Soviet Russia was many things, communist was not one of them. They violated the ideals of communism in many ways. Here I will outline many of the common transgressions.

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Equality is Keeping What You Produce

The main idea in communism is keeping what you produce and being equal as a person. Soviet Russia (especially in the age ruled by Stalin) went against these ideals in almost every way. Once you look at every small detail of what the USSR did, you will see that it was a state capitalist dictatorship, claiming to be communist to stop the revolts. North Korea AKA the Democratic People's Republic of Korea does the same.

Classes Should Not Exist

If classes exist, you already messed it all up. Communism can be summed up in one sentence, a stateless classless society with no private property. In my last post I showed that Stalin more or less "owned" the "nationalized" infrastructure and thus had private property. Now how many classes did Stalin make? Eight, Stalin made Eight economic classes, based on the food and other rations given out. Members of the "communist" party were able to go as they pleased, especially into areas and mess halls only they were able to. They had far more control and resources, they became a sort of ruling class, a big red flag for real communists. Next came sailors, they got more simply because many thought them the "aristocrat of the Revolution"- Emma Goldman They were held above in both socially and economically. Next were soldiers, they got a large amount less than the sailors, but enough to survive well enough. The next were workers for the military, getting food and tobacco to produce weapons and supplies quickly. The next came the regular workers, divided into three categories skilled artisan, laborer and a few that get nearly the same amount of food. Bourgeoisie was the last class. Getting barely enough to survive and usually could not get a job or housing.

In a real communist society these classes would not exist at all. (A future post will be about real communist societies that have existed, as many on the last post claimed that ideal impossible.) Soviet Russia had as many classes as in capitalism, and even decided that way by the same reasoning as in capitalism. Communism realises that all jobs that are important to humanity deserve to be paid equally, based on how well you did the job, not what job you did. This alone is a difference enough to discredit the claim that Soviet Russia was communist.

Socially the Members of the "Communist" Party Were Held Higher

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Above is a membership card called a red card, it signified that you were a member of the "communist" party. This card allowed them to eat in a mess hall specifically made for them, get warmer and better cloths, if they were high enough rank even their own private dining room, and better housing for your family. In Petrograd Soviet (a capital city) the best hotel in the city was turned into a housing for the families of men in the communist party. This spread throughout cities in Soviet Russia until every city had housing like this, putting members of the party above everybody else. This caused anger and riots. Emma Goldman was there at the time and heard the workers. As Emma Goldman wrote what they said, “We don’t mind working hard and going hungry. It’s the injustice which we mind. If the country is poor, if there is little bread, then let us all share that little, but let us share equally. As things are now, it’s the same as it used to be; some get more, others less, and some get nothing at all.” They grew angry and many fought back, this caused even tighter restrictions on their rights.

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Kaliningrad - a castle "considered" for housing in the 1960s, blown up instead because it symbolized facism.

The goal of communism is to abolish a ruling class. Instead in Soviet Russia they tricked the masses and the only thing that changed was the names. In communism all people must have equal rights. If a ruling class exists at all it can not be considered communist, even if it calls itself that.

Before the Russian Fake-Communist Revolution

During the revolution the proletariat in many places achieved small-scale communism. They appropriated land of the rich and made it into communal (common ownership) land. They grew food in the country and in the city they distributed goods and manufactured. However, that changed when the soon to be Soviet Russia's government forces built a military. Workers unions had formed unions which just became another unit in the massive governmental movement. Any who tried to stop it were labeled "anti-revolutionary" and many were killed or exiled. They crushed all opposing parties and created a state soon to be known as the Soviet Union. Labor unions that workers once relied upon simply became transmitters for the orders of the state. They took control of the lives of the people, all because of their interpretation of Marx, distrust the masses. It was so close to real communism, but the people were tricked and unprepared after the revolution. They did not expect those calling themselves communist to imprison them in the same sort of system they broke out of.

They built up the military and destroyed many villages near them. Wars and the destruction of farms caused a great famine. This allowed them to gain an even tighter control of the people. The people worked as hired men on their own won property. The government set the prices and the government decided who would get paid what. This was one of the greatest failures of the 20th century.
They even changed the definition of traitor to::

“Any acts committed by citizens of the U.S.S.R. detrimental to the military forces of the U.S.S.R., its independence or the inviolability of its territory, such as espionage, betrayal of military or state secrets, going over to the side of the enemy, fleeing to a foreign country or flight [this time the word used means airplane flight] to a foreign country.”- The USSR lawbooks

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Any traitor is exiled or shot with all his property taken away. Anybody doing anything detrimental is now a traitor and would be shot or exiled. This decree from 1935 is far from what it was like before the state took power. The USSR was formed out of many countries that could not survive Nazi Germany and/or America alone. Its iron grip over the media and the people allowed it to lie in any way it wished to keep the people from revolting. The intentions in the very beginning may have been good, but they may have just been power hungry capitalists wishing to take advantage of any people they can trick and control.

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More reading

https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/emma-goldman-there-is-no-communism-in-russia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communism

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Soviet_Federative_Socialist_Republic

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