>Following Stalin's view of the National Question, they
>gave the nationalities a lot of authority in their own
>republics. In the Muslim republics they liberated
>women
But that contradicts national autonomy. And the Soviets mixed up nationalities via migration, no? Sounds like a mix of autonomy and internationalism.
> and gave them real authority by treating them
>equally or better, winning the support of half the
>population. The other half (the men) they kept quiet
>by providing minimal but actual work and marginally
>adequate cradle-to-grave services. Finally, they ran a
>fairly efficient police state, rarely losing control
>enough to let things escalate to guerilla warfre.
You make a police state sound attractive, in this instance.
Sometimes I really miss the USSR.
Doug