Гибель империи. Уроки для современной России

by Егор Тимурович Гайдар

Книга посвящена проблемам, с которыми сталкиваются авторитарные режимы в полиэтнических государствах, чья экономика в значительной степени зависит от непредсказуемых колебаний цен на топливно-энергетические ресурсы. Эта проблема актуальна для современной России, и автор объясняет, какие ошибки, допущенные Советским Союзом, не следовало бы повторять. Уникальность же книги в том, что Егор Гайдар впервые наглядно показывает, каким образом политика коллективизации, разорившая наше сельское хозяйство, предопределила через шестьдесят с небольшим лет ускоренный крах советского режима, который де-факто стал к тому времени банкротом. Каково было реальное экономическое положение внешне могучей сверхдержавы, был ли распад СССР абсолютно неминуемым, можно ли было произвести демонтаж советской системы как-то иначе и почему в России был невозможен китайский или латиноамериканский путь преобразований – ответы на эти вопросы вы найдете в “Гибели империи”.

Genres: History

583 pages

Published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[Rodica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good overview of the issues that brought down USSR. The author’s focus is mostly on the economy and its pitfalls. If you have been into USSR/modern Russian history, you most likely are familiar with a lot of the information provided. I was born when USSR still existed, part of one of the smaller European republics. I was little, and we didn’t suffer as much from the lack of food in the shops, yet I still remember the long queues, the hoarding of various products, from toilet paper, to soap and matches, because you never knew if and when they will become available. I remember the efforts made by my grandparents to ensure we have adequate supplies of food in the pantry, my grandma’s never ending canning. All of these small personal stories reflected in the big canvas of an artificially created country falling apart. And the biggest irony of this, one I couldn’t stop thinking about, was the fact this monster of a state robbed my family of everything at least twice - once when it gave Romania an ultimatum and it forced it to give up the half or so for he historical Moldova and Bucovina. When it imprisoned, killed and persecuted entire families because they were hardworking, wealthy and educated. When it organized a famine, when it took the land and the livestock, when it gathered the families of “kulaks” into livestock trains and transported them to Siberia. When it forced them to give up on their language, alphabet, history, and identity. And the second time when everything crumpled again in the 80s-90s. When people lost their savings, their careers, their security.

The book is full of supporting data, charts, numbers. And all I could think of was how f-ed up was this huge country that valued their citizens so little.

[Jullmua · Rating 5 out of 5]

To all the apologists of the Soviet Union and those who believe that the Soviet economy was the strongest and most stable—that the grain fields flourished, the factories thrived, and even the best ice cream was made there—this book is a must-read. It quickly shatters the rose-colored glasses. Surprisingly, the author himself doesn’t add much commentary, but the sheer volume of quoted letters, speeches, and statistical tables is incredible. The system simply collapsed under its own weight, and this wasn’t “the greatest catastrophe of the 20th century” but the entirely predictable outcome of a clumsy, stagnant, and, most importantly, cowardly ruling elite. Definitely a book worth reading.