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PaperclipPerfector  3mo ago (text post)   29427 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of August 19, 2024

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In short, it’s a myth that you had to be an activist or even a believer. Regular people despised both true believers and open critics of Soviet Union. This sentiment is even more true for the STEM professions.

It's not a myth, it's a simplification, and it's still accurate when contrasted with the pre-awokening West. Yeah, they'd let you work as a lower rank doctor / engineer / whatever, but that doesn't mean they'd let you advance beyond a certain level without enough displays of party loyalty, or that the lack thereof wouldn't get you shitcanned even if you were incredibly talented.

The important part is "displays of party loyalty". You did not want "true believers" next to you, when some high ranking general or other party member wanted something not exactly communist-like, such as expensive western gadget or other contraband. I think it is similar to HR ladies today - you want to have good activist cred by posting the right flag on your social media and all that, but you should also not interfere if the CEO has some fun with his assistant on his business trip. It's the same logic why Trudeau surfed through his blackface episode so easily - everybody just pretended it does not matter, because if you said anything, then maybe you would garner some level of (whispered) sympathy, but then find yourself suddenly redundant and replaced.

This is what is so comical about all the activists: the corruption and nepotism is not the bug, it is the feature of all these stupid systems. Communism was tried so many times and it always devolves into some kind of nightmare, often of fascist variety. It is because it is baked into the system.

Yeah, it was the "actiivist" part I was taking an issue with, not the "true believer" part. I'm also prepared to concede it's a peculiar definition of "activist" that I'm using, that the Western mind might not quite be able to grasp, but I struggle to find another word for someone who participates in all these totally spontaneous shows of support. "Ass kisser" communicates the level of cynicism and opportunism, but I think it only tells half the story.

Yeah, not being a party member certainly was a career barrier, but it’s not the case that you had to become a true believer if you became a party member. In fact, in the book author describes a guy who became a party member just so that he had more leverage to do really important things in his profession (sorry I’m fuzzy on details, read it a while ago) and privately even condemned the party. That’s also the case for the people in my life.

Condemned?

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