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Comment by woodruffw | Hacker News Reader

> Personally I think we could probably trace it back to soviet infiltration of the university education system

What, not into our precious bodily fluids[1]?

This is a facile explanation. America’s politics and culture over the last 80 years have first and foremost been a reaction to the perceived threat of the Soviets. There’s no particular reason, especially as the United States remains remarkably conservative for a developed nation, to blame things on a country that’s been gone for over 30 years.

[1]: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=N1KvgtEnABY

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> There’s no particular reason, especially as the United States remains remarkably conservative for a developed nation, to blame things on a country that’s been gone for over 30 years.

The USSR is gone, but the CPSU is alive, and kicking under a new brand, more determined, aggressive leader, and as a highly distilled, more pure mafia than it was before, without even a pretence of behaving like statesmen.

What does one of Russia’s opposition parties have to do with the state of the media in the US?

Opposition? The true CPSU successor has recently won an election there, scoring up to 146% of the vote in some regions.

My understanding (which, again, is completely irrelevant to this thread) is that Putin and his party are still in complete control of Russia, at least in all ways that matter. But again, I fail to see what Russia’s myriad dysfunctionalities have to do with the topic at hand.

> I fail to see what Russia’s myriad dysfunctionalities have to do with the topic at hand.

I'll explain. See, the thread starter says that US now reaps the consequences from letting people subverted by soviet idiological subversion into the circles of power.

Then people say its all irrelevant as USSR is no more.

Then, I come here and tell to people to open snap out of this. The former CPSU is not only still around, but is even more aggressive, and concerted at idiological subversion.

Now, they are putting an even bigger priority on melding themselves into American political elites, and bureaucracy.

How many more Hunter Bidens are there waiting to join American political establishment? Hundreds? Thousands? Tens of thousands?

Tens of thousands?

I didn't realize that USA national politicians were so virile.

The CPSU was banned in Russia 29 years ago.

> The CPSU was banned in Russia 29 years ago.

And then then it instantly reassembled itself under a new name.

I think this needs clarified, are you be referring to the communist party or United Russia. The communist party has practical no influence outside of Russia and like most opposition parties, little internally either. United Russia is absolutely not Communist, statist yes, communist no.

> United Russia is absolutely not Communist, statist yes, communist no.

At some point they were 90%+ ex-CPSU members, and somehow they are still not communist?

90% communist, and still not communist? Well, lets call them 10% non-communists then, if you want.

> At some point they were 90%+ ex-CPSU members, and somehow they are still not communist?

So? China's actual Communist party isn't exactly very communist anymore.

I'd say the CPSU is dead, but some of its members who liked power shifted with the political winds.

I'm not as familiar with Russia, but it wouldn't surprise me if Putin's ideology is power-for-its-own-sake and nationalism, in that order.

> I'd say the CPSU is dead, but some of its members who liked power more than communism shifted with the political winds.

What is communism? Peace in the world, and utopia for workers?

Or more like mafia-serfdom-militarist system, where actual proletariat are put lowest of the low, and abused by everybody on the party ladder, and what USSR actually was for most of its history?

The CPSU never, ever cared for one, and even lowest tiers in the party were fully aware of this.

In this, it's true that the communist party of the soviet union never ever been the dictionary definition of communism (which they themselve defined) It was a cynical kratocratic cult without any morals.

I guess the point is "communism" was just a flag of convenience for those people, so it doesn't make sense to call them by that if they don't use that flag anymore, and especially if that flag is now used by others.

The CPSU was were anyone that sought power went.

There were people that literally read Friedman and wholeheartedly agreed that were in the CPSU.

Hell, Yeltsin was the 7th most powerful man in the CPSU. He wasn't much of a communist.

According to the excellent book "Putin's people" by Catherine Belton the people who are running the show now were more aligned with the KGB rather than the party.

> more aligned with the KGB rather than the party.

What was "the party?" The party itself been the puppet of:

1. KGB

2. Interior ministry

3. Military

Which were the real power behind it, and essentially were the source of CPSU policy, with ordinary low rank members being mere "shesterkas" errand boys.

So now what was the actual political force running the CPSU is now having an even more direct control of Russia, and without military, and MVD competing with them for power.

The CPSU was never even remotely the puppet of the KGB. The KGB had so little influence in the party that they weren't able to influence it without coups. All of which failed.

The Politburo was always the head of the party.

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