from the late 1960s.
 +
*The other one is the Western narrative, of 70 years of uninterrupted terror and dysfunction. This is covered extensively on Wikispooks, as many of the people and groups of the [[Cold War]] were occupied, often covertly, in promoting this narrative.
 +
These two narratives tend to obscure another aspect of the country, its <i>normalcy</i>, especially after 1953. Just as in the West, people went about with ordinary lives, concerned about everyday life, getting good grades, regular careers, a better apartment, holidays, a new consumer item.
 +
 
 +
In addition, the Union started from a lower economic base and received a large setback when it suffered enormous loss of life and productive capacity in [[World War 2]]. Unlike its Western opponents, it could not piggyback on the resources from the entire third world.
 +
In [[1922]], the Soviet Union implemented significant monetary reforms, which included a plan to "abolish [[money]]" as part of their broader economic and political agenda. The country attempted to abolish [[private banking]], in summary, the monetary reforms in the Soviet Union in 1922 aimed to stabilize the economy and reduce the role of money in favor of planned distribution and barter. The ultimate goal of abolishing money was rooted in communist ideology but was not fully realized, as the Soviet government later shifted to a more market-oriented approach with the New Economic Policy.<ref>https://www.britannica.com/money/topic/New-Economic-Policy-Soviet-history</ref>
 +
 
 +
===Official concerns===
 +
 
 +
==Stalin era==
 +
====Labor Camps====
 +
[[Vladimir Lenin]] brought back forced labor of [[political]] prisoners in labor camps from [[1918]]<ref>http://www.bucknell.edu/x17601.xml</ref><ref>https://www.history.com/topics/russia/gulag</ref>, the "Main Directorate of Camps" internationally now known as "Gulag" became a system extensively utilized by the [[Soviet Union]], the Gulags soon became a useful tool in provoking and conditioning outrage against the Soviet government. [[Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn]] and his [[1973]] book ''The Gulag Archipelago: An Experiment in Literary Investigation'' became the first widely spread book by western Cold War front for its "insights" into the system of these secret sites, which caused it to be picked up by the public, becoming a widely used tool in [[propaganda]] by [[Shin Bet]] and the US  TV well into the [[2000s]].<ref>https://www.amazon.com/50-Politics-Classics-Freedom-Equality-ebook/dp/B00WDDQW7W</ref><ref>http://tvkultura.ru/brand/show/brand_id/32856</ref>.
  
 
{{SMWDocs}}
 
{{SMWDocs}}
 +
 
==References==
 
==References==
 
{{reflist}}
 
{{reflist}}

Latest revision as of 08:28, 3 September 2023

Group.png Soviet Union   Sourcewatch WikiquoteRdf-entity.pngRdf-icon.png
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (orthographic projection).svg
The Soviet Union after World War II
Flag of the Soviet Union.svg
AbbreviationUSSR
MottoWorkers of the world, unite!
Formation30 December 1922
Extinction26 December 1991
HeadquartersMoscow
LeaderSoviet Union/Premier
TypeUnited Nations Members.svg nation state
Interest ofBilderberg/1991, Bilderberg/1992, Bilderberg/1993, William Colby, Arnold Horelick, Annie Kriegel, Ernst Kux, Wolfgang Leonhard, Jacques Lévesque, Philip Mosely, Alex Pravda, Raymond Rocca, Leonard Schapiro, Helene Carrere d'Encausse
SubpageSoviet Union/Premier
An union of Russian-backed states led by communists. After a civil war it became the largest country and fastest-growing economy of the 1900s, and superpower from the 1940s. Its 1-century history is full of mass starvation, Jewish influence, targeting by Bilderberg, proxy-wars, and a lasting communist and cultural mark (including on other countries). Its role in saving Western Europe from Nazi Germany is often downplayed. Dissolved in 1991 into Russia and 15 other states.

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, abbreviated to USSR or the Soviet Union, was a nominally socialist nation state on the Eurasian continent that existed between 1922 and 1991 with Moscow as its capital. [1] The separate Soviet Republics gradually became independent, meaning that the successor nation state, Russia is somewhat smaller in size.

Official narratives

The Soviet Economy, Explained - Asianometry

There are two official narratives of the Soviet Union.

  • One is its own, as the working class' own state and model society for a future world revolution. The narrative crumbled on its own as the government failed to live up to these stated ideals, with the large-scale repression under Stalin in the 1930s and 40s, and its failure to create sufficient economic growth from the late 1960s.
  • The other one is the Western narrative, of 70 years of uninterrupted terror and dysfunction. This is covered extensively on Wikispooks, as many of the people and groups of the Cold War were occupied, often covertly, in promoting this narrative.

These two narratives tend to obscure another aspect of the country, its normalcy, especially after 1953. Just as in the West, people went about with ordinary lives, concerned about everyday life, getting good grades, regular careers, a better apartment, holidays, a new consumer item.

