The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 was supposed to be proof that socialism cannot work. The tiny minority of multi-millionaires that run the world have been trying to drive home a “lesson” to young people and workers ever since – that there is no alternative to the inequality, poverty, and chaos of the market; that global capitalism is the only system that can work. They want us to believe that any attempt to get rid of capitalism would end in dictatorship, bread queues, and eventual collapse; just like what happened in Russia.

The system, however, that collapsed in Russia in 1991 was not socialist. Despite all the red flags, the red stars, and all the statues of Lenin, it was a million miles from socialism. By 1991, the rulers of the Soviet Union had trampled on every one of the principles of the socialist revolution led by Lenin and Trotsky in 1917.

The Soviet Union was not socialist; it was Stalinist.

What’s the difference? It’s hard to know where to start…
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