Opening the Soviet System
Author: George Soros
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Published: 1990
Total Pages: 163
ISBN-13: 9780297820550
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Revolution From Above
Author: David Kotz
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2013-04-15
Total Pages: 326
ISBN-13: 1135104352
DOWNLOAD EBOOKControversially this book argues that the ruling party-state elite in the USSR itself moved to dismantle the old system. Topics discussed include: * the beginnings of economic decline in 1975 * Gorbachev's efforts to democratize and decentralize * the complex political battle through which the coalition favouring capitalism took power * the flaws in economic policies intended to rapidly build capitalism * the surprising resurgence of Communism. Research includes interviews with over 50 former Soviet government and Communist party leaders, policy advisors, new private businessmen, trade union leaders and intellectuals.
Fashion Meets Socialism
Author: Jukka Gronow
Publisher: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura
Published: 2015-08-19
Total Pages: 306
ISBN-13: 9522227528
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis book presents, above all, a study of the establishment and development of the Soviet organization and system of fashion industry and design as it gradually evolved in the years after the Second World War in the Soviet Union, which was, in the understanding of its leaders, reaching the mature or last stage of socialism when the country was firmly set on the straight trajectory to its final goal, Communism. What was typical of this complex and extensive system of fashion was that it was always loyally subservient to the principles of the planned socialist economy. This did not by any means indicate that everything the designers and other fashion professionals did was dictated entirely from above by the central planning agencies. Neither did it mean that their professional judgment would have been only secondary to ideological and political standards set by the Communist Party and the government of the Soviet Union. On the contrary, as our study shows, the Soviet fashion professionals had a lot of autonomy. They were eager and willing to exercise their own judgment in matters of taste and to set the agenda of beauty and style for Soviet citizens. The present book is the first comprehensive and systematic history of the development of fashion and fashion institutions in the Soviet Union after the Second World War. Our study makes use of rich empirical and historical material that has been made available for the first time for scientific analysis and discussion. The main sources for our study came from the state, party and departmental archives of the former Soviet Union. We also make extensive use of oral history and the writings published in Soviet popular and professional press.
Russia's Path from Gorbachev to Putin
Author: David Kotz
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2007-05-07
Total Pages: 440
ISBN-13: 1135992053
DOWNLOAD EBOOKOver the past few years, many of the former Communist-rule countries of Central and Eastern Europe have taken a steady path toward becoming more or less normal capitalist countries - with Poland and Hungary cases in point. Russia, on the other hand, has experienced extreme difficulties in its attempted transition to capitalism and democracy. The pursuit of Western-endorsed policies of privatization, liberalization and fiscal austerity have brought Russia growing crime and corruption, a distorted economy and a trend toward authoritarian government. In their 1996 book - Revolution from Above - David Kotz and Fred Weir shed light on the underlying reasons for the 1991 demise of the Soviet Union and the severe economic and political problems of the immediate post-Soviet period in Russia. In this new book, the authors bring the story up-to-date, showing how continuing misguided policies have entrenched a group of super-rich oligarchs, in alliance with an all-powerful presidency, while further undermining Russia's economic potential. New topics include the origins of the oligarchs, the deep penetration of crime and corruption in Russian society, the financial crisis that almost destroyed the regime, the mixed blessing of an oil-dependent economy, the atrophy of democracy in the Yeltsin years, and the recentralization of political power in the Kremlin under President Putin.
Imperial Overstretch: Germany in Soviet Policy from Stalin to Gorbachev
Author: Hannes Adomeit
Publisher: Nomos Verlag
Published: 2016-07-11
Total Pages: 756
ISBN-13: 3845266112
DOWNLOAD EBOOKDas Buch ist eine Analyse von Aufstieg und Fall des sowjetischen Herrschaftssystems in dem Gebiet, das zur Zeit des Kalten Krieges "Osteuropa" genannt wurde, und der Rolle, die das Deutschlandproblem dabei gespielt hat. Gestützt auf die Auswertung neuer Quellen aus den Partei- und Staatsarchiven ehemals kommunistischerer Länder rekonstruiert es die folgende Entwicklung: die Teilung Deutschlands und dabei die Rolle der Sowjetunion unter Stalin; das eiserne Festhalten seiner Nachfolger an der Teilung; ihr zunehmendes Bewusstsein der hohen Kosten, welche die Aufrechterhaltung des imperialen Systems in Ostmitteleuropa verursachte; der Fehlschlag ihrer Anstrengungen, die wachsende wirtschaftliche und finanzielle Abhängigkeit der DDR von der Bundesrepublik zu verhindern; und schließlich die Gründe dafür, warum Gorbatschow die Auflösung des sowjetischen Herrschaftsbereichs in Ostmitteleuropa hinnahm und sogar der Mitgliedschaft des wiedervereinigten Deutschlands in der Nato zustimmte."Angesichts der russischen Okkupation der Krim, der anhaltenden Krise in der Ostukraine und der dadurch ausgelösten Gegenreaktionen von NATO und EU scheint sich der Kalte Krieg in Europa zurückgemeldet zu haben. Geeigneter kann der Zeitpunkt für die überarbeitete Neuauflage des sich inzwischen zu einem Standardwerk entwickelten Buches von Hannes Adomeit nicht sein. Seine profunde Kenntnis und Auseinandersetzung mit sowjetischer und russischer Politik seit fünf Jahrzehnten und sein Zugang zu neuem russischen