As in your own words, “I hate to come down on a fellow comrade like this, but to quite blunt, this post is a hunk of shit.” I hate to do this but this applies to you.

First of all, this post made by AppleDash is full of contradictory statements, at first he correctly says that Enigma believes that Russia is moving towards socialism, that it’s not socialist, nor is building socialism, yet is coming closer to it by becoming more and more sovereign, building a centralized planned economy, achieving a dictatorship of the proletariat, etc., then accuses Enigma of calling Russia socialist, then switches back to saying that Enigma claimed that Russia is coming closer towards socialism but is not socialist and isn’t building it and then again accused him of claiming that Russia is socialist. This way we can see how our Comrade AppleDash is a living embodiment of contradictions and suffers from the lack of dialectical thinking, instead engaging in hardcore metaphysics and switching back and fourth in his contradictory statements

Secondly, the NEP reform that Enigma is talking about is NOT Putins reforms to protect small businesses and create more social proetction, instead, what Enigma is talking about is Putins United Plan (Единый План Путина), which is from August 2020 and not April 2020, whose intend it is to transform Russia into a centralized planned economy and return the Gosplan under a state capitalist economy (for now), which is what the NEP was

https://barcaffe.ru/v-rossii-proizoshla-tihaja-socialisticheskaja-revoljucija-putina/

Further, Putin has praised central planning before and said that without it WWII couldnt have been won in public, showing his support for central planning in both, his words and actions

"Then the economy. After all, why have they already switched to the NEP? Because even the prodrazverstka did not work, could not. It was impossible to provide large cities with food. Therefore, they switched to market economy, to the NEP, then quickly folded it.

You know, what I’m saying now is my personal conclusions, my personal analysis. Planned economy has certain advantages, it makes it possible to concentrate national resources on the implementation of the most important tasks. This was how health issues were resolved, which was the unconditional merit of the Communist Party of that time. This was how the issues of education were resolved – an absolute merit of the Communist Party of that time. This was how the issues of industrialization in its defense part were resolved. I think that if it were not for the concentration of national resources, the Soviet Union would not have been able to prepare for war with Nazi Germany. And there would be a great probability of defeat with catastrophic consequences for our statehood, for the Russian people and other peoples of the Soviet Union. Therefore, these are all absolute advantages. But in the end, insensitivity to changes, insensitivity to technological revolutions, to new technological ways led to the collapse of the economy." -Putin http://kremlin.ru/events/president/news/51206

Later on our confused comrade AppleDash goes on to say that South Korea also had central planning, thus making central planning a phenomenon not solely used by socialist and socialist-orientated states only. True, capitalist countries can also have central planning, however, capitalist countries cant have centralized planned economies for long periods of time as Marx and Engels said in Capital Volume III, and is rather incompatible with capitalist economic mechanisms

From the Third volume of Capital, “All thought of a common, all-embracing and far-sighted control of the production of raw materials gives way once more to the faith that demand and supply will mutually regulate one another. And it must be admitted that such control is on the whole irreconcilable with the laws of capitalist production, and remains for ever a pious wish, or is limited to exceptional co-operation in times of great stress and confusion.”

Central planning is only used by capitalist countries for short periods of time, such as total massive crises and war, this, however, does not apply to Russia right now, especially not in August 2020. Russia is not facing a major crisis of the likes of the Great Depression unlike the Weimar Republic/the 3rd Reich and is not having a direct war on its territory with someone, especially not in 2020 or 2021. Thus, Russia is building a centralized planned economy not to avoid devastation, but to come closer to socialism

Further, I like to mention that all large enterprises are nationalized in Russia. People often forget that 99.2% of enterprises in Russia are small enterprises, which Putin wants to keep private, which is totally fine, even under socialism

Thirdly, Comrade AppleDash mistakens Enigma’s claims of Russia being a dictatorship of the proletariat being solely based on the bourgeoisie opposing the Russian special military operation in Ukraine. Though, that’s one reason, ALL Russian bourgeois billionaires (with the exception of three, that being Yuri Kovalchuk, Gennady Tymchenko and Sergey Chemezov) all openly oppose Putin now for starting the special military operation. The bourgeoisie in Russia DO NOT want this special military operation, but the workers and the peasants, the 99%, the people want it. So, by starting this military operation, Russia is going AGAINST the interests of the bourgeosie and is acting according to the workers of Russia. I wouldn’t use this so much as a reason as Enigma does regardless.

