An absolute banger of a video. Excellent work, keep it up!

Long live comrade Viki, who not only battles global capitalism but also their own demons at the same time.... AND IS WINNING!

So the USSR existed for 69 years? Nice.

I think, you've missed one important fact about Soviet elections: they were not just a "one-party" elections - they were a "one candidate" elections. Basically, the party had chosen the candidate, and the citizens were able to vote either for them, or against them. Also, the government made sure that nearly 100% of the population have participated in it, by visiting people in their homes multiple times before and during the elections, and reminding (and sometimes even forcing) them to go to vote (however, it's important to note that the ballots themselves were secret: the state didn't tracked *how* people voted - only have they voted at all). Source: My grandpa helped organizing the elections in the region he lived (no, he wasn't a member of the government - it was just his civil obligation).

**takes a piece of B R E A D and feeds it to the algorithm **

I’m glad to see you back homie, hope you’re doing better!

5:50 A lot of Western (and even some Russian) experts say the Russian legal system has become more democratic after its transition to Capitalism, but that is totally untrue... In the USSR, judges were elected officials, while in modern Russia, the vast majority of legal positions are APPOINTED by the PRESIDENT PERSONALLY. And some ''experts'' call our legal system ''more democratic than ever''. That is ridiculous. Not to mention that in the USSR there was a system of something like ''workplace courts'' which were mostly run by workers, so it was workers who decided whether to fire a person or to let them stay after violating the local rules. Now, on the other hand, it is the employer and the CEOs who have all the power.

This is important work -- even just showing people that the ussr wasn’t just Stalin yelling at everyone is a huge improvement on the average American persons understanding. Thank you 🙏 and I hope your mental health improves. I deal with severe depression as well comrade

You missed that part that workers could dethrone those who they elected in the soviets, the thing you can't do nowadays

Great to get you back! Thank you!

Well, technically there was no requirement to be a member of the Party to take pretty much any position in USSR. Although likelihood of a nonpartisan being appointed to any really high position was very low. Moreover it was a practice of the party control over the decisions of local officials and even economic bodies, so.... And GosPlan changed dramatically in its function between 1929 and 1956.

2:25 You have made a mistake. Trotsky was not drawn here. That is Yakov Sverdlov. He was a very important politician.

I have a small critique of you 'one-party state' argument. People could run as Independents or No-Party Members and they normally made up around 20% of the Supreme Soviet. Overall good video!

You did *not* have to be a member of the communist party to run - one could run as an independent, and roughly 20% of the supreme soviet was non-party for the majority of the existance of the USSR!

watching this video on 8/31/22, the day after President Gorbachev’s passing at the age of 91. being an American, i never understood how the USSR’s government worked - we were always told to distrust the Russians. i learned a lot from this video, and i think you for teaching me!

I'm glad to see that you are doing a bit better, even if it's just a bit, it is a process, I hope you get better as soon as fast and smoothly as REALISTICALLY possible. Great video, great visuals, best politics youtuber by faaaar. I plan to join the patreon on December.

>Trotsky >Human icepick stand Why you gotta do my man like this?

The farms were mostly also owned by worker cooperatives. This is why they were called collective farms and not state farms. Love your vids

Do I just discovered your channel. I've been getting more and more into the politics of the left. I consider myself a socialist now. I wanted to say, I love your content. I hope your mental health isn't making life too difficult because you clearly have a lot of good to offer the community. Thank you for pushing through these hard times and making great content. Be well, comrade

just found your channel. I'm currently learning more about different ideologies and yours goes in depth. I appreciate the information

What I find interesting is how many of these systems could be modified to work much more efficiently just due to modern technology. Communication has made it so that you don't even have to physically be at a location to have large groups, Transportation has made it so that distances can be crossed significantly faster, etc. A lot of the problems of the Soviet Union honestly just seems like they could be remedied with modern technology, of course the specific beliefs of party probably kneecapped progress pretty significantly, but the logistical issues of running such a government seem like they can be resolved pretty easily in the modern-day. And this isn't even to mention that the Soviet Union is a pretty large country, a geographically smaller country would have less of these logistical issues to begin with.

Great video

I believe a vanguard party is necessary but worker councils should also have a stronger roll.

How did you find work in the soviet union? Did you have a any say in what kind of work you did? How did public education work? How did you get into college? How did emergency services work in the soviet union? How would you get an ambulance or the fire department? How were the mentally ill or physically disabled treated?

God got drunk and said "Wouldn't it be funny if I made the USSR last 69 years?"

Good video, but on the "State Capitalism" point, there's also the definition being a state with a Capitalist mode of production with heavy state influence -- Lenin used this term to describe Germany IIRC -- and so some might make that argument because of the """generalized commodity production""" argument largely coming from LeftComs.

