Newsweek Magazine June 13, 1988 |
| Analyze the political, social, and economic changes that led to the collapse of the Soviet Union. |
| "I hope this
is for real," said Boris Mamecov, a court clerk, at his voting place in south Moscow.
"We never had anything like it before-discussions, debates, fighting. Before people
dropped a piece of paper in a slot. You couldn't describe it as a choice." The Collapse of Communism Winter of 1988-89 |
| The great problem
of central planning lies buried in the procedures by which the economy is given its
marching orders. This means that the economy "works" because-and only to the
extent-the quality, quantity, size, weight, and selling price of every nut, bolt, hinge,
beam, tractor, and hydroelectric turbine have been previously determined. At the supreme
haedquarters, the numbers for gross national product are announced. In considerably lower
and dingier offices, the numbers for nuts, bolts, and turbines is calculated. but it is
apparent that if the plans for the latter are off, tha plans for the former may be
impossible to attain. Robert
Heilbroner, "After Communism," |
| The state, which
calls itself a state of workers, is humiliating and explioting them instead. Our outmoded
economy wastes energy, which we have in short supply. the country, which could once be
proud of the education of it's people, is spending so little on education that today, in
that respect, we rank 72d in the world. We have spoiled our land, rivers, and forests,
inherited fron our ancestors, and we have, today, the worst environment in the whole of
Europe. Adults die here earlier than in the majority of European countries.... Vaclav Havel, president of Czechoslovakia, 1990 Speech |
| And here it could
not deliver because it misjudged the nature of human creativity and especially the very
nature of the human being. It could not harness the human potential because it crushed the
human spirit. The critical connection between creativity and the acquisition of wealth was
grossly misunderstood. It severed the umbilical cord between productivity and
self-interest. The suppression of private property produced economic lethargy and
eventually systemic underperformance. Out of Control, by Zbigniew Brzezinski, |
| " Millions Vote for Perestroika-A Vote
of Confidence for the Policy of Regenerating Soviet Society." Pravda, March 27, 1989. |
| ....At the present
complex stage, the interests of the consolidation of society and the concentration of all
its sound forces on the accomplishment of the difficult tasks of perestroika prompt the
advisability of keeping the one-party system. And in this case, the party will promote the
development of opinions in society and the broadening of glasnost in the interests of
democracy and the people. In the efforts to renew socialism, the party may not concede the
initiative to either populist demagoguery, nationalist or chauvinistic currents or to the
spontaneity of group interests. Mikhail S. Gorbachev on a speech from the |
| ....Seeking to
build democratic lawgoverned states, the relations between which will develop on the basis
of mutual recognition and respect for state sovereignty and sovereign equality, the
inalienable right to self-determination, principles of equality and non-interference in
internal affairs, the rejection of the use of force, the threat of force and economic and
any other methods of pressure, a peaceful settlement of disputes, respect for human rights
and freedoms, including the rights of national minorities, a conscientious fulfillment of
commitments and other generally recognized principles and standards of international
law....Cooperation between members of the commonwealth will be carried out in accordance
with the principle of equality through coordinating institutions formed on a parity basis
and operating in the way established by the agrrements between members of the
commonwealth, which is neither a state nor a superstate structure.... The Declaration of the Commonwealth of Independent States 1991 |
Newsweek Magazine June 13, 1988 |
