Comments by "" (@sir_humpy) on "Why I Love Great Britain" video.
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@michaeljones5069 , I read with interest what you wrote. Growing to my teens in the Soviet Union which was still an authoritarian state even in Gorby's years and maintaining an interest in Russian (I'm not russian, though) post-Soviet Union and modern narrative, I'm familiar with several claims that soviets and russians were and are still making about their contribution to the world.
Most of them are dubious and spurious (russian ballet, literature, music) or fall into technological discovery section (Sputnik and space program, nuclear and arms race etc) you've already mentioned. One claim though, imho, merits more attention and I'd like to run it past you. It's the claim that setting an example of apparently successful state management by the lower classes (yesterday's peasantry, low-skilled workforce) the USSR induced the Western world in the 20's and 30's to adopt progressively more left-wing policies like social welfare and universal suffrage to appease local proletariat and avoid the Russian revolution scenario. Now, if that claim is right, it means that the totalitarian USSR did actually, albeit indirectly, further civilisational change for the better for a lot of people. I'd be curious to hear your opinion on this.
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