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Soviet Collapse — How and Why
The man who ushered in this collapse knowingly or unknowingly, M. S. Gorbachev, has been eulogised by the Western world (USA, England, France, etc.) while being judged with scepticism by his own countrymen. This book by Prem Singh is one such analytical study. The views put forth come across as views of a person (a Communist) who hasn’t forgiven Gorbachev for the collapse of the USSR and wiping out communism from many countries, including Eastern Europe, East Germany, Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. Prem Singh, who worked as senior editor with the Information Department of the USSR Embassy in New Delhi from 1966 to 1992, witnessed momentous events like the signing of the Indo-Soviet Treaty of 1971 and the liberation of Bangladesh. He offers a detailed analysis of the six years of Gorbachev, the last General Secretary of the Communist Party in the USSR and later also as the last President of the USSR, in power. It was under the leadership of Gorbachev that reforms, "perestroika" and "glasnost", were introduced in the country that led to the weakening of the hold of the Communist Party over its people. Perestroika means, "restructuring" the economy, while glasnost means, " openness". Gorbachev introduced his new thinking to usher in a new era in international politics, nullifying the past actions of the mighty USSR, regretful of the past and candidly admitting that the "Middle East, Latin America as well as South Africa and even other regions of the world were vital for the economies of the US and Western Europe as sources of raw materials". While Gorbachev followed the appeasement policy towards the Western world, it was not reciprocated by the US and the UK. This attitude of Gorbachev seems to irritate the author. He quotes people, common people who tried to express their opinion under "glasnost", that the Soviet Union’s past was not a mistake. Nina Andreyeva who was a chemistry teacher in Leningrad wrote a letter in which she highlighted the achievements of the Soviet society. Her letter criticised those leaders who were at the helm of affairs for encouraging personality cult. Views like hers were not digested well by Gorbachev and his colleagues who thought they were correcting history. So, while Gorbachev gave the impression that the Soviet society was open to questioning, criticism was taken as a personal insult by the leader himself. This book certainly goes into minute details of those crucial six years of the Gorbachev leadership. Besides the role of President Gorbachev and President Bush of the US, it is the role of Margaret Thatcher (Iron Lady), a former Prime Minister of the UK, which has been dealt in great detail. Usually, the focus of all discussions is on the US and the USSR, but the writer reveals Margaret Thatcher "demanding a total reversal of the Soviet foreign policy while herself sticking rigidly to positions of nuclear supremacy of Western alliance". It is in facts like these that the writer excels. International politics can be discussed with a new perspective after reading this well-researched book.
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IT’s
been more than 15 years that the Soviet Union disintegrated into 15
republics, yet its history and its disintegration continue to draw the
attention of researchers worldwide. Rightly so because the Cold War
between the defunct USSR and the USA led the world to the brink of yet
another war. The Cold War was a clash of ideologies, a war in which
armies did not face each other yet tensions prevailed in the world.
Thus, the collapse of the Soviet Union has been the focus of many
studies.