Lenin himself said the USSR wasn't socialist or communist, it was state capitalist. Here's the idea behind Leninism: a vanguard party (the communist party) takes over the state through revolutionary means, and directs the evolution of the economy, through state capitalism, to socialism. Russia was a feudal state when the October revolution happened, and Marx's postulation is that just as advanced feudalism gave way to capitalism, so too would advanced capitalism give way to socialism. Thus, Lenin's plan was to advance industrial capitalism as rapidly as possible in order to bring about the material conditions for socialism. That's why for example, Mao was obsessed with getting farmers to build backyard furnaces instead of actually farming crops, causing millions of deaths - because he was focused on industrialising the country. Like an idiot.
Now, that was never going to happen, because of the iron law of bureaucracy - states only ever consolidate their own power so Lenin's plan was doomed from the start. But the USSR was never socialist.
I'm not sure what you think is impossible about socialism, because if we were to legally replace corporations with cooperatives, which is not a huge jump in terms of economic law, that would be market socialism. Its happened before (briefly in the USSR before the consolidation of the bolsheviks in power for example, for example in the meaning of the word "soviet" itself) and cooperatives work perfectly well as an industrial unit.
Sorry nothing about the soviet union was capitalist. It was a planning economy, and people were not allowed to make their own fortune. Industrialization was needed either way to give people a modern lifestyle.
Coops based on voluntary participation are entirely compatible with capitalism, you can already set up a coop today in capitalist countries. Socialism is not voluntary, it forces everybody to participate. It is the most exploitative system, because everybody is supposed to only work for the common good, not for themselves. It also sets the wrong incentives which is why it usually ends in misery.
Now, that was never going to happen, because of the iron law of bureaucracy - states only ever consolidate their own power so Lenin's plan was doomed from the start. But the USSR was never socialist.
I'm not sure what you think is impossible about socialism, because if we were to legally replace corporations with cooperatives, which is not a huge jump in terms of economic law, that would be market socialism. Its happened before (briefly in the USSR before the consolidation of the bolsheviks in power for example, for example in the meaning of the word "soviet" itself) and cooperatives work perfectly well as an industrial unit.