A Russian Debate

Ah, the joys of debating!

I was finally able to put to use my previous knowledge of the Bolsheviks (courtesy of Russian Literature with Scott) in a constructive way. After reading Charlie's blog post which (I feel) accurately portrays the debate that went on during 3rd period, I have arrived at much the same conclusion. It was sort of inevitable that the Bolsheviks would win the debate, though I do have much respect for the Octoberists. More importantly, their paramount task of attempting to convince us that the Tsar would magically surrender his power made me think about a conversation we had a few weeks ago while talking about Italian nationalism, specifically, when talking about Garibaldi ceding power to the king in order to unify Italy. This is an example of a man surrendering power, even though he was not a "conservative absolutist ruler giving up power voluntarily to a liberal or socialist public." I still thought of him, while debating.

Similarly, as of late I've been thinking about communism and so-called "communist" countries which, somehow, have fallen by the wayside into despotism. Cuba. North Korea. China. All have moved away from traditional Marxist communism and I must wonder why. What changed? Wasn't the original intent of communism to give the government to the people? To give everything to the people? I think it's ironic that in removing capitalism (and the absolutist rulers) which stood in the way of the glorious communism, the very revolutionaries who sought to overthrow the system instead have managed to establish their very own dictatorships.