mrswdk wrote:BigBallinStalin wrote:mrswdk wrote:You can force people to change their behavior on pain of death, but you can't force them to change their values or beliefs.
The USSR had about 70 years to force its citizens into becoming good little communists, but the second Gorbachev said 'okay, we won't crush you with tanks' people started complaining and the USSR fell apart.
Well, applied socialism + military had a huge impact on their values and beliefs. It distorted markets (since they emerged in black markets), and when the Soviet Curtain is lifted, now what? "Do markets!" How? Like black markets? "No, legit markets." Huh?
It undoubtedly had an enormous impact, but that's still a change in behavior rather than a change in beliefs. Why else would people ditch the socialist system the instant they were given the opportunity, if all the enforced socialism had succeeded in making them support socialism?
. There was that belief in a liberal order through which people interacted in market exchanges, but that project for about 70 years was distorted, so we get a corrupted belief in markets and a liberal order (e.g. lots of people in Russia like their dictators; many believe in a somewhat subdued version of socialism; and the corrupted belief has led to perverse beliefs about markets). The beliefs/values have been changed.
Granted, in my opinion (1) nearly everyone wants to be free from the coercive control of others, so I agree that that value won't go away. Nevertheless, the more subtle belief, which stems from a vision of a liberal order, is (2) the absence of a desire to exert coercive control over others. I think the USSR rightly messed that up as do most democratic governments, which undoubtedly have changed people's beliefs away from (2).