Archivmaterial qualifiziert ihn zu einem der besten und erfahrensten Experten auf internationaler Ebene. Wer die sowjetische Politik nach dem II. Weltkrieg bis zur Wiedervereinigung Deutschlands und ihre Implikationen für die letzten 25 Jahre verstehen will, kommt an Adomeits Buch und seiner analytischen Brillanz nicht vorbei". Prof. Dr. h.c. Horst Teltschik, September 2015 "Of all of the analyses of the fall of the Soviet Union and reunification of Germany, Hannes Adomeit's 1998 classic, "Imperial Overstretch", has stood the test of time. Its re-publication here by Nomos, with some modest updates by the author, will be welcomed by scholars, students, the policy community, and the informed public, as a trenchant interpretation of what happened to the 'Soviet bloc', but also as an introduction to the assertive imperial politics of Vladimir Putin and the Russian Federation." Norman M. Naimark, Stanford University, November 2015
Revelations from the Russian Archives
Author: Diane P. Koenker
Publisher:
Published: 2011-03-01
Total Pages: 836
ISBN-13: 9781780393803
DOWNLOAD EBOOKRussia, Ukraine, and the Breakup of the Soviet Union
Author: Roman Szporluk
Publisher: Hoover Press
Published: 2020-02-24
Total Pages: 579
ISBN-13: 0817995439
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis book chronicles the final two decades in the history of the Soviet Union and presents a story that is often lost in the standard interpretations of the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the USSR. Although there were numerous reasons for the collapse of communism, it did not happen—as it may have seemed to some—overnight. Indeed, says Roman Szporluk, the root causes go back even earlier than 1917. To understand why the USSR broke up the way it did, it is necessary to understand the relationship between the two most important nations of the USSR—Russia and Ukraine—during the Soviet period and before, as well as the parallel but interrelated processes of nation formation in both states. Szporluk details a number of often-overlooked factors leading to the USSR's fall: how the processes of Russian identity formation were not completed by the time of the communist takeover in 1917, the unification of Ukraine in 1939–1945, and the Soviet period failing to find a resolution of the question of Russian-Ukrainian relations. The present-day conflict in the Caucasus, he asserts, is a sign that the problems of Russian identity remain.
After the Collapse
Author: Dimitri K. Simes
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Published: 1999
Total Pages: 280
ISBN-13: 0684827166
DOWNLOAD EBOOKWith an insider's view, an expert on Russia and former foreign policy advisor to President Nixon argues that Russia is returning to the world stage as a great power and intends to resume a major role in international affairs.
The Last Empire
Author: Serhii Plokhy
Publisher: Basic Books
Published: 2015-09-08
Total Pages: 522
ISBN-13: 0465097928
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe New York Times bestselling author of The Gates of Europe offers “a stirring account of an extraordinary moment” in Russian history (Wall Street Journal) On Christmas Day, 1991, President George H. W. Bush addressed the nation to declare an American victory in the Cold War: earlier that day Mikhail Gorbachev had resigned as the first and last Soviet president. The enshrining of that narrative, one in which the end of the Cold War was linked to the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the triumph of democratic values over communism, took center stage in American public discourse immediately after Bush's speech and has persisted for decades -- with disastrous consequences for American standing in the world. As prize-winning historian Serhii Plokhy reveals in The Last Empire, the collapse of the Soviet Union was anything but the handiwork of the United States. Bush, in fact, was firmly committed to supporting Gorbachev as he attempted to hold together the USSR in the face of growing independence movements in its republics. Drawing on recently declassified documents and original interviews with key participants, Plokhy presents a bold new interpretation of the Soviet Union's final months, providing invaluable insight into the origins of the current Russian-Ukrainian conflict and the outset of the most dangerous crisis in East-West relations since the end of the Cold War. Winner of the Lionel Gelber Prize Winner of the Pushkin House Russian Book Prize Choice Outstanding Academic Title BBC History Magazine Best History Book of the Year
Reagan and Gorbachev
Author: Jack Matlock
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Published: 2005-11-08
Total Pages: 402
ISBN-13: 0812974891
DOWNLOAD EBOOK“[Matlock’s] account of Reagan’s achievement as the nation’s diplomat in chief is a public service.”—The New York Times Book Review “Engrossing . . . authoritative . . . a detailed and reliable narrative that future historians will be able to draw on to illuminate one of the most dramatic periods in modern history.”—Los Angeles Times Book Review In Reagan and Gorbachev, Jack F. Matlock, Jr., a former U.S. ambassador to the U.S.S.R. and principal adviser to Ronald Reagan on Soviet and European affairs, gives an eyewitness account of how the Cold War ended. Working from his own papers, recent interviews with major figures, and unparalleled access to the best and latest sources, Matlock offers an insider’s perspective on a diplomatic campaign far more sophisticated than previously thought, waged by two leaders of surpassing vision. Matlock details how Reagan privately pursued improved U.S.-U.S.S.R. relations even while engaging in public saber rattling. When Gorbachev assumed leadership, however, Reagan and his advisers found a willing partner in peace. Matlock shows how both leaders took risks that yielded great rewards and offers unprecedented insight into the often cordial working relationship between Reagan and Gorbachev. Both epic and intimate, Reagan and Gorbachev will be the standard reference on the end of the Cold War, a work that is critical to our understanding of the present and the past.
