Why did the soviet Union Collapse

[howie]

I,ve never mentioned this before, but the collapse of the Soviet Union can be traced back to a conversation I had with Mikhail Gorbachev while doing guard duty on the Berlin Wall back in the late sixties. M.B. was doing one of those publicity walkabout things and merely by chance stopped to have a chat with me. He started prattling on about how superior the Soviet system was compared to others, but I was having none of it. Listen Mikey says I, if you want internal progress then you need good international relations if you are to have any chance of catching up with Western prosperity and technology. He poopooed the whole idea of course, but the seeds of doubt were planted, and many years later after he had come to power he introduced Perestoika and Glasnost, where the ordinary Soviet citizen became more involved at not only grassroot level, but participated in national affairs as well. Things gathered pace a lot faster than he anticipated i,m afraid, and once the ordinary peolpe got their first taste of freedom and the right to free expression, then the floodgates opened and there was no turning back, and therein lies my own small contribution to the collapse of the Soviet Union.

 

Footnote. There was a recent thread on music, and my own choice would have been anything by the "King", but seeing that me and Elvis went to school together I didn,t participate in case I left my self open to favoritism.

[michele]

Thanks Spike Milligan its like Monty & my part in his downfall.

[Guest Frank Wilkinson]

twooks - 2007-02-08 3:11 PM

yeah, nice one Frank, didn't realise McDonald's were capable of inspiring such thoughts [JOKE!!! honest - I know you didn't mention Ronald's friends]

My other somewhat flip remark was actually directed more at the hijacking of truth by the media here and USA's apparent inability to register anything beyond their immediate borders.

I think Orwell's 1984 should be on a required list for everyone, with regular reptitions about every 10 years or so. 

It's not what you write / say that is important so much as the way it is understood.

'life is too short to be surrounded by morons' - midge ure

Twooks, I know that it sounds like a joke but it really is true! If memory serves it was some kind of Korean takeaway and the simple fact was brought home to Gorby that our system really delivers the goods. He was incredibly impressed by the fact that he could do almost anything and get anything in the early hours of the morning. And if like me, you'd had the pleasure of travelling in the U.S.S.R. in the late seventies, you'd know why he was impressed by American services!

He has admitted that that one incident caused him to totally relook at the party line about Communism being the holy grail and to change the system as soon as he could.

As I said, from such small acorns, great oaks grow!

[twooks]

Did go to Hungary in the early 80s - hitching - got pulled over for smuggling on the way back - but that's another story .. .. ..

had several polish friends about that time as well

there may not have been many [any!] material goods around in Hungary at the time - but the people were great. The only time I was really aware of crossing a border in Europe was when you went between West / East, border guards, enough guns to make even Charlton Heston happy, and a landscape that seemed to be at least a century apart.

What's really sad is that we don't appreciate what we have and fritter it away. *-)

 

but - it's too late to be serious anymore, I'm feeling fluey and headachey - so I'm off to bed with Vick - anybody coming >:-)

 

B-)

[howie]

Not into threesomes. Hope you and Vic have a good time though. :$

[michele]

Goodnight chatters.........