In addition, the Union started from a lower economic base and received a large setback when it suffered enormous loss of life and productive capacity in World War 2. Unlike its Western opponents, it could not piggyback on the resources from the entire third world. In 1922, the Soviet Union implemented significant monetary reforms, which included a plan to "abolish money" as part of their broader economic and political agenda. The country attempted to abolish private banking, in summary, the monetary reforms in the Soviet Union in 1922 aimed to stabilize the economy and reduce the role of money in favor of planned distribution and barter. The ultimate goal of abolishing money was rooted in communist ideology but was not fully realized, as the Soviet government later shifted to a more market-oriented approach with the New Economic Policy.[2]

Official concerns

Stalin era

Labor Camps

Vladimir Lenin brought back forced labor of political prisoners in labor camps from 1918[3][4], the "Main Directorate of Camps" internationally now known as "Gulag" became a system extensively utilized by the Soviet Union, the Gulags soon became a useful tool in provoking and conditioning outrage against the Soviet government. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and his 1973 book The Gulag Archipelago: An Experiment in Literary Investigation became the first widely spread book by western Cold War front for its "insights" into the system of these secret sites, which caused it to be picked up by the public, becoming a widely used tool in propaganda by Shin Bet and the US TV well into the 2000s.[5][6].


 

Events carried out

EventDescription
HolodomorAccording to many countries the Holodomor was a genocide
Shelling of MainilaA false flag used to launch the Winter War.

 

Related Quotations

PageQuoteAuthorDate
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine/Preparation“Russia behind the Headlines has published an interview with Gorbachev, who was Soviet president during the discussions and treaty negotiations concerning German reunification. The interviewer asked why Gorbachev did not “insist that the promises made to you [Gorbachev]—particularly U.S. Secretary of State James Baker’s promise that NATO would not expand into the East—be legally encoded?” Gorbachev replied: “The topic of ‘NATO expansion’ was not discussed at all, and it wasn’t brought up in those years. … Another issue we brought up was discussed: making sure that NATO’s military structures would not advance and that additional armed forces would not be deployed on the territory of the then-GDR after German reunification. Baker’s statement was made in that context… Everything that could have been and needed to be done to solidify that political obligation was done. And fulfilled.” Gorbachev continued that “The agreement on a final settlement with Germany said that no new military structures would be created in the eastern part of the country; no additional troops would be deployed; no weapons of mass destruction would be placed there. It has been obeyed all these years.” To be sure, the former Soviet president criticized NATO enlargement and called it a violation of the spirit of the assurances given Moscow in 1990, but he made clear there was no promise regarding broader enlargement.”Brookings Institution
Russia Beyond
November 2014
Madeleine Albright“President Clinton and I first met Putin before that

when he was kind of acting president at, this was an APEC meeting in New Zealand, and at that stage Putin was trying to be very ingratiating and trying to make new friends - he was still cold - and the issue about him is he is very smart and in these meetings.

He did not have talking points and he took notes himself. He also is somebody I have to describe this because, they actually did kind of a jazz concert for President Clinton and President Clinton's driving around and Putin was sitting there like this..no rhythm whatsoever.. and and (sic), but the thing that is interesting is how smart he really is and directed he was.

The thing that I speak to more is something that happened before, that in 91 when the Soviet Union had fallen apart I was running a think-tank and I was asked to participate in a big survey of all of Europe after the end of the Cold War, and we had questionnaires and focus groups and things like that, and the focus group I'll never forget, is one outside of Moscow where this man stands up and says "I'm so embarrassed we used to be a superpower and now we're Bangladesh with missiles". And what I think happened I write it not so easy not so difficult to really deduce this, is Putin identified himself with that person who felt that the dignity and the grandeur of Russia had been lost and he has is bound and

determined to restore that in every single way.”
Madeleine Albright2018
Eastern Europe“The great risk is that of explosion. Prediction is notoriously difficult, and in Eastern Europe more than anywhere. But on a sober assessment one can see a serious possibility of some kind of an explosion of popular discontent in four out of the six East European states over the next few years: Romania, Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. (Some analysts would add the GDR). No one can predict what course such an explosion would take, nor how the Soviet Union would react to it. A direct military intervention could spell the end of 'perestroika' not just in the country concerned but in the Soviet Union itself.”1989
NATO“Russia behind the Headlines has published an interview with Gorbachev, who was Soviet president during the discussions and treaty negotiations concerning German reunification. The interviewer asked why Gorbachev did not “insist that the promises made to you [Gorbachev]—particularly U.S. Secretary of State James Baker’s promise that NATO would not expand into the East—be legally encoded?” Gorbachev replied: “The topic of ‘NATO expansion’ was not discussed at all, and it wasn’t brought up in those years. … Another issue we brought up was discussed: making sure that NATO’s military structures would not advance and that additional armed forces would not be deployed on the territory of the then-GDR after German reunification. Baker’s statement was made in that context… Everything that could have been and needed to be done to solidify that political obligation was done. And fulfilled.” Gorbachev continued that “The agreement on a final settlement with Germany said that no new military structures would be created in the eastern part of the country; no additional troops would be deployed; no weapons of mass destruction would be placed there. It has been obeyed all these years.” To be sure, the former Soviet president criticized NATO enlargement and called it a violation of the spirit of the assurances given Moscow in 1990, but he made clear there was no promise regarding broader enlargement.”Brookings Institution
Russia Beyond
November 2014
Yuri Nosenko“The highlight of the event came when we entered an auditorium and saw a man onstage wearing a wig, a fake beard and mustache, and makeup designed to alter the angles of his face — either for his own protection or to heighten the Reagan-era theatrics, we couldn’t be sure. He was introduced as Yuri Nosenko, a defector from the KGB. Nosenko proceeded to regale us with tales of the wicked and bellicose Soviet Union, whose details coincidentally matched almost every talking point in the latest edition of Soviet Military Power. This was exciting stuff. For the better part of a week, we had been the recipients of dull presentations from DIA staff. Now we were listening to an actual acolyte of evil, whose indictment included not only the military elite but also the common people, and we soaked it up.
Nosenko, in other words, had been dead wrong....I should have been even more skeptical about my own government’s motivations for showcasing Nosenko.”
Scott Ritter
Yuri Nosenko
2017

