|
|
Article: Death of a heresy. (end of Soviet communism) (Cover Story)
- Article from:
- National Review
- Article date:
- January 20, 1992
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1992 National Review, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
Bread lines may have accelerated the demise of Communism, but revolutions do not live by bread alone.
WHAT DIED in the Soviet Union on August 21, 1991, was, in the strict sense of the term, a heresy. For Communism was never just economic foolishness married (in its Leninist form) to draconian methods of social control; Communism was a false doctrine, a congeries of false teachings about human nature, human community, human history, and human destiny. Therein lay its power; its power to attract, and its power to coerce.
Heresy often consists in the exaggeration of one part of a complex truth, and Communism was no exception to that rule. Indeed, Communism ...