What did Bring Down the Soviet Union...?

[fastpat]

The myth makers have Ronald Reagan's willingness to spend billions on defense as the reason which ran the Soviet Union out of business, about as ridiculous a notion about the US government as there is. Paul Craig Roberts has a better theory, and he may just be on to something.

Lest We Forget

by Paul Craig Roberts


Fifty years ago today Nikita Krushchev gave his Secret Speech to the Closed Session of the Twentieth Party Congress in which he denounced Joseph Stalin. At that time Krushchev, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, held the most powerful political office in the world. The power that Stalin had accumulated in this position had made communism unsafe for communists. Heroes of the Bolshevik Revolution had been subjected to "barbaric tortures" and forced to incriminate themselves "with all kinds of grave and unlikely crimes." Krushchev denounced Stalin before the Party Congress "in order that we may preclude any possibility of a repetition in any form whatever of what took place" under Stalin.

Stalin had turned the unaccountable power that Lenin had embodied in the Communist Party against the party itself. Karl Marx�s reasoning leaves violence as the mediator between classes. Lenin took the reasoning one step further and made violence the mediator of disputes between the Party and the people. Stalin completed the logic and made violence the mediator between the Party and its members. Consequently, no one was safe. The situation was intolerable for all, and Nikita Krushchev brought it to an end.

He no doubt realized that he was reducing his power by reducing the fear associated with his position. But he probably did not know that in denouncing Stalin he was shattering the myth of Party Infallibility and setting in motion the ultimate demise of the Communist Party.

Party members have explained the shattering effect of Krushchev's speech on their belief system. The Eastern European satellites responded first, with the Hungarian Revolution in 1956 and the Czechoslovakian Revolution in 1968, both put down with Soviet tanks. But life behind the Iron Curtain nevertheless changed for the better. Camps were closed. Prisoners were released. Innocent victims were rehabilitated. Dissent became less dangerous. An underground press grew up.

Stalin, said Krushchev, "absolutely did not tolerate collegiality in leadership and in work," but "practiced brutal violence, not only toward everything which opposed him, but also toward that which seemed to his capricious and despotic character, contrary to his concepts. Stalin acted not through persuasion, explanation, and patient cooperation with people, but by imposing his concepts and demanding absolute submission to his opinion. Whoever opposed his concept or tried to prove his viewpoint, and the correctness of his position, was doomed to removal from the leading collective and to subsequent moral and physical annihilation."

Krushchev went on to say that "Stalin originated the concept enemy of the people. This term automatically rendered it unnecessary that the ideological errors of a man or men engaged in a controversy be proven; this term made possible the usage of the most cruel repression, violating all norms of revolutionary legality, against anyone who in any way disagreed with Stalin" or were even imagined to disagree with Stalin. Even ordinary practical and scientific discussions became laden with deadly danger. "The only proof of guilt used," said Krushchev, "was the confession of the accused himself." Confessions, Krushchev said, "were acquired through physical pressures against the accused."

By making communism safe for communists, Krushchev created a toehold for truth. Truth grew in importance and influence. After three decades more, the reformer, Mikhail Gorbachev rose to General Secretary, reached an understanding with Ronald Reagan and brought an end to the cold war and to the Soviet Union itself. Neocons credit the US military buildup, and I, myself, have credited Reagan�s restoration of American capitalism. But the growth of truth in the Soviet Union is what did the job. When Krushchev denounced Stalin, he released the truth.

We need to remember this in our own days, faced as we are with a regime that brooks no dissent, seeks no expert advice, and deceitfully pursues agendas inimical to the US Constitution and to the rights and safety of citizens. We have already fallen dangerously far when the US Department of Justice produces justifications for torture of detainees held without charges or access to attorneys, when Congress and the judiciary acquiesce to the executive disregarding statutory law, and when wars of aggression are started on the basis of lies and false accusations. We now read of Halliburton awarded a $350 million contract to build detention camps in the United States. Bush says "you are with me or against me." Rumsfeld and Cheney already speak of "fifth columnists" and enemies of the regime.

It is a great lie that America needs to give up its civil liberties, the separation of powers, the Geneva Conventions, and humane treatment of prisoners in order to defend itself against terrorism. If these are the Bush regime's terms for protection, Americans need quickly to find another government.

February 25, 2006

Dr. Roberts is Chairman of the Institute for Political Economy and Research Fellow at the Independent Institute. He is a former associate editor of the Wall Street Journal, former contributing editor for National Review, and a former assistant secretary of the U.S. Treasury. He is the co-author of The Tyranny of Good Intentions.

Copyright � 2006 LewRockwell.com

Paul Craig Roberts Archives



Find this article at:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/roberts/roberts152.html

[lendaddy]

locusts?

[bigchillcar]

yes, i would agree that the soviet union did not 'fall' due to u.s. defense spending. but to follow-up on your own parallel drawn to our present administration..the spread of 'truth' within the soviet union required some 30 years before the fall actually occurred..it isn't a fast-acting pill.
ryan

[fastpat]

Originally posted by lendaddy
locusts?

But the growth of truth in the Soviet Union is what did the job. When Krushchev denounced Stalin, he released the truth.

