Re: The Fall of the USSR

["Henry C.K. Liu" <hliu@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hugh Whinfrey wrote:

>
> The escalating corruption of the Brezhnev years was
> a major source of their problem, plus the faked
> economic data to cover it all up didn't exactly make
> their central planning work any better.
>
> The transition to forms of private enterprise was well
> underway when Gorbachev was dethroned. The state
> that collapsed was certainly not the same state in
> ideological terms as much of the American triumphalism
> presumes.
>
> I've read accounts of it by the leadership at the time
> though where they were clearly viewing the productivity
> of their labour force as the key weakness. That was in
> part blamed on the lack of intellectual and political
> freedom, which they were also busy doing something
> about - folks in the West still associate Gorby with that
> liberalisation. Never mind that it was a necessity and he
> was just playing the hand he had been dealt. And note
> that the reasoning was 'economic' in character as per
> human rights. Plus,again, the triumphalism ignores the
> fact that the fixes were already being applied.
>
> Time will tell whether the US escapes the same fate,
> i.e. from the combination of obscene levels of corruption
> and the crushing ideological indoctrination of its
> population. China, on the other hand, appears to be
> avoiding it.

"American triumphalism" appears to have a dilemma.  It equates lack of
freedom as a cause for economic stagnation, but American history records
that it was always during periods of economic depression that the
American system turned to state power for solution.

Henry C.K. Liu