Thread:Vorknkx/@comment-3547390-20150204202730/@comment-1496755-20150318070348

Indeed - one of the reasons I chose to study Political Science was exactly because the subject can be so complex and intresting. Besides, it helps me understand the region's past and present a little better.

One of the crucial elements here was the shift in the Soviet Union's philosophy around the time of WW2. Originally, the Soviet idea of spreading socialism was by encouraging the "oppressed workers" and pushing them towards revolution. This method, however, proved to be pretty slow and ineffective. So Stalin came up with an alterbative - conquer a country through brute force and install a puppet communist regime to rule it. Of course, they would need some kind of excuse to do this, and WW2 was just that. The official reason for all this was something along the lines of "we are making sure fascism won't return."

"Fascism" was always used as an excuse, even when after it was (obviously) long-gone. Enemies of the communist state were branded as "fascists" and "Nazi sympathizers" for many years after the end of WW2 (even during the 1980's - 40 years after the end of the war). I've hard a curious story about some guy who got reprimanded at school because of some minor offense... and his own grandma denounced him as a "fascist" because of this. Imagine what happened if you had a more serious offense.

And guess what - this excuse is used even today. It is not uncommon for the contemporary Russian media to say that the West is "ruled by fascists".

The more things change, the more they stay the same...