Gorgeous video! Thank you for the visuals, sometimes all the repetitive titles of state arms run together, and I found it increased comprehension greatly! 🖤💜💚💙💚💜🖤 Seriously underrated channel!! Much love to You, your Self, and your Channel!🐈‍⬛

Freut mich zu sehen, dass du zurückgekommen bist. Gutes, umfassendes Video (wie erwartet, natürlich) und ich freue mich auf deine zukünftige Videos. Ich hoffe, dass du dich jetzt besser fühlst. Solidarität Genossin! ✊

A few years ago i wrote a paper in university about soviet elections, if i remember correctly you dont have to be a communist party member to become a elected representative. However there were a comitee controlled by the communist party that decided wheter or not independant candidates were allowed to run for election, if i remember correctly many candidates, between the range of 0-35%, were independant communists/socialists. Non-socialists were not allowed to run, since it was thought they would try to undermine the road to communism. If you are interested i can try to find my sources, i still own the book but its sadly gathering dust in my parents basement so it will take me a week or so to get it... Great and informative video as always.

"Perhaps you have some third opinion and everybody hates you" Oof 😥 😅

A late comment. I missed your video in the feed, so I remembered to hit the bell for the future. It’s wonderful to have you back in whatever capacity you’re able, comrade. My wife has severe PTSD and bipolar disorder and I’m schizoaffective, so we understand how awful mental illness can be. We love your content and wish you all the very, very best. One love from the US!

Welcome back Viki

watching on the anniversary of the October revolution just to feel something

Regarding the Gosplan you have forgotten the most essential part of it: the FEEDBACK. As in, the factories informed the Gosplan what they could and couldn't do and the local Sovets informed the Gosplan of what the local people needed.

We're so glad to hear you back. It's great knowing you're feeling well enough to produce

Welcome back Viki! Please don't push yourself too hard to create content, but it's good to hear that you liked this video (and I agree it's visually really nice).

As another thing to note here is that: Just because a country does not have a system of voting for multiple parties, does not mean it isn't democratic. Voting works well with democracy, in my opinion, but does not have to be a necessity. If the people have the power, then it is a democracy. This does not mean that we should get rid of voting, this means that democracy has different interpretations and does not have to always be yours.

Human ice pick stand Lul I guess we know viki’s thoughts on Trotskyism

Im glad you where able to put something together you enjoy, keep on keeping on!

Very very very glad to see you're still around as someone who's also going through a lot of shit it helps morale a lot

the Volga German's ASSR was forgotten ;_;

All of this would have been better if the supreme Soviets met at least once a month and the presiduims abolished after the 60s

Great work, Viki! I'm glad you're doing better. The extra effort was definitely worth it.

Great stuff comrade! We can nitpick little details here and there but given the scope and complexity of the machinations you did quite an admirable job for a video under thirty minutes! My first time viewing your content and I'm now hungry for more! ❤❤❤😘😘😘😘🍻🍻🍻🍻❤❤🍻

US: the Soviet Union was a dictatorship Soviet Union: _complexities intensifies_

This seems to resemble the US government somewhat well

great stuff, informative and with enough critique to not fall into easy biases; also looks good which is a nice + thank you, be strong, best wishes :)

thank you for the video, it looks great and it's really informative!! I'm very glad to see you again and really happy that you made something that you enjoyed and that you've been able to remain sober best wishes

10:55 there was a whole movie on Malenkov's rule (well... really about the after-math of Stalin's death) called Death of Stalin

Welcome back!!!! ❤️❤️❤️

Viki even though I'm new here I am enjoying your videos so much. You're an amazing person and your content reflects that. I see how much you are suffering at the moment from your other video and the comment on this one and feel so much empathy for you from my own experience with mental illness. Keep fighting, you're worth it! You're also so cute and your transition gives me hope :3

It's good to hear back from you, comrade! I really like how this one looks and it was very interesting as information about the structure of the USSR is very rare, at least I haven't seen any of it on KZfaq.

I like eggs

You said in the video that you were "not convinced" that the USSR had a democratic system. I made an essay on Cuba's system in university, which looks to be very similar to the Soviet system. The system looks very democratic, especially since the administrative units are very small, making it very close to the residents of each area. However, the devil is in the details. First, the most obvious fact that you unproblematically mentioned yourself, the national congress is only in session twice a year, giving power to a smaller number of people. Every liberal democracy has an active congress that is in session frequently. However, the most important part is the one-party system. The essence of a party is that it consists of like-minded people who all think pretty much the same, who also have the power to kick out people who don't think the same. The politburo that examine and review all candidates who run for office makes it impossible for the people to make any meaningful changes to the system. Also, the lack of unalienable rights in the constitution gives the state power to silence any opposition through interference in the political process and through murder. It's easy for us socialists today to sit in our warm capitalist armchairs and read about the state-communist system and watch glorious propaganda videos and think that it was democratic and well-functioning. In truth, the soviet people were disillusioned and unengaged in the political system, and people were silent because of the terror that the leaders spread. I'm a socialist, but we need some basic rights and freedoms to have people that are happy. Let's not get naïve and forget reality.

