After the collapse of the USSR, there have always been controversies over the disintegration of the Soviet Union and Gorbachev’s merit among different scholars. It is generally believed that Gorbachev’s new thinking, openness, democratization, building a humane and democratic socialism and the emergence of other doctrines disrupted the mainstream of the original Soviet ideology, disintegrated the Communist Party; and the reform of impatience for success proposed under this theoretical guidance resulted in the ultimate disintegration of the Soviet Union. But the reality is not so simple, the emergence of Gorbachev’s phenomenon has deep historical origins. This paper attempts to explain this phenomenon from a historical perspective, and to reveal the deep-seated reasons for the disintegration of the Soviet Union.
ZHU Xiu-Fang.
Historical Interpretation of the Gorbachev Phenomenon — New Analysis of Implicit Reasons for the USSR’s Collapse[J]. Russian Studies. 2009, 158(4): 121-136