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For example, if a Communist Party of a certain Western democracy promises to preserve after its seizure of power the positive characteristics of Western democracies (including civil liberties and high living standard) in the country and to avoid the negative characteristics of the Communist (socialist) mode of life, which have occurred and occur in the Soviet Union and the countries of the pro-Soviet block, then only on the assumption of a complete absence of common sense, shocking ignorance in sociology and the complete disavowal of the facts of history is it possible to consider this promise as a contribution to the comprehension of the sociological phenomena.

Aleksandr Zinovyev#29

PoliticsHistoryDemocracyPromisesSocialism

About this quote

What does it mean?
A Communist Party promising to keep Western democratic benefits while avoiding Soviet negatives would require a complete lack of common sense and a denial of historical facts.
In plain terms
Such a promise is impossible without ignoring common sense and history.
What can you take from it?
Political promises must be realistic and historically informed.

Where it applies

  • campaign rhetoric
  • policy proposals

Putting it to work

  • ground promises in facts
  • avoid unrealistic pledges

Questions to consider

  • Can any party truly blend these systems?
  • What evidence would make such a promise credible?

Another view

It assumes all Western benefits are incompatible with socialism, which is debatable.

More from Aleksandr Zinovyev

  1. Perestroika is nothing but a spectacle organized from above.

    Permalink to quote #28
  2. Communism does not destroy and can not in principle destroy social differences among the people. It changes only their forms, leading social contrasts to the m…

    Permalink to quote #30
  3. The scientific approach uncovers, that Communism does not eliminate the inequality between men, the social injustice, exploitation of man by man and other evil…

    Permalink to quote #27

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