Soviet History and Economics/ Why I Like Soviet History

Okay kiddies, here we go.  Now we have a keyworded title/topic to expound on.  I'm going to prattle here a bit on why I find this stuff so enjoyable.  I've liked the Soviet style for a long time -- the compelling graphic art of their propaganda posters and advertisements.  I enjoy the style of Socialist Realism.  Some might consider it crap art, not real art, since it was the State trying to promote its ideas through visual media, so that would kind of broaden the idea of what you'd call art.  I dunno, I still like the look.  And then we can talk about Soviet economics and history.  I find that very interesting because they were a major political power and did their thing very differently from ours, so it had to have worked and worked well on some level.  The reason why I never found it compelling to learn Spanish is because Mexico and Spain are not real economic or any other kind of powers.  They don't have a lot of influence.  On the other hand I want to learn Russian because I find the Soviet idea compelling.  You could argue that communism is a failed social and economic experiment but while it was going it was a major force to be reckoned with.  You can argue against why someone should find the Soviet era compelling, but I'd argue that it isn't every lifetime the largest empire on Earth collapses.  That has to be the biggest thing that has happened in anyone's lifetime who was born in 1991 or before, I just don't think that many people have thought to appreciate that fact.  It's probably because they went down without a lot of violent lashing out, like the people who could have done anything about it knew it was a weak system and there was no point in getting violent trying to keep a dying system alive.  I didn't vote for Ronald Reagan but I think he must have gotten some kind of sadistic enjoyment tormenting the Soviet empire.  He took a lot of stands without anyone supporting him because he knew the Soviet system was inherently and fundamentally weak, and he could take those positions because he knew the commies couldn't do much to challenge him (Star Wars, etc.).  He may have come off as a bit naive and moonbeamish but he knew he didn't need to worry about that because the Soviet system was too weak to really challenge his positions.