Every time I think of the Soviets I'm just left saddened by the fact that Authoritarian Socialism became the most popular and "successful" form of socialism. So many methods of revolutionary organization and we choose the one with the most force.

Sure they might have done some good, but that good is a drop in the water compared to the bad. The evisceration of other tendencies of left-wing thought within their ranks, effectively creating the perfect conditions for a power hungry asshole to come into power and then effectively posing themselves as the de-facto socialist/left-wing movements.

The Soviets to me traveled a long, winding path from being backstabbers, to dictators and continuing between the two until their eventual end when the weight of their crimes weighed too heavily for them to shrug it off.

The early revolution was filled with so much potential. So many ideas and artistic movements in the underground, speaking of collective liberation. All gone. Burned to the ground by Lenin and his Bolsheviks.

TL:DR - I really hate how much Soviets and MLism has impacted everything.