[fastpat]

Originally posted by bigchillcar
yes, i would agree that the soviet union did not 'fall' due to u.s. defense spending. but to follow-up on your own parallel drawn to our present administration..the spread of 'truth' within the soviet union required some 30 years before the fall actually occurred..it isn't a fast-acting pill.
ryan

Perhaps so, but the internet does speed these things up a bit. It's why the Chinese government is scared fecaless over it.

[bigchillcar]

It's why the Chinese government is scared fecaless over it.

i can believe that...there is 'quite a large number of chinese people'..they'd be fun to get rankled..lol.
ryan

[Eric 951]

"4 legs good, 2 legs better"

[fastpat]

Originally posted by bigchillcar
i can believe that...there is 'quite a large number of chinese people'..they'd be fun to get rankled..lol.
ryan

The last time that happened the Chinese Red Brigades, in the early '60's, killed something like 18 million people.

Now the Chinese are becoming the world's largest fascist state, followed by the Russian Republic, then the US government. I don't know where India fits in the overall hierarchy of governments, but it's loosened the reins a lot in the last two decades.

[gaijindabe]

What did Bring Down the Soviet Union...?

Doomed from the beginning by thinking Karl Marx had any worthy ideas.

Imagine of all those poor college kids sitting through Marxism 101 and "Socialism in the 20th Century" right now.

We should send fastpat into acedemia - if only to shake things up.

[fastpat]

Originally posted by gaijindabe
What did Bring Down the Soviet Union...?

Doomed from the beginning by thinking Karl Marx had any worthy ideas.

That's right, in order for an idea to be noble it must work and improve the human condition; Marxism was neither.

Imagine of all those poor college kids sitting through Marxism 101 and "Socialism in the 20th Century" right now.

That's the last bastion of Marxism in America, Academia is able to resist change from within by the method of tenure granting. The unfortunate side affect of so much socialism being taught in colleges and universities is that it generates a fascist mindset when these folks get to work.

We should send fastpat into academia - if only to shake things up.

Tht would be a hoot, but I'm past all that now, I already have more parchment than a man ought to have.

[Mulhollanddose]

Reagan was the massive straw that broke the camels back, at a time when all quarters of leftism were advising we play nice, Reagan didn't...He pushed them off the cliff.

[fastpat]

Originally posted by Mulhollanddose
Reagan was the massive straw that broke the camels back, at a time when all quarters of leftism were advising we play nice, Reagan didn't...He pushed them off the cliff.

That's the mythology, Mul-berry. It's comfortable, I'm sure, to believe this sort of fairey tale, but that's all it is.

The Soviet Union was well on it's way to economic collapse years before Reagan was elected. All he had to do was stand back and watch. That there was a huge military guild up during the Reagan years was counter-productive and if the progress of the internal rot had not been as deep as it was, the US buildup would have slowed the USSR's collapse like it did in the '50's and agqin in the '60's.

We can talk about both Republican and Democrat administrations who actively saved the USSR during the 20's and 30's if you like, it's an old story.

[VINMAN]

Originally posted by fastpat
Tht would be a hoot, but I'm past all that now, I already have more parchment than a man ought to have. [/B]

And that makes you so much better than everyone else here??

[Mulhollanddose]

Originally posted by fastpat That's the mythology, Mul-berry. It's comfortable, I'm sure, to believe this sort of fairey tale, but that's all it is.

It is you offering the mythology. Reagan pushed the USSR over the edge...It is disinformation intended to diminish Reagan to say othewise...This theory fits in with your MO.

[carnutzzz]

Reagan was a genius.

Leave it to FastPat to minimize the accomplishments of the last of the great Presidents.

The arms race was at the heart of the cold war, and the eventual demise of the Soviet Union.

[fastpat]

Originally posted by carnutzzz
Reagan was a genius.

Leave it to FastPat to minimize the accomplishments of the last of the great Presidents.

The arms race was at the heart of the cold war, and the eventual demise of the Soviet Union.

No, that's a myth, sorry to question something as dear to you as that must be, but the Soviet Union was well on it's way to total economic collapse years before Reagan was elected. His policies were in fact counterproductive.

Reagan was not a good president; at best he was middling. His budget deficits were huge, he spent billions on completely unnecessary military boondoggles that are biting us in the ass still, and expanded the federal government well beyond what it was when he took office.

The last great president in the 20th century was Calvin Coolidge.

[Mulhollanddose]

Originally posted by carnutzzz
Reagan was a genius.

Leave it to FastPat to minimize the accomplishments of the last of the great Presidents.

The arms race was at the heart of the cold war, and the eventual demise of the Soviet Union.

Leave it to Pat to diminish one of the greatest Presidents in America, and to accomplish this defending the "truth"ful neo-communist Soviets.

[widebody911]

Originally posted by fastpat
Reagan was not a good president; at best he was middling.

If you made a cartoon of that, the NeoCons would start rioting in the streets.

[dhoward]

Originally posted by widebody911
If you made a cartoon of that, the NeoCons would start rioting in the streets.

Only if he had a bomb in his hat....

[widebody911]

Originally posted by dhoward
Only if he had a bomb in his hat....

It's times like this that I wish I'd taken art classes instead of programming classes...