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Article: The Decline and Fall of the Soviet Empire: Forty Years that Shook the World, from Stalin to Yeltsin.
- Article from:
- The New Leader
- Article date:
- August 12, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1996 American Labor Conference on International Affairs. 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)
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The Collapse of the Soviet empire is well on its way to becoming the subject of as many books as the whole 75 years of Communist rule. But one fundamental question is still not receiving adequate consideration: What actually was the system that suffered such an inglorious end?
The simplest answer is also the most popular: Communism was throughout its history a fanatical "experiment" driven by a utopian doctrine that brooked neither resistance nor criticism. That literalist view has been readily absorbed by Westerners lacking a good historical perspective on the peculiar evolution of theory and practice under successive Communist rulers. The doctrinal basis of ...