Anne Applebaum and Sovietization

Now isn’t this a telling observation:

Sovietization was never simply about political institutions or social structures. Young communist cadres absorbed from their teachers the thinking of a new civilization, where anything not under the party’s control was suspicious, probably hostile. Because the party represented the majority of society — workers and peasants — building socialist democracy meant eliminating rival sources of power, real and imagined. Soviet officials in Eastern Europe were therefore perplexed when Western governments accused them of crushing democracy. In their view, only their methods could establish it.

That last part sound familiar regarding modern day leftists?  “Only their views…”

This is definitely a book I plan on reading.

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