The Soviet Union: Reform of the System or Systemic Transformation?
Author(s)
Brown, Archie
Abstract
Archie Brown emphasizes the need to make a clear distinction between the transformation of the Soviet system and the end of the Soviet state and also holds that “reform” of the system does not do justice to the extent of the change in the polity. In contradistinction to Cohen, he argues that to regard the pre-perestroika system as “communist” rather than “socialist” brings out more clearly the extent of the transformation, whereby a communist system had been abandoned by 1989-90 even though the Soviet Union did not come to an end until December 1991. Brown also draws on recent evidence showing the large element of contingency involved in the dramatic changes of 1985-1991, including the opposition to Gorbachev’s acquisition of power which, had it been successful, would have led to very different policies being pursued in the second half of the 1980s.
