The first phase of the destruction of Soviet civilization began under Khrushchev, when the Soviet elite abandoned the Stalinist course of development of society, the creation of a society of the future. The Communist Party has abandoned its role as the moral, intellectual leader of civilization and people. That is, she gave up her fate.
By the beginning of the 1950s, the socialist society took place, the system gained speed. The people sincerely believed that they were building the fairest, kindest and strongest country. Hence the massive folk art, invention and genuine enthusiasm. The great victory, the rapid restoration of the country and new shock construction projects changed the Union literally before our eyes. It seemed that it was still dumb, and Russia-USSR would win the historical dispute about the superiority of the light side of man over his dark side, good over evil, spirit over matter. This was not a competition between socialism and capitalism (this was the visible side), but between justice and injustice, good and evil. And we had all the prerequisites for a new great victory. The USSR had every chance to become the "king of the mountain" on the planet, to accomplish Soviet (Russian) globalization.
However, the party elite was afraid of this future, of its people, of its creative, constructive impulse. Instead of a breakthrough into the future, overtaking the beastly predatory West for a thousand years, the nomenclature chose stability ("stagnation"). The country's masters were frightened by the new reality. Instead of dynamics, they chose stability, instead of changes - inviolability. Therefore, Stalin's grave was filled up with garbage, his image was blackened. All sorts of Solzhenitsyn were used to create the myth of "a bloody dictator" and a lie about "tens of millions of innocent repressed". The noble impulse of the people began to be extinguished. First, with the help of Khrushchev's radicalism and voluntarism - the development of virgin lands, corn and meat "epics", tough demilitarization with the collapse of the most combat-ready units and the expulsion of combat cadres, "thaw", etc. Then the Brezhnev "stagnation" began with its "big deal" between the party elite and the people.
So the second phase of the destruction of Soviet civilization began. The party elite relied on material needs and personal interest. Enthusiasm is replaced by the “long ruble”. Matter conquers spirit. At the same time, in words, the people were still promised a quick offensive of communism, but now these were only words, an empty form without work. Now the nomenklatura was thinking not how to defeat the old world, capitalism, but how to come to terms with it, how to come to an agreement with the Western elite on coexistence. Thus, a mortal blow was dealt to the new supercivilization and the society of the future. The Soviet civilization and the people were betrayed. The door to tomorrow was closed. A rapid degeneration of the Soviet elite began, its becoming bourgeois. Soon, the decayed part of the Soviet elite and its national cadres will want to destroy the USSR in order to appropriate the people's property and become “new masters” in the old capitalist world, part of the global “elite” - mafia. This will be the third phase of the collapse of the Soviet project, which will end in the disaster of 1991 - the second terrible catastrophe of the Russian civilization and people in a century.
The powerful pace and energy of development set under Stalin could not be stopped immediately. Therefore, the country was still developing rapidly. Unsurprisingly, the first half of Brezhnev's reign was the Soviet Union's “golden age”. Life was getting better. The hardships of mobilization, war and its consequences are a thing of the past. For the first time in its history, Russia-USSR lived in complete safety, no one would dare to attack our country. There was still hope for the victory of communism. Kosygin's reform strengthened the economy and gave it a new impetus for development.
However, the problem was that now the successes in the economy, development of the territory, space and military affairs no longer relied on the energy of creation. The party elite stopped thinking about a "bright future" for everyone. The party was now concerned only with the struggle for power and bargaining with the West for the best conditions for coexistence. At the same time, under Brezhnev in the USSR, they found "Eldorado" - huge deposits of "black gold". The USSR mastered the oil deposits of Western Siberia. In the late 1960s, the Union began massive oil exports. Arab-Israeli wars 1967 and 1973 led to a sharp rise in oil prices. The West has experienced a severe oil crisis. Moscow, on the other hand, received a powerful source of currency inflows. And the Soviet elite is betting on massive energy exports. The Russian Federation will repeat this strategic mistake.
The model was simple: we sell "black gold" to the West, we receive currency, and with these funds we buy whatever we want in the same Europe. Kosygin's reforms are curtailed. Why develop and improve the economy, if everything is fine. The Soviet economy is becoming flawed: instead of creating and doing on its own, the Union began to buy everything. The economy of the oil and gas "pipe" appears. From that moment on, the USSR began to lag behind in a number of industries, and many breakthrough programs were curtailed. So, science was still well financed, Russian scientists continued to invent, create new splendid technologies, equipment, machines, but for the most part this was shelved, went to the archive. Why invent and work effectively when you can just sell raw materials? The party elite already preferred not to bother themselves, but to buy from the West. The old disease of the Russian "elite" is reviving - to think that the Western is certainly better than its own, the Russian. Even in the presence of its own, at the same time of higher quality, the western was chosen.
