[oofabz]

The USSR was not a "despotism of the proletariat". Soviet propaganda portrayed their government as the will of the people, but in fact it was an autocracy. The actual despots during the space race were Krushchev and Brezhnev.

[jeffbee]

That's why I put it in quotes. I don't see many parallels between Erdogan and Khrushchev, though.