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Post by kowalskil on Jul 6, 2014 12:47:43 GMT -5
Why Gorbachev? Gorbachev is of the same age as I am. Several days ago I read a post (on a Russian forum) in which he was accused of being responsible for the disintegration of the Soviet Union. In my opinion the country disintegrated spontaneously, after the truth about dark sides of Stalinism became known. Yes, Gorbachev, the leader of the Soviet Communist Party, did contribute to the fall, by promoting the policy of "glasnost," that is by allowing truth to be known. But reforms introduced by the President of the Soviet Union, Yeltsyn, were equally important. The same can be said about Gorbachev's predecessor Khrushchev, about Solzhenitsyn, Shalamow and Pasternak, whose books were allowed to be published, and about authors of many other documents. Karl Marx would say that focusing on characters of exceptional individuals, such as Lenin, Stalin and Gorbachev, is not sufficient. He would most probably try to identify mistkes made by those who managed the country's economy, focusing on nationalization of means of production, collectivisation of agriculture, and on dealing with some national aspirations. Ludwik Kowalski, Ludwik Kowalski csam.montclair.edu/~kowalski/life/intro.html P.S. A Russian author wrote: "Gorbachev must be put on trial! This diversionary enemy worked for western intelligence services." "Судить Горбачёва необходимо! Это враг, диверсант который работал на западную разведку!"
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 6, 2014 15:01:41 GMT -5
i dont know if khrushchev would be a poster boy for glasnost...
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Post by BobWilliston on Jul 6, 2014 15:08:18 GMT -5
Why Gorbachev? Gorbachev is of the same age as I am. Several days ago I read a post (on a Russian forum) in which he was accused of being responsible for the disintegration of the Soviet Union. In my opinion the country disintegrated spontaneously, after the truth about dark sides of Stalinism became known. Yes, Gorbachev, the leader of the Soviet Communist Party, did contribute to the fall, by promoting the policy of "glasnost," that is by allowing truth to be known. But reforms introduced by the President of the Soviet Union, Yeltsyn, were equally important. The same can be said about Gorbachev's predecessor Khrushchev, about Solzhenitsyn, Shalamow and Pasternak, whose books were allowed to be published, and about authors of many other documents. Karl Marx would say that focusing on characters of exceptional individuals, such as Lenin, Stalin and Gorbachev, is not sufficient. He would most probably try to identify mistkes made by those who managed the country's economy, focusing on nationalization of means of production, collectivisation of agriculture, and on dealing with some national aspirations. Ludwik Kowalski, Ludwik Kowalski csam.montclair.edu/~kowalski/life/intro.html P.S. A Russian author wrote: "Gorbachev must be put on trial! This diversionary enemy worked for western intelligence services." "Судить Горбачёва необходимо! Это враг, диверсант который работал на западную разведку!" Karl Marx would have said that Communism was never advocated as a model for national government.
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Post by curlywurlysammagee on Jul 8, 2014 1:02:21 GMT -5
I think that one person often overlooked in the break up of the USSR is Ronald Reagan. His policies wrecked havoc with the Soviet economy.
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Post by BobWilliston on Jul 8, 2014 16:43:19 GMT -5
I think that one person often overlooked in the break up of the USSR is Ronald Reagan. His policies wrecked havoc with the Soviet economy. He did take credit for it, that's for sure. He wreaked havoc on the American economy too -- so badly that Bush couldn't survive the first term of fixing it up. People don't give Russian housewives their due credit. They started seeing Western kitchens on TV and they wanted the same for themselves.
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Post by curlywurlysammagee on Jul 9, 2014 1:30:57 GMT -5
That's Republicans for you.
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