The New Economic Policy of the 19th Century

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Lenon understood the failures of war communism in the 19 twenties and actually allowed a form of state controlled capitalism to come in. It was then stalen who turned the new economic policy into a betrayal of the ideal of socialism in one country, and attacked the peop as social enemies. If trotsky had won that battle, if trotsky won that battle, i think we would have had something that probably continued to look alot like the new economic policy. And, frankly, an economic system that doesn't look that different from the party governed capitalism of contemporary china.

This conversation takes a deep dive into disruptions. How do things change? The question is critical to the historical study of any era but it is also a profoundly important issue today as western democracies find the fundamental tenets of their implicit social contract facing extreme challenges from forces espousing ideas that once flourished only on the outskirts of society. Not all radical groups are the same, and all the groups that the book explores take advantage of challenges that have already shaken the social order. They take advantage of mistakes that have challenged belief in the competence of existing institutions to be effective. It is the particular combination of an alternative ideological system and a period of community distress that are necessary conditions for radical changes in direction. As Disruption demonstrates, not all radical change follows paths that its original proponents might have predicted.