Die Neue Zeit
11th March 2011, 03:41
For the record, I think Beria was the original would-be Soviet Deng, with his remarks about introducing private property and market relations after Stalin's death, and got into trouble on the question of East Germany for simply towing his old master's neutral Germany line on the matter.
Turning to another security chief, I once thought Yuri Andropov was another would-be Soviet Deng, until I read this in Chapter 19 of Moshe Lewin's The Soviet Century (p. 267):
http://books.google.ca/books?id=ETQpY-32DysC&pg=PA248&dq=%22moshe+lewin%22+%22kosygin+and+andropov%22&hl=en&ei=tZh5TZzuFo64sQOM_7TzAg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false
He knew that the so-called "party" was in fact a corpse, that it could not be resurrected and must be destroyed. And the incumbent rulers understood this full well. The notorious "security of cadres" (security of tenure regardless of performance) was about to disappear - and, with it, the impunity of the "good old days." The cosy, parasitic power of the class of party-state bosses was nearing its end. Genuine elections inside the party betokened the re-emergence of political factions and new leaders; and this could mean the advent of a new party, whatever its name might be. Such a party, still in power but planning reforms, could have served the steer the country during the difficult transition to a new model.
Of course, this is all counter-factual history. Andropov, who suffered from an incurable kidney disease, soon departed the stage in 1984.
Turning to another security chief, I once thought Yuri Andropov was another would-be Soviet Deng, until I read this in Chapter 19 of Moshe Lewin's The Soviet Century (p. 267):
http://books.google.ca/books?id=ETQpY-32DysC&pg=PA248&dq=%22moshe+lewin%22+%22kosygin+and+andropov%22&hl=en&ei=tZh5TZzuFo64sQOM_7TzAg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false
He knew that the so-called "party" was in fact a corpse, that it could not be resurrected and must be destroyed. And the incumbent rulers understood this full well. The notorious "security of cadres" (security of tenure regardless of performance) was about to disappear - and, with it, the impunity of the "good old days." The cosy, parasitic power of the class of party-state bosses was nearing its end. Genuine elections inside the party betokened the re-emergence of political factions and new leaders; and this could mean the advent of a new party, whatever its name might be. Such a party, still in power but planning reforms, could have served the steer the country during the difficult transition to a new model.
Of course, this is all counter-factual history. Andropov, who suffered from an incurable kidney disease, soon departed the stage in 1984.