The collapse of the USSR, the demise of the CPSU, seemingly due to Gorbachev, was fraught with chance. In fact, after the CPSU abandoned the masses of the people and became corrupt and degenerated into a privileged class, it was doomed to the inevitable demise of the CPSU, and the end of 91 was only an inevitable hidden accident.
On Christmas Day 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, publicly announced in the Kremlin that the Soviet Socialist Union had officially dissolved and split into fifteen countries. This means that the red giant, which has competed with the United States for decades, has since disappeared into the long river of history.
Unlike other countries that have perished, the collapse of the Soviet Union can be described as "bloodless" and "without warning". To this day, many people still blame Gorbachev and Yeltsin for the collapse of the Soviet Union, and call them the cancer of the Soviet Union and the puppet of the West.
But in fact, there were many reasons for the collapse of the Soviet Union, and Gorbachev was strictly speaking only a catalyst for the collapse of the Soviet Union. And the tragedy of the Soviet Union was foreshadowed as early as the Khrushchev period.
After the death of the "loving father" Stalin, Khrushchev publicly announced the abolition of the policy of the Stalin period, that is, "de-Stalinization". At the 22nd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, he put forward new ideas such as "the country of the whole people" and "the party of the whole people". The words are very nice, but when it comes to actual implementation, a series of problems will follow.
For example, during the Khrushchev period, the United States and the Soviet Union officially opened the curtain of the "Cold War," and the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union was the most symbolic competition. Although there was a certain gap in national strength between the United States and the Soviet Union at that time, the Soviet Union relied on its "institutional advantage" to put the Soviet Union in a leading position at the beginning.
However, the disadvantage of "institutional advantages" is a serious waste of resources, accompanied by a decline in the quality of people's livelihood. And most importantly, in the process, the Soviet Union gave birth to a privileged class that everyone hated. They went against the original aspiration of the Soviet Communists and made a fortune in the competition between the United States and the Soviet Union.
If it was the Khrushchev period that gave birth to the germ of the privileged class, then the Brezhnev period undoubtedly pushed the privileged class to a new height. During the Brezhnev period, the competition between the United States and the Soviet Union entered a white-hot stage, and the Soviet Union greatly increased its spending in the field of military industry, achieving the goal of "attacking the United States and defending the United States."
Under the leadership of Leonid Brezhnev, the Soviet Union's military power reached its heyday in history, especially the "Western 81 Military Exercise", which plunged the surrounding countries into deep fear.
During this period, there were many disputes around the world, and the Soviet Union also exported advanced weapons to Asia, Africa and Latin America on many occasions, and the privileged class made a lot of money in the process and took the opportunity to encroach on the Soviet political system. The communist power, which was originally people-centered, has since degenerated into a red tsarist Russia.
The Soviet Union's policy of concentrating on the development of the military industry led to a noticeable decline in the quality of life of the Soviet people. Originally, although the living standards of the Soviet people were not as good as those of developed countries such as the United States, Europe, and Japan, they at least had no worries about food and clothing, and they had everything they should have. However, at the end of the Soviet Union, the Soviet people even queued up to buy bread at a high price, and the privileged class of the Soviet Union was drunk and luxurious every day.
The CPSU has not forgotten in the slightest that its strength comes from the people, from the communist faith. When the party betrayed its beliefs and violated its original intentions, it undoubtedly sent itself to the gallows.
By the time Gorbachev came to power, the Soviet Union had fallen into a terminal illness, with a serious government deficit and an economy on the verge of collapse. Subsequently, Gorbachev openly criticized a series of policies of the previous leader in favor of "embracing the West."
In Gorbachev's view, only a revival of the Soviet economy could solve a series of previous problems. However, the privileged class was unwilling to cede its own interests, which made Gorbachev's policy difficult.
What's more, the Soviet Union had completely lost the hearts and minds of the people, Lithuania and other member states had declared independence, and the once unbreakable alliance was now crumbling.
Gorbachev's policy of "embracing the West" did not reap any benefits from the West, nor did it restore the backwater economy of the Soviet Union.
Behind the collapse of the Soviet Union was a party that once held fast to its beliefs, but became a betrayer in the passage of time.
Main source: Red Culture Network "Li Shenming: The degeneration of the CPSU is the fundamental reason for the collapse of the Soviet Union"
