As far as I could recall, it was just within the last decade this very lovely country of ours, together with its once peace-loving people, sundered by a grim rock called 'ideology and fundamentalism', leaving behind a grotesque rift that's beyond reconciliation.
What on earth has driven us so mad? Why cannot we talk the way we used to talk, treat any subject matter with patience and tolerance instead of hostility?
To me, this is great animation, original, coupled with commendable philosophical depth and courage. Just as I didn't expect this to be produced by a young lady, I was even more amazed how some venomous assailants could spit those foul words against such earnest efforts.
So, if this is really I-live-you-die enmity, let's better spell things out just to be fair. We must credit the Soviets fairly when we criticise them, or otherwise we fall into an ideological trap.
The late Soviet Union was of course without its faults (largely due to the fact that the world we live in is much less ideal a place than the founding fathers of USSR once envisioned), it took many extreme measures against guilty and innocent alike. BUT THAT DOES NOT GRANT ANYONE A MORAL HIGH GROUND TO PUT ONE OF THE GREATEST HUMAN AMBITION TO TRIAL.
There was indeed 'red terror' and Gulags in Siberia and so on. But don't get it wrong, it's just the dark side of power, and it is common to any form of power, be it legitimised by heaven's decree, by capital, or by proletariat. Humans are sophisticated beings, we never quite agree on almost anything. Therefore, to rule is to impose tyranny upon the ruled. This is the gist of power, to bend the will of some and adapt to the will of others. The intricate part is to define "some" and "others". When the Soviet Union was born on the debris of the fallen Russian Empire, there was profound sociological changes in Russia, which dictated a fundamental remaking of a society.
The extensive group of old Russian aristocrats and landlords suddenly fell out of power. They were just as hostile to the Bolsheviks as the foreign powers were, except that they couldn't topple the new government after losing the civil war. Need I remind you guys, the nation was at that time still in its infancy, allow me to draw a not-so-appropriate analogy: what happens to a lioness when someone threatens to harm the cubs? You know it will get bloody.
I think ethical consideration and moral judgment should be left out when one is to delve into the political side of humanity. Cheka (and later the KGB) was an evil necessity. No one denies the terrifying deeds it once committed, but it is equally, if not more undeniable, that a new sovereign power NEEDED such cleansing or otherwise the revolutionary regime would be long ago sabotaged and neutralised——extreme circumstances call for extreme measures. When the world is already a dark place, the only way toward the light is through more darkness.
The ironic thing is, however, that some of us are naive enough to attribute the cruelty of legitimate violence to the nature of ideologies and institutions. I wonder if they truly believe that those "crimes" are monopolised by socialist regimes. Do they turn a blind eye to secret police system and large scale executions carried by countries with different forms of government?
Today, twenty two years had passed since the USSR was pronounced dead. Yes, the Cold War has ended; yes, peace and economic development is the dominant theme; yes, liberalism and globalisation is the new Zeitgeist. But has our world evolved to a Utopia free from Realpolitik? You and I both know the answer is no. I've seen too many times Lenin / Stalin / Trosky / Mao vilified, stigmatised in the West, therefore negated of their historical significance and contribution to Mankind. That did not surprise me, for I knew it was necessary propaganda warfare in order to sustain the capitalist empire. But it is really astonishing and even painful to see many of our own comrades fall victim to such media manipulation and start to reject the very foundation of the nation, OUR nation. "Ignorance is strength", indeed.
Needless to say, the Soviet Union had unwilling committed many mistakes and created many humanitarian crises, but its existence was NEVER a mistake. In fact, quite to the contrary, it proves the existence of possible alternatives to capitalism (don't mention democracy here, what a fable). Its historical significance is in some way akin to that of modern China. I genuinely hope that some of you will wake up from the slumbers of universalism, from the sweet dreams of ubiquitous freedom, and face the cold hard truth that there are people out there, such as Jon Huntsman, who want to "take China down".
Too far-fetched. Since we are talking about Russia here, maybe I'll end this with a famous quote from Putin, an ex-KGB officer: "Anyone who doesn't regret the passing of the Soviet Union has no heart. Anyone who wants it restored has no brains."
