I don’t doubt the US was cheering and helping things along, but really the Soviet Union (specifically Communist Party hardliners) killed the Soviet Union, just like America is now killing America. Empires that big only die by war or suicide.
You may want to read information with how Reagan leaned on Gorbachev and about glasnost and perestroika. Preferably not from fedopedia. I’m sure u/@Cowbee@lemmy.ml has some material to point you toward.
The soviet union wasn’t an empire. It was large, sure, but didn’t practice imperialism, it wasn’t exporting capital as a means of profiting off of global south labor or anything. It was anti-imperialist.
Either way, the decline of the USSR was multi-faceted. From corn-cob man declaring that class struggle was over and demonizing their past experience, to liberal reforms under Gorbachev undermining the socialist system, to having to dedicate huge portions of their productive capacity simply to not get invaded and destroyed by the US Empire, none of this was due to “communist party hardliners.” Instead, as the world’s first real socialist state, it ran into problems and struggles that nobody else had before, they were charting new ground with every step.
The soviet Union was the opposite of an empire, though. It helped the liberation struggles everywhere in Latin America, Africa and Asia. They literally saved Europe from Fascism.
I don’t doubt the US was cheering and helping things along, but really the Soviet Union (specifically Communist Party hardliners) killed the Soviet Union, just like America is now killing America. Empires that big only die by war or suicide.
You may want to read information with how Reagan leaned on Gorbachev and about glasnost and perestroika. Preferably not from fedopedia. I’m sure u/@Cowbee@lemmy.ml has some material to point you toward.
The soviet union wasn’t an empire. It was large, sure, but didn’t practice imperialism, it wasn’t exporting capital as a means of profiting off of global south labor or anything. It was anti-imperialist.
Either way, the decline of the USSR was multi-faceted. From corn-cob man declaring that class struggle was over and demonizing their past experience, to liberal reforms under Gorbachev undermining the socialist system, to having to dedicate huge portions of their productive capacity simply to not get invaded and destroyed by the US Empire, none of this was due to “communist party hardliners.” Instead, as the world’s first real socialist state, it ran into problems and struggles that nobody else had before, they were charting new ground with every step.
Socialism Betrayed: Behind the Collapse of the Soviet Union goes over some of this.
The soviet Union was the opposite of an empire, though. It helped the liberation struggles everywhere in Latin America, Africa and Asia. They literally saved Europe from Fascism.