(Obviously I mean a restoration of a proletarian dictatorship in the case of the USSR/former constituent states)
Just from what I can quickly gleam from my limited knowledge of the reign of Louis XVIII and Charles X it sounds decently similar to what occured with post soviet russia.
counter revolutionary ruler is incompetent and authoritarian
conflict between reactionary ruler and progressive legislature
reactionary ruler rigs elections and gets involved in foreign wars
reactionary ruler dissolves progressive legislature and appoints their own loyalist legislature
But why was it that the French restored the Bourgeois dictatorship under the citizen king but the Russians and other post soviet states (save for Belarus if you follow the same line of thinking of Cheng Enfu) were unable to? Was it size? Foreign interference?
I am no expert. I will though quote a Chinese comrade i spoke with about this.
“The USSR’s revolution was incomplete.”
This was in reference to how they had reactionaries inside the government. Contrary to how it is portrayed the USSR was lenient in a lot of ways. It gave far too much room for liberals to exist. Especially after Stalin died. Although even he was a lot nicer to them than he should have been honestly. This was done with good intentions of course. Not wanting to be too strict. It was still a mistake.
Putin was a KGB agent. Does he seem like someone who should have been trusted with a position like that? These were the cracks exploited to bring down the USSR. It was the first socialist project it didn’t have hindsight like we do. It did a lot of amazing things, but it had so many enemies. The fact is survived as long and accomplished as much as it did is astounding.
In short, the USSR fell slowly, death by 1000 cuts.
But the USSR’s legacy persists despite is dissolution. The spectre of communism hangs not over Europe, but over the world. The torch has been passed, and the fight continues.
Oh i should also mention the 1991 august coup. They did try to take power back. The issue was that at that point outside of a full blown civil war it wasn’t going to happen. I imagine Yanayev recognized this, and decided against it. Especially since he was lacking in popular support from what I’ve read. Should they have pushed the issue? Fully committed? Maybe. Its not an easy decision to make.
