Had the Socialist economy not been dissolved, growth would have surpassed what it is today in the post-Soviet countries. I’m not going to pretend that the economy was perfect, or that Kruschev, Gorbachev, and Yeltsin’s reforms weren’t harmful for the economy or that the immense destruction and genocide inflicted by the Nazis on the Soviet people’s did no harm to the economy either, but Capitalism didn’t “fix” anything. It allowed foreign Capitalists to freely plunder and loot what was a working system with its own struggles.
Had the USSR implemented reforms to its economy such as those done in the PRC, maintaining Socialism but allowing a more open economy for engagement with the world economy, the best of all worlds may have been achieved. None of the immense pain or misery Capitalism brought, while coupled with the growth Gorbachev sought to achieve through liberalization efforts.
Well… certainly not none of the pain and misery of capitalism, as they’d still be engaged with the capitalist economies of elsewhere and still very subject to exploitation from richer countries. The peoples within the country would’ve almost certainly been on a slightly more even playing field, though. For better or worse… exploitation CAN stamp on most everyone.
Fair enough, my wording implied the reforms of Deng Xiaoping were painless and not without their drawbacks. Certainly, some pain and misery would have come, but not nearly to the extent that the dissolution of the Soviet system entirely has wrought upon Eastern Europe and its connected trading partners in Cuba, Vietnam, Laos, the DPRK, etc.
Had the Socialist economy not been dissolved, growth would have surpassed what it is today in the post-Soviet countries. I’m not going to pretend that the economy was perfect, or that Kruschev, Gorbachev, and Yeltsin’s reforms weren’t harmful for the economy or that the immense destruction and genocide inflicted by the Nazis on the Soviet people’s did no harm to the economy either, but Capitalism didn’t “fix” anything. It allowed foreign Capitalists to freely plunder and loot what was a working system with its own struggles.
Had the USSR implemented reforms to its economy such as those done in the PRC, maintaining Socialism but allowing a more open economy for engagement with the world economy, the best of all worlds may have been achieved. None of the immense pain or misery Capitalism brought, while coupled with the growth Gorbachev sought to achieve through liberalization efforts.
Well… certainly not none of the pain and misery of capitalism, as they’d still be engaged with the capitalist economies of elsewhere and still very subject to exploitation from richer countries. The peoples within the country would’ve almost certainly been on a slightly more even playing field, though. For better or worse… exploitation CAN stamp on most everyone.
Fair enough, my wording implied the reforms of Deng Xiaoping were painless and not without their drawbacks. Certainly, some pain and misery would have come, but not nearly to the extent that the dissolution of the Soviet system entirely has wrought upon Eastern Europe and its connected trading partners in Cuba, Vietnam, Laos, the DPRK, etc.