Explain any four reasons for the disintegration of the U.S.S.R.
The following were the main defects of the Soviet System: 1. The Soviet system allowed only the Communist Party to exist in U.S.S.R. The Communist Party was regarded as ‘the Vanguard of the working people in their struggle to strengthen and develop the socialist system’. No other party was allowed to exist in the Soviet Union. 2. The Soviet system became very bureaucratic and authoritarian. The foes of socialism were ruthlessly dealt with. There was the dictatorship of the Communist Party. 3. In Soviet Union, stress was more on social and economic rights than on political rights. There was no freedom of speech and expression. Any opinion expressed against the ‘Party line’ was deemed to be a matter of treason and hence punished with severity.4. In the Soviet system federalism was adopted but the Union Republic of the U.S.S.R. was completely under the control of the Communist Party. The Soviet federal structure was like a pyramid where the Communist Party was the apex and controlled the primary organs of the party at the base.
