I’ve just thought up a follow up question: given what you said, would you say Krushchev is an example of left deviation or a right deviation from Stalin (or maybe neither)?
(I have always thought of leaders after Stalin as a general trend of right deviation till Gorbachev who then just capitulated to capital with his final act but now I am thinking it is not so straight forward)
I would argue that it was neither. It was a deviation towards far less competent leadership. In my opinion, the main lesson of USSR is that you really have to make sure there are strong selection mechanisms within the system that ensure competent people rise to the top. This is where China does a far better job incidentally. I did a deep dive on that here if you’re interested https://dialecticaldispatches.substack.com/p/rethinking-governance-through-outcomes
I’ve just thought up a follow up question: given what you said, would you say Krushchev is an example of left deviation or a right deviation from Stalin (or maybe neither)?
(I have always thought of leaders after Stalin as a general trend of right deviation till Gorbachev who then just capitulated to capital with his final act but now I am thinking it is not so straight forward)
I would argue that it was neither. It was a deviation towards far less competent leadership. In my opinion, the main lesson of USSR is that you really have to make sure there are strong selection mechanisms within the system that ensure competent people rise to the top. This is where China does a far better job incidentally. I did a deep dive on that here if you’re interested https://dialecticaldispatches.substack.com/p/rethinking-governance-through-outcomes
Thanks again! Will add that one too to my reading list