 

Events

EventDescription
Korean Air Lines Flight 0071983 plane shootdown that killed Larry McDonald, who was interested in investigating the Trilateral Commission.
Russian Revolution

 

Groups Headquartered Here

Group
NKVD
Warsaw Pact

 

Citizens of Soviet Union on Wikispooks

TitleBornDiedDescription
Yuri Andropov15 June 19149 February 1984
Mikhail Barsukov8 November 1947
Lavrenty Beria29 March 189923 December 1953Feared minister of Stalin. Executed in 1953 with 6 associates.
Peter Deriabin192120 August 1992KGB officer who defected to the United States in 1954.
Oleg Gordievsky10 October 1938KGB resident-designate (rezident) and bureau chief in London, and was a double agent, providing information to the British MI6 from 1974 to 1985.
Nikita Khrushchev15 April 189411 September 1971
Victor Kravchenko1 October 190525 February 1966
Vladimir Kuzichkin1947Soviet KGB officer who defected to the Tehran Station of the British secret intelligence service in 1982.
Alexander Litvinenko30 August 196223 November 2006An exiled Russian spook turned whistleblower who died of polonium poisoning in London.
Stanislav Lunev1946The highest-ranking GRU officer to defect from Russia to the United States.
Oleg Lyalin24 June 193712 February 1995Soviet agent who defected from the KGB.
Vladimir Pasechnik12 October 193715 November 2001Senior Soviet biologist and maker of biological weapons who defected to the United Kingdom in 1989. May have been killed by British deep state in 2001.
Alexander Principalov19499 April 1997KGB officer who might have sold the entire archive of East German agents in Western Europe to the CIA after the collapse of the Eastern Bloc. Died a few years later of mysterious heart attack sitting in his car.
Boris Georgiyevich Rotov15 October 19295 September 1978Ordained in 1960 at the age of 31, the youngest bishop in the Christian world. Russian Orthodox metropolitan of Leningrad until his sudden death at age 48 after drinking a cup of coffee at the Vatican.
Arkady Shevchenko11 October 193028 February 1998Soviet diplomat, the highest-ranking Soviet official to defect to the West.
Josef Stalin18 December 18785 March 1953
Viktor Suvorov20 April 1947Former Soviet GRU officer who is the author of non-fiction books about World War II, the GRU and the Soviet Army, as well as fictional books about the same and related subjects.
Boris Vinogradov19091938Soviet spook who in 1934 seduced and recruited Martha Dodd, the daughter of William Edward Dodd, the United States ambassador in Germany.
Ingrid Rimland Zundel22 May 193612 October 2017

 

Events Participated in

EventStartEndLocation(s)Description
1980s Afghan war24 December 197915 February 1989AfghanistanAnother episode of the Soviet Union and US imploding a third world country from inside by fuelling a civil war with weapon smuggling. Afghanistan has yet to recover.
Whiskey on the RocksSweden
Karlskrona
Soviet submarine that ran aground on the south coast of Sweden in 1981
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References

  1. Bridget O'Laughlin (1975) Marxist Approaches in Anthropology Annual Review of Anthropology Vol. 4: pp. 341–70 (October 1975)Error: Bad DOI specified!.
    William Roseberry (1997) Marx and Anthropology Annual Review of Anthropology, Vol. 26: pp. 25–46 (October 1997)Error: Bad DOI specified!
  2. https://www.britannica.com/money/topic/New-Economic-Policy-Soviet-history
  3. http://www.bucknell.edu/x17601.xml
  4. https://www.history.com/topics/russia/gulag
  5. https://www.amazon.com/50-Politics-Classics-Freedom-Equality-ebook/dp/B00WDDQW7W
  6. http://tvkultura.ru/brand/show/brand_id/32856