By Max Chavez

In the 20th year after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, I know that the issue of Gorbachev is of great contention amongst our comrades. The folks at The Nation, however, have clearly been making the case that the fall of the Soviet Union was decisively not an event for the betterment of the world. I’d like to submit this article from The Nation entitled “The Soviet Union’s Afterlife”

http://www.thenation.com/article/165316/soviet-unions-afterlife?page=0,1

for posting, consideration and discussion amongst our comrades on the website since Stephen F. Cohen (husband of The Nation editor Katrina van den Heuvel) makes good, strong points about the negative effects of the fall of the Soviet Union.

Here is a video of Stephen Cohen on Democracy Now! from just this past Friday on this very issue.

http://www.thenation.com/blog/165379/stephen-cohen-russian-protests-and-soviet-unions-afterlife

Here is the first paragraph:

The Soviet Union’s Afterlife

By Stephen F. Cohen

Asked to evaluate the French Revolution nearly 200 years later, the Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai was famously reported to have replied, “Too early to say.” Though apocryphal, the long perspective attributed to Zhou is better informed than the certitudes of American commentators about the causes and consequences of the end of the Soviet Union only twenty years ago.

Please post your comments. All points of view are welcome.