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> That is essentially what led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Care to elaborate? (full disclosure: I was born and raised in SU and lived in it for 20
by kika 8y ago
> That is essentially what led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Care to elaborate? (full disclosure: I was born and raised in SU and lived in it for 20 years of my life and then another 20 in Russia after the fall).
My family were "dissidents", we were under almost constant surveillance since at least 1980 (when I went to the 5th grade) and I can tell that the grip weakened every year until Andropov, who tried to hysterically tighten it, but it didn't work already.
In my simplified opinion, it was just the oil price that killed the Soviet Union. It went from $120 in 1980 to $23 in 1986. Soviet Union as any sufficiently developed socialist economy became more and more dependent on the external supply of goods for which it had to get some hard currency. It basically just run out of money and went bankrupt.
- jeffreyrogers 8y agoMy understanding is that people within the Soviet Union (including within the Communist Party) saw that conditions in the West were better and became disillusioned with the Soviet system, which enabled Gorbachev to make his reforms. But I wasn't there and only know what I've read so you're probably right that the economy had a larger role than I'm giving it credit for.
- jbarham 8y ago> My understanding is that people within the Soviet Union (including within the Communist Party) saw that conditions in the West were better and became disillusioned with the Soviet system Yes: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15129713 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15129713
- petre 8y agoGorbachev also blames Chernobyl contributing to the fall of the SU in his memoirs.