United Muscovite Nations wrote:War Gears wrote:
They fundamentally shared common ideological justifications and goals. Both were motivated by a belief that their countries were backwards and semi-feudal and needed a powerful state in order to modernize. Both wanted this powerful state to create a New Man who would embody the values of the regime. In theory and practice, Fascist Italy and the Soviet Union were much more similar than say, Fascist Italy and Salazar's Portugal.
Their fundamental goals were different though. The Soviet state's ultimate goal was its own dissolution and to spread its ideology throughout the entire world to end history. The Fascists wanted to revive national glory. The Soviets, moreover, didn't romanticize the past of their country, and never embraced palingenetic ultranationalism. The Soviet justification for hardcore industrialization was indeed that they were backward, but the goal of industrialization was to prevent the revolution being crushed, not to strengthen Russia as a nation.
I don't think that people dispute that their goals were different, but there are deeper similarities than most are aware of.
The Bolsheviks fostered the cult of Russian nationalism quite strongly, Stalin even approved of a film about Ivan the Terrible who was portrayed positively in his fight against the boyars.