The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union -- Lessons for Socialists
The Socialist Program with Brian Becker
The Socialist Program
4.7 • 587 Ratings
🗓️ 9 December 2021
⏱️ 65 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Russian Revolution in 1917 brought the Bolsheviks to power. For the first time in history the working class seized and held state power. What was the experience of the Soviet Union? How did it change global politics in the 20th century? What did socialism achieve and what caused the Soviet Union to fall in 1991?
In Part 1, we explore the socialist revolution that brought the Soviet Union into existence and the civil war that immediately followed. Millions died defending the new country, defeating the counter-revolution but then facing the enormous task of rebuilding a nation devastated by war.
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In the first part of this series, Brian is joined by Carlos Martinez, author of “The End of the Beginning: Lessons of the Soviet Collapse,” co-founder of the No Cold War Campaign, and editor of the political analysis site Invent-The-Future.org.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Russian Revolution in 1917 brought the Bolsheviks to power. |
| 0:06.6 | For the first time in history, the working class not only seized but retained state power. |
| 0:13.0 | What was the experience of the Soviet Union? |
| 0:15.9 | How did it change global politics in the 20th century? |
| 0:20.0 | What did socialism achieve and what caused the Soviet Union to fall? |
| 0:25.8 | We need a new system. We need a new society. We need to demand that which may have sounded |
| 0:31.9 | impossible even a few weeks ago, but is not only realizable, but an imperative necessity. I'm Welcome to this week's episode of The Real Story on the Socialist program. |
| 1:05.0 | I'm your host, Brian Becker. |
| 1:08.0 | Today we're starting a new series, the rise and fall of the Soviet Union and the |
| 1:13.1 | lessons for socialists. On the first episode of this multi-part series, we'll be discussing the |
| 1:19.2 | context of the 1917 revolution, the civil war that followed, and the important and incredible |
| 1:26.2 | achievements of the Soviet Union. |
| 1:28.3 | We'll be talking with Carlos Martinez, author of The End of the Beginning, |
| 1:33.3 | Lessons of the Soviet Collapse. |
| 1:36.3 | He is also the co-founder of the No Cold War campaign, |
| 1:40.3 | and he is the editor of the political analysis site, Inventthefuture.org. |
| 1:46.7 | Carlos Martinez, welcome to the socialist program. |
| 1:49.9 | Thanks, Brian. Great to be with you. |
| 1:51.6 | Thank you. I read your book, The End of the Beginning, and I thought, |
| 1:56.4 | this is a book that everyone who cares about socialism should read. |
| 2:07.6 | And I think it's critically important for people who think they're socialists or want to be socialist or trying to understand socialism to understand the Soviet Union. |
| 2:12.6 | Because when we argue with those who say that socialism may have been a nice dream but turned |
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