The Soviet System In Crisis by Alexander Dallin Gail W Lapidus

Author:Alexander Dallin, Gail W Lapidus [Alexander Dallin, Gail W Lapidus]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, General
ISBN: 9781000305777
Google: yQekDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2019-07-18T01:37:03+00:00

Notes

1. The Lobnoye mesto is a slightly elevated structure, dating from the 16th century, near St. Basil's cathedral in Red Square from which important Russian government proclamations and decrees were read.—Trans.

28

I Can't Absolve Myself of Guilt

OLEG T. BOGOMOLOV

. . . A conscious choice was made in the fall of 1917, a choice that, as we can see today, has led us down a blind alley despite all the sacrifices borne and the heroic efforts made. The other options were discarded because of an unshakable faith in the scientific validity of the only correct, though still unbeaten, path. One can, of course, argue over whether the lamentable results were caused by deformations of socialist doctrine and practice or whether the initial premises themselves were wrong, and therefore the system built in accordance with them needs not reform but replacement. The truth will eventually be established. But that isn't what torments me. Another question is constantly on my mind. Who bears responsibility (in either case) for the countless victims, the poverty and the backwardness with which we have paid and continue to pay for the mistakes or deformations? . . .

No matter how hard I try, I can't comprehend why there is no one specific to be held responsible for what has been done, why those to blame for major miscalculations even during the present era of restructuring are unknown, and why the moral problem of repentance and atonement has been utterly rejected.

Everything in our life—both the good and the bad—was done under the leadership of the Party. . . .

The CPSU was termed the honor, conscience and mind of our era. Well, to my understanding, maintaining ones honor requires accepting blame for the grave consequences of ones actions and atoning for ones guilt. It must be openly confessed that the Party has led the country to the brink of disaster, and now we must all act together to save ourselves. . . .

The 28th CPSU Congress . . . granted Party members an indulgence for all the sins of the leaders of former times, but I cannot absolve myself of ny share of responsibility.

After all, if those who inwardly protested against the squelching of the Prague Spring of 1968 had not remained silent and done nothing, its possible that there would not have been any invasion of Afghanistan, which was also swallowed in silence for the most part. And could a significant fraction of Party members really have failed to notice that for 18 years the Party was headed by a dull-witted individual who end up in the position by dint of chance? Didn't we feel like turning off the television set at the sight of another parade of our leaders crowning this nonentity with a new award? And what about the raptures and prizes over what passed for memoirs, penned for the author by obliging writers? We should have plucked up our courage and shouted, "The emperor has no clothes!" Restructuring might well have begun much sooner. Lets also recall the many billions spent senselessly on land reclamation.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.