I don’t think it’s strange at all to be honest. A lot of people who lived in USSR are still alive today, they got to see both systems first hand. It’s simply not possible to do the same kind of propaganda against communism in Russia as in the west. People talk to their parents, their grand parents, many younger people have lived through the clusterfuck of the 90s. People know that communism wasn’t bad from personal experience, and that’s not possible to erase.
Most people in Russia understand that capitalism is exploitative, and that the oligarchs don’t have their best interests at heart. At the same time, they realize now that the west wants to break Russia, and hence why there is strong support for the government. But Russians are not delusional about capitalism the way a lot of people in the west are.
Another huge factor now is the increasing integration with China. People can see how things developed there, and it’s not hard to figure out that USSR could’ve followed a similar path if different decisions were made.
Meanwhile, my read on the ruling class is that they like to highlight the strong image of Stalin while playing down his communism. This is a way to play lip service to the Soviet past while trying to dilute the ideology.
I don’t think it’s strange at all to be honest. A lot of people who lived in USSR are still alive today, they got to see both systems first hand. It’s simply not possible to do the same kind of propaganda against communism in Russia as in the west. People talk to their parents, their grand parents, many younger people have lived through the clusterfuck of the 90s. People know that communism wasn’t bad from personal experience, and that’s not possible to erase.
Most people in Russia understand that capitalism is exploitative, and that the oligarchs don’t have their best interests at heart. At the same time, they realize now that the west wants to break Russia, and hence why there is strong support for the government. But Russians are not delusional about capitalism the way a lot of people in the west are.
Another huge factor now is the increasing integration with China. People can see how things developed there, and it’s not hard to figure out that USSR could’ve followed a similar path if different decisions were made.
Meanwhile, my read on the ruling class is that they like to highlight the strong image of Stalin while playing down his communism. This is a way to play lip service to the Soviet past while trying to dilute the ideology.