What bigger proof there is of the bourgeosie is Putin openly claiming that Russia is a “Soviet-style workers state”

“We have had it for a long time, they always said that the working class is the leading political force in our country. It was a Soviet stamp, but in fact it is,” TASS quoted Putin as saying at a meeting with workers and builders of the new Tsemix dry building mixes plant in Bashkiria."

“Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the working class is a political force in Russia.” https://russian.rt.com/russia/news/893534-rabochie-putin-rossiya

Further, Putin said that the oligarchs should have no influence on decision-making https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/815691480353996881/957009287908036649/Screenshot_20210308-000617-1.png

And Putin and Peskov are claiming that there is no oligarchy in Russia anymore, and that they have no political influence anymore

“In the spring of 2020, President Vladimir Putin explained the difference between oligarchs from the 1990s and modern ones. According to him, in the past decades, oligarchs could influence decisions made by the state in matters of domestic policy, and today’s company executives do not enjoy such privileges. “They don’t even get involved [in politics],” he pointed out.” https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.lenta.ru/news/2020/06/10/oligarhi/amp/ https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/4013473

this is what Putin says, but is this really the case in practice?

The Russian bourgeosie first of all has no state positions, just look at the wikipedia pages of Abramovich, Sechin, Potanin, Rotenberg or whatever, or just read this

https://books.google.ru/books?id=Q_DiCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT90&lpg=PT90&dq=путин+в+россии+нет+буржуазии&source=bl&ots=jmifWptqcO&sig=ACfU3U01NDjNncoAW37fT8PRm0VlMj_SQg&hl=ru&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi60cHrt_juAhVUBGMBHVTsDbs4ChDoATAGegQICBAC#v=onepage&q=путин в россии нет буржуазии&f=false “As a political fact , the bourgeoisie is already poorly recognized — there are no deputies in the Chamber … no cannon shootings at the Loire. Russia has a different case: there is an anonymous ideology and …”

Further, Russia has no lobbyism since 2014, especially since mid 2018.

“Alas, we have practically no such precedents in recent years (of lobbyism) — we live boring, gentlemen.” https://tsargrad.tv/articles/lobbizm-v-gosdume-chi-interesy-predstavljajut-deputaty_230887

Also, Putin once called the bourgeoisie cockroaches.

We are slowly coming to the end

“First of all, Zyuganov is a terrible human being. He opposes abortion and LGBT rights, is extremely antisemitic, and supports Reaganist trickle-down economics and the Russian Orthodox Church. So saying he’s buddy-buddy with Putin isn’t a very good look.”

Even if that’s true, that doesn’t matter, Zyuganov is still a Marxist and we should put economics above social views. And Paul Cockshott opposes trans rights, is supporting Paul also “giving yourself a bad look”?

Next dear Comrade AppleDash is claiming that Putin has multiple times disgraced Lenin. The reason why Putin has said on numerous occasions things like that “Lenin put a ticking time bomb” under the USSR is because he opposes Lenins position on the National Question (and actually called Stalin right on it). https://youtu.be/YF1PMPvp3G8

He also opposes how Lenin destroyed churches and killed priests for no reason. And denounces Marxist social views, in particular the Marxist view on the family (which the USSR upheld).

Really, Putins criticizes Lenin not on economics or Marxism, but on social views, such as the national question, the family and the destruction and killings of priests and churches.

Can u also give an example of Putin disgracing Stalin? Haven’t heard of that

On a very last point, I find it hilarious how you completely ignored the last part of Enigma’s post. The reason why Russia can’t go full-on socialist and whatever is because it’s not a fully sovereign country. Enigma called the military operation Russia’s declaration of independence, it isn’t. Yes, Russia is not dependent on the US and EU at all since spring 2021, but still dependent indirectly on them by being dependent on PRC, a semi-neo-colony of them

In Russia holocaust denial and neo-fascism generally are illegal and are imprisonable. Holocaust denial, by the way, is legal in the US and UK, and even Ukraine, but not Russia. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legality_of_Holocaust_denial