[VCDR]

Well said castlebravo92.

The USSR as a 'victim' of Western machinations is a deeply flawed reading of history, ignoring both the systemic failures of the Soviet system and the agency of the Eastern Bloc nations that sought to escape its grip.

1) The USSR’s Internal Failures Were the Primary Cause of Collapse

Economic Mismanagement: The Soviet Union’s centrally planned economy was inefficient and increasingly unable to compete with the market-driven economies of the West. By the 1980s, systemic shortages of consumer goods, food, and energy were widespread. Remember when главный противник exported over 150 million tons of grain to the USSR between 1960 and 1991? Pepperidge farms remembers...

Technological Stagnation: While the USSR maintained a strong military-industrial complex, it lagged in consumer technology and innovation. The focus on military production came at the expense of quality-of-life improvements for its citizens.

Political Corruption: The bloated and inefficient bureaucracy, rife with nepotism and corruption, alienated ordinary Soviet citizens and undermined faith in the system.

Lack of Incentives: The absence of economic incentives in the planned economy stifled productivity and innovation. This was compounded by an ideological rigidity that resisted necessary reforms until it was too late.

2) The USSR Was Far from Innocent

The Soviet Union aggressively sought to destabilize Western nations through espionage, propaganda, and covert operations. From funding Communist movements worldwide to attempting to influence elections in democratic countries, the USSR was no passive player.

The Warsaw Pact invasions of Hungary in 1956, Czechoslovakia in 1968, and Afghanistan in 1979 showcase the USSR’s willingness to crush dissent through military force. Claiming victimhood ignores its role as an oppressive imperial power.

3) The Role of the West Was Overstated

While the West certainly opposed the USSR, attributing its collapse to Western interference ignores the Soviets’ own systemic failures. The CIA’s role in covert operations often had mixed results; successes were rare, and failures (e.g., the Bay of Pigs) were numerous.

The USSR’s collapse was largely a result of internal dissent. Gorbachev’s reforms (Perestroika and Glasnost) attempted to modernize the USSR but instead exposed its vulnerabilities. The Eastern Bloc countries, tired of Soviet domination, chose to break free when the opportunity arose.

4) The "Oligarchs" Were a Consequence of the Soviet Collapse, Not the Cause

The rise of oligarchs and criminals during the post-Soviet transition was a symptom of the chaotic dismantling of the centrally planned economy. The USSR’s lack of a legal framework for privatization and property rights created a power vacuum, which opportunistic individuals exploited.

Suggesting that these individuals were foreign intelligence agents is speculative and aligns with modern Russian propaganda narratives, not historical evidence.

5) The USSR’s Collapse Was Inevitable.

A comparison with Western systems shows why the USSR’s collapse was predictable:

Economic Scale: The Soviet GDP at its peak was dwarfed by the combined GDPs of NATO countries, and its growth stagnated while Western economies grew.

Freedom of Expression: The lack of political freedoms in the USSR stifled dissent temporarily but created a pressure cooker that eventually exploded during Glasnost.

Popular Rebellion: The Eastern Bloc revolutions in the late 1980s, from Poland’s Solidarity movement to the fall of the Berlin Wall, were driven by the people, not Western spies.

6) Russian Literature Post-2000 Is Propaganda-Laden

Post 2000 “Russian literature” reflects the narratives promoted by Vladimir Putin’s government, which seeks to paint Russia as a perennial victim of Western aggression. This literature often ignores the USSR's culpability in its collapse and the genuine aspirations of the people in Eastern Europe for freedom and democracy.

TL;DR:

The Soviet Union was not a victim; it was an aggressor and an empire that collapsed under the weight of its own contradictions. Attempts to frame its demise as a purely Western plot are both ahistorical and and dismissive of the agency of millions of people who rejected its oppressive system.