> By the way, I agree with you completely that the
> Soviet era should be understood as a modernization and
> industrialization project, and not as an attempt to
> "build communism."
>
=======================
As should the Chinese revolution. But in fairness to those who led these
revolutions, they didn't separate the two but, like Marx, saw the
development of a modern industrial economy - in these cases, under public
ownership - as laying the material foundations for a future communist
society. We won't know whether Marxism was wrong or just early in its
understanding of the historical direction.