Mikhail Gorbachev has died

Re:Mikhail Gorbachev has died by lumost on Tuesday August 30, 2022 @08:42PM (#32657000)

One aspect that I never hear about in the collapse of the soviet union. To what extent did opening the markets to quickly break soviet industry? While by the 1990s Soviet industry was notoriously in-efficient compared to western counterparts - it still existed and functioned. Opening the flood gates seemed to result in everyone rapidly selling equipment for scrap and killed any existing supply chains.

Would the result have been different if Russia followed a Chinese model?

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Re:Mikhail Gorbachev has died by nradov on Tuesday August 30, 2022 @09:39PM (#32657367)

That's kind of a moot question because a slower transition was never even an option. The USSR was rapidly collapsing into anarchy. Especially in the outer areas, the security forces stopped obeying orders. In a lot of factories, workers simply left and looters hauled away everything of value. Industry ceased to function in a matter of months.

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Re:Mikhail Gorbachev has died by lumost on Wednesday August 31, 2022 @09:37AM (#32661899)

I'd be interested in understanding the "rapid collapse" more. Do you have any good resources on this? Was this due to the USSR being dependent on coerced demand/supply from other communist block nations?

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