Quote:
Originally posted by FlamesAddiction@Oct 1 2004, 03:30 AM
Personally, I think the propaganda war played the biggest role in the fall of the Soviet Union. Not that economic factors, and military spending weren't important factors too, but I downplay their role.
The U.S. and west in general, promoted itself and convinced almost a whole generation of young Russians that "blue jeans and rock music" (American images in general) were good things. Gorbachev saw the writing on the wall and had to modernize, and I personally don't think the arms race was all that significant. If anything, it only made things worse for a while as it created and perpetuated the "good-guy/bad-guy" theme of the Cold War. Once Gorbachev made concessions to the liberal movement in Russia, it couldn't be controlled until communism fell.
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I don't disagree with this at all. And it makes a lot of sense. However do you really think blue jeans and rock and roll really had an impact on the average Soviet that had to stand in line for an hour or more to buy a loaf of bread.
I honestly figure that one of the biggest factors was that the members of the Politburo
1) Believed the lies that they were getting on production, and when it came time to count on those figures, and they weren't there the economy collapsed.
2) The Politburo completely lost touch with the people that they served, and were convinced to the last days that the people were happy, well fed and warm, and were in no position to correct the problems when they came to a head.
Yes Western Propoganda probably had a place in the scheme of thing, but I don't really know how much of it really got through to the people, because Perostroika (sp?) or not, the media was still controled by the government, so in reality the main thrust of the propaganda came from the government itself.
Just my thoughts