Opening the Soviet System [antikvár]

Introduction We are at a crucial decision point in history. The political landscape as we have known it since the end of the Second World War is undergoing a radical transformation. Communist dogma has lost its sway over people's minds and the Soviet empire, which had been based on that dogma, is collapsing. A process that has been gathering momentum over decades has accelerated to a point where it qualifies as a revolution. Events are happening so fast that it is hard to keep up with them. East Germany is transformed from one day to the other, followed by Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia in quick succession. The demise of the Communist system in Eastern Europe has become an accomplished fact in the space of not much more than a month. What is now at stake is the fate of the Soviet Union itself. And that, in turn, will help to shape the political future ofthe whole world. There are two possible outcomes. Either the Soviet Union will become integrated into the free world or it will continue to disintegrate. The events of the next few months will, in my opinion, have a decisive influence on the ultimate outcome. In any case, the pace of events cannot continue to accelerate much further, so that much more is likely to happen in the next few months than in the years and even decades to come. We have seen similar historical decision points in the past. The year 1945 was one; 1919 was another. But the closest parallel is with 1848, because that was the last time a revolutionary fervor swept from country to country and the raw manifestation of the people's will had a major impact on the nature of government. There is another similarity with 1848: 1