The Collapse of Soviet Socialist Social System and the Disintegration of the USSR State Are Two Different Issues

Disintegration of the USSR was indirectly caused by the Party’s Ethnic-National Policy

August 2014

Author Prof. Han Kedi is an associate researcher at the Institute of Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing

Abstract: The disintegration of the Soviet Union and the drastic changes in the Soviet Union are two different concepts. The drastic changes were caused by the communist party’s problems, while the disintegration was caused by the ethnic issues. The ethnic issues in the Soviet Union were the main reason for the split of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, the Soviet Army, and the Soviet Union. The root of the ethnic issues in the Soviet Union was the idea of ​​national self-determination and the system of national autonomy. The highest form of national autonomy in the Soviet Union was national federalism. The disintegration of the Soviet Union is a major event in world history. On December 25, 1991, an unprecedentedly powerful empire unexpectedly collapsed without any foreign invasion or internal war, and 15 new nation-states were born on its ruins. Exploring the reasons for the disintegration of the Soviet Union has strong theoretical and practical significance. If the reasons are not clear, there is no way to reflect on history and learn lessons.

Many Chinese and foreign scholars believe that the disintegration of the Soviet Union was not caused by a single factor, but the result of various forces working together. Although this judgment is reasonable, when analyzing major events, there is always a problem of the main contradiction and the main aspect of the contradiction. I believe that, tracing back to the source, the ethnic issue is the most fundamental and main reason for the disintegration of the Soviet Union, not just one of the important reasons [1]. The root cause of the Soviet Union’s ethnic issue is the Soviet Communist Party’s idea of ​​national self-determination and the ethnic autonomy system that emerged under this idea (including specific forms such as ethnic union republics, ethnic autonomous republics, ethnic autonomous prefectures and ethnic autonomous regions). The highest form of ethnic autonomy was the ethnic federal system.

The origin of a problem: disintegration and upheaval, the Soviet Union and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

When discussing the disintegration of the Soviet Union, we must first distinguish between two concepts: one is the disintegration of the Soviet state, and the second is the end of the Soviet socialist system. The two concepts should not be confused [2].

The change of the Soviet socialist system to capitalism was a problem at the level of the social system. The disintegration of the Soviet Union, on the other hand, was reflected in the establishment of 15 new nation-states, which was a problem at the national or state level. Disintegration and drastic change of the socialist social system are two different concepts, and drastic change of the social system does not necessarily lead to disintegration. The problems of the CPSU can be divided into two levels: degeneration and splitting. Most of the time, the two are mixed together, making it difficult to distinguish.

　　When reflecting on the lessons learned from the Soviet Union, the first socialist country in human history, people tend to think about the problem from an ideological perspective. They believe that the main reason for the disintegration of the Soviet Union was that the CPSU abandoned Marxism-Leninism, the general line of “humane and democratic socialism” formulated at the 28th CPSU Congress, the amendment of the Soviet Constitution, the abolition of the leadership of the Communist Party and the guiding ideology of Marxism. This mindset confuses the two issues of drastic change and disintegration.

　　Many articles have mentioned that the CPSU was the only bond that held the Soviet Union together. If the CPSU collapsed, the Soviet Union would no longer exist. So we can conclude that the collapse of the CPSU was the main reason for the disintegration of the Soviet Union. If this is the case, we can question why the CPSU was the only bond that held the Soviet Union together? Why was the CPSU the only bond? Where did the other bonds that held a country together go? For a country to become a country, it should also have a common sense of historical belonging, common cultural values, common emotional psychology, a strong national identity, close economic and social ties, and strong legal and institutional guarantees. Why didn’t the Soviet Union have these? Why was the Soviet Union so fragile that it could only be maintained by the CPSU?

The collapse of the CPSU will inevitably lead to the end of the Soviet socialist system, but it will not necessarily lead to the disintegration of the Soviet state. The disintegration of the Soviet Union was not caused by the collapse of the CPSU.

It is not accurate to say that the disintegration of the Soviet Union was due to ideological reasons or due to the CPSU. The formation of the CPSU privileged class, the corruption of the CPSU leadership, the relationship between the CPSU and the masses, the problems of individual CPSU leaders, the “Stalin system”, the CPSU’s economic policies, the CPSU’s ideological field, the Soviet Union’s foreign policy, etc., are all problems that led to the crisis of the Soviet socialist social system and these were the problems that led to the change or degeneration of the CPSU, but they were not the main problems that led to the disintegration or the split of the CPSU, let alone the fundamental reasons for the disintegration of the Soviet Union. The disintegration of the Soviet state was due to ethnic issues. Of course, if it is said that the disintegration of the Soviet Union was indirectly caused by the CPSU’s ethnic policy, this statement is basically accurate.

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