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I’m not an expert in any way on this, but my impression from reading maybe half a dozen books involving the Soviets + living in a former Soviet-occupied country
by keiferski 2y ago
I’m not an expert in any way on this, but my impression from reading maybe half a dozen books involving the Soviets + living in a former Soviet-occupied country is that the USSR simply wasn’t ever going to work sociopolitically by nature of its multi-nation imperial structure. The client states were never really assimilated and didn’t want to be - and the relationship with them was hostile from the start - see the lack of help during the Warsaw Uprising, Hungarian Revolution in 1957, Prague in 1968, etc. So my impression is that the USSR would inevitably collapse and it was mostly just a matter of time.
The arms race definitely had an effect on the Soviet economy, but I don’t think it’s correct to say that was the main reason for the collapse.
- arisAlexis 2y agoOr in one sentence because communism can't work for long periods
- dr-detroit 2y ago[dead]
- arisAlexis 2y agoI am rarely surprised at my age but HN community thinking that communism can indeed work over long periods is awesome
- AYBABTME 2y agoIt seems like a lot of reasons, many of which derived from hubris and a delusion that one can plan an entire society, and everything that follows from this mistake. Bad economy, over reliance on limited set of heavy industries, corruption, lack of agency; overall reduced economic performance and thus unable to outcompete the US economy, which was forcing the Soviets into an arms race death march.