The Soviet Union

Overview
Coordinator Comments

There are several reasons why the history of the Soviet Union is of great importance for those who strive for a culture of peace.

First, the revolutionary movement that created the Soviet Union was structured along the lines of the culture of war (secretive, hierarchical, violent, male-dominated) and, as a result, the new state that it created was another culture of war. This holds important lessons for revolutionaries who wish to create a culture of peace.

Second, the Soviet Union attempted but failed to develop an alternative to a capitalist economy. In his last writings Lenin said that socialism should consist of a "cooperative of cooperatives." But instead, Stalin and his successors built an enormous state apparatus which, according to many specialists, departed fundamentally from the goals of socialism. This holds important lessons for those who wish to create an alternative to capitalism.

And third, the culture of war system of the Soviet empire eventually collapsed of its own weight, unable to solve its international balance of payments problems or to retain the loyalty of its citizenry. It may well be that the same fate awaits the empire that came after it, the American empire, as has been predicted by Johan Galtung.