The Dream That Failed: Reflections on the Soviet Union by Walter Laqueur (1994, Hardcover)

Key Details
Author:	Walter Laqueur
Language:	English
Publisher:	Oxford Univ Pr
Format:	Hardcover
ISBN-10:	0195089782
ISBN-13:	9780195089783

Size
Thickness:	1 in
Weight:	20 oz

Publisher's Note
An authoritative assessment of the period of Soviet history from Lenin to Gorbachev discusses why the Bolsheviks came to power in 1917, the decline of Soviet idealism, the reasons for the Empire's collapse, and the inaccuracy of Western opinions. UP.

The Dream that Failed offers an authoritative assessment of the Soviet era - from the triumph of Lenin to the fall of Gorbachev. In recent years, decades of conventional wisdom about the U.S.S.R. have been swept away, while a flood of evidence from Russian archives demands new thinking about old assumptions. This inquiry is conducted on the grand scale: the author explains how the Bolsheviks won the struggle for power in 1917; how they captured the commitment of a young generation of Russians; why the idealism faded as Soviet power grew; how the system ultimately collapsed; and why Western experts have been wrong about the Communist system. Thoughtful and incisive, Laqueur reflects on the early enthusiasm of foreign observers and Bolshevik revolutionaries for the new Soviet order, then takes a piercing look at the totalitarian nature of the regime. He demonstrates how Communist society stagnated during the 1960s and '70s, while the economy wobbled to the brink; how Western observers, from academic experts to CIA analysts, made wildly optimistic estimates of Moscow's economic and political strength. Just weeks before the U.S.S.R. disappeared from the earth, some scholars were confidently predicting the survival of the Soviet Union. But in underscoring the rot and repression, he also notes that the Communist state did not necessarily have to fall when it did, and he examines the many factors behind the collapse (such as ethnic nationalism and the rigors of an accelerated arms race during the 1980s). Many of these same problems continued to shape the future of Russia and other successor states, and a second coming of national Communism, albeit in a different guise, cannot be ruled out.Only now, in the rubble of this lost empire, is it possible to gain a deeper understanding of the Soviet regime, its early achievements, its crimes and its ultimate disaster. In The Dream that Failed, the result of years of research and reflection, Walter Laqueur sheds fresh light on a central episode in our turbulent century.

Industry Reviews
"Lacquer's immense productive energy has yielded a lucid, stimulating, and informative book that radiates a characteristic combination of common sense and insight."
Partisan Review - Paul Hollander

"The author of these 'Reflections' brings to his task the fruits of a lifetime's study of international politics in general and Communism in particular....His critique is couched in moderate terms and he wisely resists the temptation to claim infallibility for his own earlier judgments. There is no Fukuyama-like triumphalism here, but rather a sage realization that Communism could still make a comeback in some other form: 'as time passes since the downfall of the Soviet empire, celebrations of the final victory of capitalism appear more and more premature'."
Times Literary Supplement - John Keep (08/04/1995)

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