RISE AND FALL OF USSR.(Updated)

 

BY K P PASWAN.

There was neither rise nor fall of USSR. In fact, it is the rise and fall of Communist ideology, and the USSR became worst victim of this ideology. Russia is a country with rich past and very rich in  natural resources. Russia was under monarchy for a long time. The monarchy also known as CZAR was responsible for the expansion of the empire. Czars were ruthless, while subjugating the vanquished, but they were also interested in general welfare of the people. The CZARINA like Catherine the Great, was not only an expansionist, but she cared for the people. It was only at the end of 19^th century that Czar dynasty was taken over by Romanov, who indulged in lavish style and the Czarina was rumored to have developed intimate relations with a soothsayer named Rasputin.

 Romanov dynasty was also known as the last Czar of Russia. Romanov was  cruel monarch with few or no friends, inside and outside of the than Soviet Union. Under Romanov, Soviet Union was facing grave economic and political problems beyond any solution. Widespread poverty led to death of common people by starvation, and thereby paving the way for the rise of Communism, a theory, propounded by Karl Marx for the poor and of the poor.

RISE OF BOLSHEVIKS.

 Lenin, a hardcore follower of Karl Marx, founded Bolshevik, a violent group of revolutionaries to fight the Czar and was waiting for an opportunity to eliminate the ruling dynasty of the Soviet Union.  He obtained sympathy of people by violent agitation against the Czar. The Czar tried to save himself and his family, but nobody came forward for help. The Czar had matrimonial relationship with the ruling monarch of Germany and even Great Britain, but these two countries turned their heads away, as the Czarina was completely under the influence of a soothsayer named Rasputin. So the Bolsheviks (Revolutionaries) captured the Czar and his family and butchered them like animals. Even small children were not spared. So Soviet Union was borne and renamed as USSR. The followers of Karl Marx founded their own bastion on the ruins of a helpless dynasty.

 COMMUNISM. Communism was in fact a failed and unverified political philosophy. Karl Marx wrote the DASS CAPITAL, when there was exploitation of laborers, engaged in manufacturing activities. But the nature of industries in Great Britain was really based on the exploitation of workers. However, it was going to change, and it actually changed from worst to better.  Karl Marx predicted the rise of Communism in country like Great Britain and other prosperous countries of Europe, but Communism was first introduced in a country like Russia, which was poorly industrialized.

So faithful disciples of Karl Marx were forced to revise the theory, and the revised theory of Communism was put to test in Soviet Union. Arrival of communism created panic in Soviet Union. And if Lenin was going to introduce Marx philosophy, then it was imperative to remove panic. So in the name of purge, Lenin started butchering people, who questioned the authority of communists. Lenin indulged in massacre, just to impose communism and autocratic rule to remove poverty. In horrendous killing, he did not make any difference between rich and poor. Nothing was allowed to escape from USSR, and the country became Iron Curtain or a Black hole in scientific term, from which no information escaped. In Communist system of government, there is not even scant scope for any democratic idea and personal liberty, run contrary to the bizarre communist philosophy, in which every thing belongs to state and there is no place for private property.

 Agriculture has been the mainstay of common people in Russia, but all attempts to improve agriculture ended in failure. However in the field of military, Lenin laid the foundation of a dangerous military power, which ultimately alarmed the military power of USA and escalated Cold War.

 MILITARY POWER. After death of Lenin, his successors, badly mismanaged the national economy. It was left to Stalin, another ruthless politician to do something constructive for poor people. But Stalin found himself preoccupied in war going on in Europe. Rise of Hitler in Germany changed the political spectrum across the world and in this game of war, Russia became a pawn in the hands of an autocrat like Stalin, who in the name of Russian nationalism, threw political, economic and military energy into the war,thus compromising the general welfare of the people. Stalin made a mockery of Karl Marx’s concern for the poor, Stalin proved to be a ruthless killer of post war era, those who were slightly suspected of opposing his policy were eliminated. There was impressive boon in oil production, but instead of utilizing those money for general welfare, funds were diverted to manufacture nuclear arsenal and probing outer space. USSR witnessed alarming growth in inflation and soaring prices of essential commodities, increased the misery of common people.

RELIGION. For Karl Marx, religion was like an opium, but his disciples Hegel and Angel discovered that Dialectical materialism lacked scientific explanation, it did not appeal to scientists of all over the world, so they declared God is the only hope of hopeless and soul of soulless. Stalin tried to curb religions in Soviet unions by employing all the tricks, but the Orthodox Christian refused to melt away and more than 1500millions Muslims became more fundamentalists. Stalin got nuclear bomb  which led Russia to climb high but with a sudden fall.

Nikita Khrushchev was not a seasoned politician, he was an important member of Stalin’s coterie of ambitious politicians and he ( Khrushchev) acted as comedian to create hilarious scenes for Stalin. But Khrushchev fortified himself by erecting a strong firewall against USA. He was laid to believe that, USA wanted Russia to cease to exist as a nation, because Russia has enormous wealth and the Americans think that Russians have no right to this and don’t deserve this natural wealth. Khrushchev's Cuba missiles handling led his  popularity down and repeated crop failure led to his unceremonious exit.

His successor, Brezhnev in particulars was weak and unable to understand the changing equation in international politics. A closed political system has its own weakness, With the spread of modern communication, based on latest technology, pathetic conditions of common people of Russia were made known to the world and Chernobyl nuclear blast unraveled faulty application of nuclear technology. Uni polar politics was fast turning into a bipolar with all the permanent members of the security council boasting of their nuclear arsenal. Khrushchev's friend, Mao Zedong of China, also developed nuclear bomb and tried to establish a parallel Communist power, challenging the Russian hegemony in contemporary politics.

 When Gorbachev assumed the power of Generally Secretary of communist, Russia, he had no advance planning for keeping the status of USSR within the four walls of communist ideology. Open democracy was the only way out, so with the fall of communism, Berlin wall collapsed and the USSR also collapsed. During his period Russia probed outer space, by sending space craft to encircle the earth, and for a while it appeared that US was lagging behind USSR, but a contemporary history based on version of certain Russian defectors, to West and USA revealed economic stagnation and crop failure in Russia.The Americans viewed such steps akin to militarisation, and that led Japan to become an imperialistic power. Russia under communist rule also run into troubles for maintaining close ties with repressive regimes in entire world.

CORRUPTION.. Russia’s early days experiment with Communism witnessed, taxes  being paid not to the government, but directly to corrupt Govt officials. Oil money always flooded communist Russia and this money was spend on increasing military and manufacturing ultra-modern murderous weapons just to bring the entire world under communist rule. Russia was bound to collapse and it really collapsed under heavy weight of Marx philosophy. One of the remedies was to arrange a bridging loan from another country in good credit, such an arrangement might or might not be legal, it would be make for terrible politics, but Russia was so proud of its achievement as a nuclear power, that instead of arranging loam, it further compromised the welfare activities meant for poor.

EVALUATION. Russia is ceased to become a super power, it is not even a regional power.  Russia is more open, than under the rule of Communists At least Russia under Vladimir Putin is not starving. Rise and fall of USSR means, fall of a unproven political ideology.