On Thu, 18 Aug 2011, SA wrote:
> This just isn't true. It would really require a rewriting of history to
> say that the CPSU leadership in 1985 or 1986 believed their system was
> in anything like a terminal crisis.
Right. But it was.
> They thought there were problems that should be dealt with - but
> certainly not in any way that risked putting the system itself in the
> slightest jeopardy.
That goes too far. They knew precisely that they needed to put it in slight jeopardy. And were already doing so with Andropov -- and failing . They would have continued down the road. They would have had no choice because they would have kept on failing as the crisis built. Even if Gorbachev had come in not wanting to do as much, he would soon have been forced to do more. But they nominated him precisely because they expected sizeable change from him. He was younger, dynamic and open about his ideas.
Michael