I read “Stasi State or Socialist Paradise” a book describing general life in the GDR and how it functioned and having this insightful yet critical view of the GDR really opened me up. From communal engagement, work-place democracy and education there are many things we can look up to not necessarily the GDR only but also other former and current socialist countries…and also learn from the failures and errors of these countries. That being said, if i had to run a socialist country, i would draw great inspiration from the GDR and the USSR in particular though it is important to remember that everys country material conditions are different and therefore we cannot copy socialist models of other countries, all we can do is merely take them as a base to develope, adapt and improve to our countries.
Yes, it’s tragic that the GDR remained dedicated to Marxism-Leninism until it’s last days while the USSR itself faltered under Gorbechev and left the GDR out to dry.