One of the many propaganda topics during the civil war was that the Russian Empire was oppressing many minor ethnicities and cultures. They called the Russian culture velikoderzhavny (a kind of “imperial”) chauvinism. And the USSR was made to unite all ethnicities and make everyone equal. Everyone except Russians. Bolsheviks worked hard to build a new culture without that ”imperial culture”. So they killed or imprisoned many scientists or educated people born in the Empire, tried to build
new culture, etc. The main personal trait of those activists was the absolute moral superiority over “imperial oppressors”, which was especially useful during tortures and mass executions — they were exterminating a class, not individuals, so there were nothing personal in murders (this is a citation of Martin Latsis [1]).
Of the post civil war USSR I can recall one thing that was common. One could only have a successful career provided that they was “clean”: non educated parents, no bourgeois relatives in the past, relatives helping build the communism (e.g. in charge of mass executions).
So, the “clear” understanding of what’s good and what’s evil together with the moral superiority make justice trivial.
P.S. Throwaway for obvious reasons.
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Latsis
Of the post civil war USSR I can recall one thing that was common. One could only have a successful career provided that they was “clean”: non educated parents, no bourgeois relatives in the past, relatives helping build the communism (e.g. in charge of mass executions).
So, the “clear” understanding of what’s good and what’s evil together with the moral superiority make justice trivial.
P.S. Throwaway for obvious reasons.
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Latsis