Russia/USSR in Historical Motion: An Essay in Interpretation

Abstract

Looking at the entire span of Soviet history, actually no longer than a modern man's life, one can observe two distinct time segments that differ considerably in the intensity and direction of their historical development. The first, from the revolution to the end of Stalin's rule, was characterized by enormous volatility and huge doses of coercion and dislocation, either of sheer destructiveness (wars, famine, purges) or of the intense tempo of construction (industrial, educational, and related efforts). In fact, one can more appropriately date this period not from October 1917, but (as Solzhenitsyn probably would have) from August 1914, which triggered a chain reaction, piling up ever new calamities on the already enfeebled body social. The second period, inaugurated by Khrushchev, was by contrast reasonably peaceful, stable and gradual on the internal fronts. Although the first, catastrophic leg was interrupted by the relatively idyllic New Economic Policy (NEP) interlude, this did not seriously modify the basic features of the period as a whole, which with each successive upheaval narrowed the range of freedom to choose and act, and the options for future development. The historical agenda was increasingly dominated by a powerful, oppressive, and ubiquitous state. To be sure, NEP was a promising alternative, but the political framework of the time did not allow the formation of political constituencies powerful enough to exploit NEP's possibilities for a viable developmental strategy, as Lenin seemed to have bequested. The concentration of institutionalized power in the Party, and inside the Party at its narrow apex, by the same token depoliticized first the country, and subsequently the Party itself. When the time approached for important new strategic decisions, the assessment of the current economic and social crisis, the choice of strategy, and the power to make decisions (even the very definition of reality itself) depended on a very small group of people who con-