Glad you’re feeling better conrade! Keep up with the good work!

Hey just found your channel! Sorry to hear about your mental health suffering comrade, I suffer from prolonged cycles of depression as well. Please be good to yourself, and thank you for making such awesome content!

POOOOOLYUSHKA POOOOLYEEEEEEEEE!

The one thing I envy about the USSR that the us doesn’t do, it looked so sick!

Daaamn, the quality of the video is amazing! You have improved a whole lot these past months! Hope you’re doing great :b

Amazing video as always! I hope you get better soon, and I believe in you; you’re incredibly strong. Thank you so much for your content!

nice

Well, well, well, that's a pleasant surprise for Halloween Best Halloween so far

It's nice to have you back Viki and don't worry when you want to put another video on, the idea is that it doesn't turn out to be some kind of alienating job. Well, I think there were two great historical tragedies for the USSR, one outside its control which would be its international isolation where it was blocked (because of the Failure of the German Revolution of 1918-1919 and where Lenin originally stood as the Russian Revolution as his prologue) to advance since there is a World capitalism that dominated (especially if its crucial centers such as Germany, France and the United States were still intact, that is, there was no labor movement strong enough to have their own proletarian revolutions) and that necessarily conditioned it, for example, to have A Red Army that was taking away great resources from a society that is under permanent siege and prolonging it in time would do it a lot of damage and the second big mistake in my opinion was to disband (and where it necessarily gives reasons in calling it State Capitalism is clearly very deformed ) of the base Soviets (those based on the Worker class specifically) as I mention in the video is the effective form tiva without the need to delegate Political Power to a vanguard (where the Dictatorship of the Proletariat becomes the Dictatorship of the X Party) even if they are the Communists (although they are important to give a clear political direction to the movement and in crucial moments prevent traps of the class enemy for example the July Days in 1917 in Russia would have ended very badly without their presence) of being able to control a State that Marx mentioned is the problematic heritage of Capitalism and a Post-revolutionary society that at all levels continues with all the extigmas marked by the class society and of course the other non-exploitative antagonistic social classes, even the Bourgeoisie has not disappeared (defeated and very weakened but at the first opportunity conspires to return) after the Revolution, that is why the aforementioned period of transition more or less long in time and necessarily on a global scale if you really want to advance. There are more topics to deepen, such as the Economy, but the comment would be long. I suggest some articles to search and deepen - Bordiga and the Big City - Marc Chirik and the state in the period of transition - What are workers' councils? (Part 1)

Glad to see you’re back. I really enjoyed this video! Don’t feel any pressure to work when you can’t. (:

This is incomplete. You completely skipped the fact that the USSR had uncontested elections. (Even with one party you can still have multiple candidates from the same party. Iran manages at least that much semblance of popular rule.) You also skipped how Democratic Centralism was carried over from the revolution to the post-revolutionary government, effectively subordinating the more democratic government to the less democratic party. A non-democratic party selecting single candidates for uncontested elections, and then systematically requiring those elected representatives to subordinate themselves to the decisions of the party leadership, de facto nerfs the entire political system and makes the party leadership the actual practical governing body of the country - hence why it made sense to call the General Secretary the "leader" of the Soviet Union. Those two factors contributed massively to making the USSR dictatorial in practice, even if it was a representative democracy on paper. People in the US complain all the time about how the control of party elites over the primaries, and their collusion with the corporate media to block 3rd parties from getting heard during elections, substantially undermines the responsiveness and democratic nature of the US system. I don't understand how the USSR can get a pass from some socialists for doing an even more extreme version of the same thing.

8:15 Source? Seeing how Stalin and his government had a big hand in the drafting of the newly implemented 1936 constitution just 2 years prior, which reaffirmed the Soviets as the basic organ of state power, and which stood until the 70s, I think there really needs to be a citation here or just any evidence. Additionally the only amendments to this constitution during the entire period it was active were to allow individual soviet republics more autonomy in their foreign affairs and UN seats, so I just fail to see where this claim is coming from.

Great video, I had no clue how any of this worked so thanks for educating me on it.

Hey man this video is a great sedative. Helped me fall asleep last night and feel very refreshed now. Thanks!

