The Bolshevik revolution and the present day

There is a Chinese curse which says “May he live in interesting times.” I cannot help thinking that I do live in interesting times. 

Since I lived in a country that promoted itself as the leader in the fight for social justice and equality and claimed to be the worker's paradise, I cannot help but notice some very similar trends taking place in the Western democracies now. The country that I grew up in does not exist now, but the memory of what was done to lives of millions of people during the decades of its existence still looms large.  

Simplistic arguments, polarization of opinion, half truths etc. Perhaps the ubiquitousness of mass media makes these things more available and more in your face presently, but the essence of this is the same or very similar as it was in the pre-revolutionary Russia in say 1912 when the Bolsheviks discarded many social democratic ideas and took their own path: "who is not with us is against us!". 

Currently, the  Alt-right got it (Steve Bannon and his "Movement" is now in Trisulti Monastery, Italy - all geared up to influence the upcoming European elections); extreme left got it (see this video about one of the most elite US universities); victimhood and suffering is being weaponized and is being used as a tool to stifle meaningful discussion. 

Let me finish with a quote for pondering over; it illustrates where this quest for a "better" society by any means has led some countries in the past:

"Above all else, the Soviet way of life refers to the general atmosphere that shapes the Soviet man: his materialist worldview, his subconscious, his political intolerance, his double moral standards and his doublethink. It also refers to his subservience to authority and his leader-worship. The peculiar character traits of the Soviet man have been processed, polished, and assembled on the conveyor belt of the socialist machine that works by simple and crude rules:"he who is not with us is against us" (kto ne s nami - tot protiv nas); "if the enemy does not surrender, he has to be annihilated" (esli vrag ne sdaetsya - ego unichtozhayut); "Whatever serves communism is true and just" (pravdivo i spravedlivo vse chto sluzhit kommunizmu); "the great goal justifies any means" (velikaya tsel opravdyvaet lyubye sredstva.)"

- Encyclopaedia of Soviet Life edited by Ilya Zemtsov (ISBN-10: 0887383505)