Production and science in the USSR begin to live separately from each other … The military-industrial complex of the USSR continues to value high qualifications, progress and high, breakthrough technologies. In fact, in the Soviet military-industrial complex at that time a huge amount of breakthrough technologies was accumulated that could turn the Union into a space, military and economic superpower, for decades ahead of the rest of the world. However, unlike the United States, where all the best from the defense industry was immediately mastered in civilian production (dual technologies), in the Brezhnev USSR the military-industrial complex lived separately from the country. Science and the defense industry were still moving forward, into the future, creating a super-civilization, while the authorities and the people were accustomed to living in a stagnant swamp.
The psychological, social and economic consequences of "oil communism" were dire. In fact, the authorities and the people then made a "big deal". People were given the opportunity to live beyond their means, to raise their living standards without any connection with the growth of production efficiency and labor productivity. Most buy "freebies". They say that the people suffered for a long time and tightened their belts, let them now live in satiety. In exchange, the Soviet elite received the right to quietly curtail the course of building communism, decay, begin the soft privatization of the people's wealth and begin negotiations with the West on coexistence and merger.
Under Brezhnev, the egalitarianism inherited from Khrushchev intensifies and reaches insanity. Under Stalin, aces pilots and professors could receive more allied ministers. And during "stagnation" an engineer in the USSR turns into an ordinary worker, the salary of a trolleybus driver is compared with the income of a candidate of sciences. Stalin's healthy hierarchy: the higher the qualifications, the higher the salary becomes a thing of the past. A healthy work ethic is dying. It is not surprising that under Stalin, scientific and technological progress went by leaps and bounds, and under Brezhnev it faded away or was fenced off by an "iron curtain" in the military-industrial complex.
A new parasitic, degrading class is ripening. Imported goods were in short supply. They had to be bought illegally with overpayment from Soviet trade workers, people who had the opportunity to visit abroad. Thus, the basis for the emergence of a class of traders-speculators arose. In the USSR, a “gray market”, underground criminal capital, is emerging. At the same time, in the national outskirts, in the Caucasus and Central Asia, these tendencies were stronger and more pronounced. It becomes more profitable to be such a speculator, a person admitted to distribution, than a pilot, border guard or scientist, teacher. A class is maturing, interested in the collapse of the Soviet empire.
That's why the rise and "golden age" of Brezhnev quickly faded away. Ideas and ideals have faded. Disappointment sets in in such "oil communism" and the party (while the people still respect Stalin). Materialism replaces spiritual ideals, "Sausage" and "jeans". In place of the exploration of the Moon and Mars, the depths of the World Ocean comes a wretched and gray reality. And the place of national culture is taken by "pop" - the American (Western) surrogate of culture. The disintegration of society begins. Party nobility and ordinary people want a "beautiful life", pictures of which they see in Western films or during business trips abroad. People begin to drown the emptiness in their souls with alcohol, and the mass alcoholization of Soviet society begins. Hence the growth of crime, the growth of carriers of criminal ethics.
The "big deal" began to turn the people into a corrupted "herd", not willing to work well and hard, but wanting a "beautiful life." They form the image of the “fabulous West” - an abundant and beautiful world, where everything is good and complete freedom. There is a division of the Soviet people, a single monolith is being destroyed. Nationalism is reborn, which after the collapse of the USSR will degenerate into open Nazism. The Georgian, Baltic or Ukrainian intelligentsia are taught that their nations are better than others, that, having got rid of the “sovk” (Russians, “Muscovites”), they will live much better. At the same time, everyone subconsciously believed that the achievements of the USSR would be preserved: the absence of the threat of war, a high level of development of education and health care, a low crime rate, free kindergartens, schools and institutes, free apartments, low prices for housing and communal services (gas, electricity, water, etc.) and other achievements of socialism.
Thus, the degeneration of the Soviet nobility destroyed the Soviet civilization. If under Stalin the elite was disciplined, responsible, bet on national culture, education, science, technology and production, then after the great leader an anti-elite began to form, which looked to the West and dreamed of privatizing people's property, “living beautifully”. The decay was rapid, and in the second period of Brezhnev's rule, the party elite and its national cadres were already betting not on the victory of the USSR in the historical confrontation with the West, but on the collapse and defeat of Soviet civilization. It seemed to the Soviet anti-elite that there were so many people's property and resources that great Russia (USSR) could be dismembered and feasted on its ruins. Enough for them and their families. Great betrayal and looting will allow them to become part of the already global mafia.
As a result, we have lost the great Soviet civilization, the project of creating a society of the future. The USSR collapsed not because of the ineffectiveness of the economy and exorbitant military spending, not because of the strength of the West, which defeated us in space, military, scientific and technological competition. We collapsed because of the betrayal of the "elite", who traded the great and wonderful future for Western "beads".
