Talk:Soviet democracy

message: Sources for "soviet democracy" from Google Scholar include:
* "Postmaterialism and the Emerging Soviet Democracy". This is mainly about demokratizatsiya but it could still be useful for a Legacy or Post-Soviet section,
* "Soviet Democracy, 1917–91". This is already used but it can be used more for a History section.
* Kronstadt 1917-1921: The Fate of a Soviet Democracy.
* Before Stalinism: The Rise and Fall of Soviet Democracy.
* "The Politics of Pride: The LGBT Movement and Post-Soviet Democracy" for a section about Legacy and Post-Soviet states.
* Romancing the Revolution: The Myth of Soviet Democracy and the British Left.
* "Defending Rights in Russia: Lawyers, the State, and Legal Reform in the Post-Soviet Era" for post-Soviet era.
* "Rethinking Soviet Democracy".
* "Soviet Democracy".
* "Do We Want What They Have? A Comparison of American and Soviet Democracy".
* "Arguing about Soviet Democracy".
* "The Soviet Concept of Democracy".
* "Lenin: Soviet Democracy in 1917".
* "Gorbachev and Democracy". Davide King (talk) 04:28, 2 January 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: , I agree. As shown from these sources above, the common name for the first proposal, as outlined by you, is soviet democracy; and for the second one is council democracy, which is indeed a separate subjects. I do not see how Democracy in Council Communism is a good name, including wrong capitalisation. The topic is not council communism but council democracy, which is a different thing and has been advocated by people such as Arendt who are not communists. I agree with your thoughts about "democracy in the Soviet Union" and "Soviet democracy" would be a better choice, for "council democracy" and "soviet democracy" are the common names for these two different and separate subjects. Davide King (talk) 19:24, 2 January 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Sources 

message: Under the definition topic, there is no definition given, unlike in the introduction. It deals with the political system of the post-WWII USSR, which wasn't a Soviet democracy according to the introduction, since it didn't know a recall system, nor an imperative mandate, nor the basic organisation of voters. With the 1936 constitution, any remaining elements (de facto already abolished via the monopoly of power of the party and the GPU) got abolished, and replaced by a caricature of Western parliaments (to paraphrase Trotsky).
The content of the chapter also seems biased and uncritical, since just not getting shot for expressing criticism is not per se democracy, the party leaders in many Eastern bloc countries loved to see themselves as the good leaders who care about their people. That's however not a Soviet democracy as outlined in the article, but what 19th century monarchs did. Socius sociologicus (talk) 11:30, 19 November 2022 (UTC)
replies: text: I agree. I think this article could benefit from having more information about more authentic examples such as Makhnovshchina. Charles Essie (talk) 21:00, 26 November 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  Definition 

message: Definition section lacks clarity as to when it is referring to the general concept of soviet democracy vs. when it is referring to the specific implementation of that concept within the former USSR. 24.25.214.58 (talk) 19:30, 16 January 2023 (UTC)
replies: text: I think this article should discuss both in detail as well as other cases such as the Hungarian Soviet Republic and the Makhnovshchina. Charles Essie (talk) 21:40, 12 March 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Unclear terms