How many Soviet republics were there?

"This state, during the period of collectivization, killed over a million of its most capable citizens, breaking the back of the Russian peasantry (and let's not just blame Stalin for this, but rather appreciate Marx and understand that the collective farm, albeit in a more rigid form, is an integral part of this system), and you say that it cared for its people. And what kind of care was it? It was care without any right to personal initiative." Absolutely correct. The Hive is a state that combines the incompatible. It's like the Matrix, and Alexey and the others are like the traitor from the movie who betrayed his team just to return to the pleasant times, rather than the harsh reality. (only here, they don't betray, but sigh :) ) Prices, music, movies - all of this can be organized even with a normal state structure. You simply like it, but it has nothing to do with the USSR specifically. It's about the people and their mindset, their mentality. And I'm also amazed by your mass pseudo-patriotism on the forum. Someone wrote: "Before, we only focused on America, but now we have to reckon even with Latvia and Estonia." Your words are frankly disgusting. And what, are they not countries? And what's wrong with them? Russia is the heart of the USSR, and the USSR is the same, only smaller. Hundreds of peoples, who have nothing in common, were forcibly included in the Empire/Federation and cannot leave of their own free will. The same was true for the USSR. A crisis was brewing; a country consisting of dozens of completely different countries cannot exist. History proves this. The empire of Alexander the Great collapsed 10 years after his death. All empires (the Arab Caliphate, for example) collapsed either after the death of their leaders or slowly moved towards that. Unite Ukraine and China and call it the UKS (Ukrainian-Chinese Union), and what? What do they have in common? Culture? Language? Religion? At the cost of thousands of lives, the death of the best people and intellectuals, the USSR reached its level, but the current generation has been "cleansed" of intellect and religion. The experiment to breed "cattle" was successful. I don't like the USSR, I don't like the Pioneers, I don't like anything related to those times. And, as always, everything said here is IMHO and does not claim to be the absolute truth.