The Anarchists’ fear of authoritarianism is completely valid. Nobody who lived under Mao and emigrated from China before the propaganda machine ramped up (before 2010) believes he was good, even though he was supported by the USSR. In fact, all the Chinese people I know are fiercely anti-communist, and I am a second-generation immigrant who is also fiercely anti-communist. (I support social democracy, and I hope that counts as leftist enough to be here?)
Besides, Mao and Stalin killed over a tens of million combined, and Mao’s cultural revolution caused the suicide of my grand-uncle, according to my dad.
You can also get a good idea what the USSR was like by looking at Belarus, which is arguably the former SSR that preserved socialism the best. After their leader, who thought that Vodka could cure COVID, was elected in a sham election, protests which lasted for months were responded to with what were considered to be human rights violations.
TL;DR Fears of authoritarianism are justified; and Belarus shows how the USSR was bad.
The Anarchists’ fear of authoritarianism is completely valid. Nobody who lived under Mao and emigrated from China before the propaganda machine ramped up (before 2010) believes he was good, even though he was supported by the USSR. In fact, all the Chinese people I know are fiercely anti-communist, and I am a second-generation immigrant who is also fiercely anti-communist. (I support social democracy, and I hope that counts as leftist enough to be here?)
Besides, Mao and Stalin killed over a tens of million combined, and Mao’s cultural revolution caused the suicide of my grand-uncle, according to my dad.
You can also get a good idea what the USSR was like by looking at Belarus, which is arguably the former SSR that preserved socialism the best. After their leader, who thought that Vodka could cure COVID, was elected in a sham election, protests which lasted for months were responded to with what were considered to be human rights violations.
TL;DR Fears of authoritarianism are justified; and Belarus shows how the USSR was bad.
Edit: removed inaccurate part.