The Collapse of a Single Party System: The Disintegration of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

In this book Graeme Gill traces the disintegration of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until the dissolution of the USSR in December 1991. Based principally on the contemporary Soviet press, this is the first book to follow the debates in the party over the implications of Gorbachevs reforms and how the party should respond to them. It is an in-depth analysis of the institutional dynamics of a party under pressure. When it came under challenge and it could no longer use the weapon of suppression, the party was unable to mount a serious defence of its position and role. Confronted from the top by Gorbachevs call to reform itself and by his changes to the political arena, and from the bottom by new political forces taking advantage of that arena, the partys unity collapsed and with it any sense of purpose or possibility of survival. In this book Graeme Gill traces the disintegration of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until the dissolution of the USSR in December 1991. Based principally on the contemporary Soviet press, this is the first book to follow the debates in the party over the implications of Gorbachevs reforms and how the party should respond to them. It is an in-depth analysis of the institutional dynamics of a party under pressure. When it came under challenge and it could no longer use the weapon of suppression, the party was unable to mount a serious defence of its... Read More

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