Soviet Socialism: Social And Political Essays

A veteran observer's reflections on chosen topics such as changing Soviet social structures, Stalinism and de-Stalinization, the intelligentsia, and whether the U.S.S.R. can be called a democracy. Along with his own opinions he comments on the interpretations of many others; thus, the book constitutes a kind of running critical bibliography of the state of scholarship on those topics. Written in 1983-84, the essays do not take account of new developments in the Gorbachev era, but these developments tend to buttress many of the author's conclusions.