Socialism and the Cold War

Do you think the USSR helped or hurt the cause of the international socialism during the Cold War?
Personally, I think it was a good thing that the Soviet Union openly confronted imperialism, but I don't think that promoting and spreading socialism was always what motivated them to do it and some of the things they did were not in the interest of international socialism because they were not only anti-socialist in nature, but defamed socialism and communism.

oligarch wrote:

Do you think the USSR helped or hurt the cause of the international socialism during the Cold War?

It both helped and hurt.

It helped because it showed some important mistakes when interpreting socialism.

It hurt because it has delayed the stablishment of socialism.

oligarch wrote:

Personally, I think it was a good thing that the Soviet Union openly confronted imperialism, but I don't think that promoting and spreading socialism was always what motivated them to do it and some of the things they did were not in the interest of international socialism because they were not only anti-socialist in nature, but defamed socialism and communism.

Yeah you're right and it's because USSR wasn't socialist itself.

I agree with the above conclusion. Remember, prior to the Bolshevik and Chinese Revolutions most people in their respect regions of the world had little knowledge about Marxism. Lenin's speeches were explicitly targeted towards the uneducated population.