Dallin A. Whatever Happened to World Revolution? Changing Soviet Perspectives on International Communism

Washington, D.C.: The national council for Soviet and East European research, 1990. — 64 p. Contractor: Stanford University. Council contract number: 804-09.The work leading to this report was supported by funds provided by the National Council for Soviet and East European Research. The analysis and interpretations contained in the report are those of the author.In essence, the Soviet elite has been undergoing a slow and uneven learning process. One of its casualties has been the previously obligatory commitment to international communism, which to many Soviet observers now seems not only remote but, if not totally misguided, then irrelevant at a time of unprecedented stress and change at home. Even those in official positions who seek to rescue something from the house of cards of Leninist orthodoxy, are compelled to admit that world communism is at best some centuries away... There have always been some differences among Soviet communists in their assessment of "revolutionary situations" abroad and in their attitude toward the international enterprise. One may now trace more fully the evolution of these differences in attitudes and perceptions over time. Under conditions of glasnost' one observes a further fragmentation of elite opinions. At the present time, it is possible to identify perhaps five different clusters of attitudes, ranging from a complete abandonment of optimism about or solidarity with "proletarian" movements abroad, to a benign neglect and studied skepticism about the fraternal parties, to efforts to rescue some neo-Marxist reformulations that might (or might not) stand the test of time. It is a safe conclusion that, regardless of who winds up in charge of the Soviet Union or its successor states, it is most improbable that communist internationalism (of whatever variety) will play an important part in the official doctrine or the actual motivating values of the future leadership and its advisers.Executive SummaryNotesThe Comintern and AfterNotesThe Gorbachev EraThemes and Arguments
Types of Responses
The Socialist Camp
Disorientation: Organizational Costs
NotesConclusion: What Happened?Why?
NotesAppendix: May Day and Day and October Anniversary Slogans