I met a lot of people during one of my projects from Russia and the other repulbics and i was really surprised that 97% of the people wanted it back..i was like wtf.. they told me that they felt safe and had everything they wanted till 1985... so actually the process of transition fcked them up .. so as Yugoslavia...

thank you youtube, this was a good reccomendation, trans solidarity sister!

Ayy support for you comrade, it’s nice to have the CGP Grey of the online left back in action. Love you!

I really enjoy your videos. Keep up the good work and be good to yourself!

This is really interesting. I think I like Soviet Democracy actually.

I was forced to eat cement in the ussr :(

Thanks Viki great video, I didn't really have a lot of knowledge on this so it was really informative and I agree its great looking :)

Informative as always. Thank you.

oh hell yeah

Bro, you are very good but my friend u need to study a little more. Start with these Webb's Soviet Communism both volumes Soviet Democracy and Russia without illusions by Pat Sloan Mike Costalo's role of trade unions Restoration of Capitalism in USSR by Bill Bland

Regarding the term "state capitalist," that's actually a term that Lenin used interchangeably with "socialist," and when people use it in the common parlance ("The USSR wasn't socialist, they were state capitalist!") they're misunderstanding what Lenin actually meant by "state capitalist," which was much more nuanced than just "the state becomes the new capitalist class" and instead refers very specifically to the way socialism, in moving towards communism in a ML system, takes on *some* of the characteristics of capitalist structure and methodology for socialist purposes. IIRC Richard Wolff has a pretty good video on this subject.

I have a question, how did housing and work exactly work? How was decided who lived where or who earned how much money?

Simple answer: It didin't.

Great to see a new video from you! I always wondered how exactly the one-party system was supposed to be justified as democratic and I finally have an answer. I still disagree with it, but at least I can see where they were coming from. Regarding state capitalism/socialism, I would agree that USSR economy was supposed to be state socialist in theory, but in practice, the party very often used the fruits of labor to enrich themselves instead of the people, making it closer to state capitalism.

I am so proud of you for putting your positive motivation into something so amazing! It’s so difficult and YOU DID IT! I celebrate you

Keep it up Viki!

Gütt

Bring back the Soviet union

fantastic explainer! happy to see you didn't gloss over the pre-gorbachev flaws of the system. The worker's Soviets remind me a lot of the Cuban system

Interesting video but I do wish you'd explained a little bit more about how the party's structure worked as well. That seems kind of important considering the importance of the party to participation in the government.

The 21 dislikes are anti revolutionarys

Answer: it didn’t Famine and poverty

Hi Viki, I loved this video! I enjoy your videos because they teach me so much more about socialism because I learn a lot better through videos like this then through reading. I appreciate your videos so much and I hope you can progress toward feeling better. As someone who has struggled with their mental health, ik how tough it can be. Thanks for another great video comrade

I'm really glad you're alive. Sorry things have been so bad lately. Thank you for being you.

THE QUEEN IS BACK

The capitalists: Nooo! Where's the gulags, where's the list of people to starve! WHY THE GOVERNMENT NOT DO STUFF???!!!

Best video of Viki, it's so great

Very informative video, thanks for making this. Be sure to take time for self-care. Hope your mental health has improvements soon ❤

Hmmmmmmm. I'm conflicted about this video. I think in general it is really informative but perhaps a disclaimer at the start would have been nice that clarifies that this is just describing the theoretical framework of how the USSR said it was being run, rather than the practical reality, which was, through the machinations of private interest, corruption, etc., far from the (albeit indirect) democratic picture outlined here. It's mentioned multiple times that there were systems in place to secure ethnic minority interests, but this clearly failed, and for the most part, Russia did everything it could to manipulate those systems. It doesn't need to be the main focus of the video, but a disclaimer would've been useful just to make sure the data presented is put into context. Not every video is under obligation to mention the corruption, manipulation, repression, ethnic cleansing and nationalist sentiment that plagued and eventually ruined the USSR and obliterated any positive leanings towards communism in most of Eastern Europe, the consequences of which are still evident today, but it's a little bit like me making a video about the police, and going "The police works like this - people are sent through training, the guidelines for which were selected by professionals, to ensure everyone is trained in conflict resolution and de-escalation as well as protecting people from violent criminals. They are given guidelines to always resolve crimes peacefully. Then, when someone does a crime, they're apprehended by police so that a team of unbiased professionals can come up with a suitable punishment within a legal framework designed for fair and just trials." None of what I said is technically inaccurate, I'm just leaving out the part of how this theoretical framework of the police is being used to perpetuate oppression both actively through corruption, bias, and ineffectiveness, as well as passively, via the fact that it was created and continues to exist in a systemically oppressive society.

Spoiler alert: it didn't.

That was a great video Viki

Viki, I didn't think you'd come back. It's good to see you again!