Anarchism had zero adherents among the peasants, and barely had any adherents in the intellectual circles either. Bakunin and Kropotkin's ideas became popular and inspired long-lasting social movements around the world. The English peasants revolt in 1381 aspired to a stateless Christian commonwealth. And anarchism was popular among peasants in Italy and Spain.
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The leaders of the Russian Revolutions of February and October 1917 sought to establish socialism: a deeply democratic economic and political system where the employee/employer relationship is abolished, and where workers control their workplaces, the means of production and the government via the “free association of the producers”.
Instead the revolutions resulted in the establishment of the Soviet Union: an authoritarian state where the government became the sole employer and the state controlled the workers instead of the other way around.This then became the model for “communist” countries around the world.
Why did the Soviet Union fail at socialism?
What can we learn about this failure to apply to our political struggles in the present and future?
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