The problems that were prevalent, and inherited if you will, during the Communist era didn’t magically appear right at 1917. They were always there. Certain traditions and the way of political rule essentially trapped each Tsar, Premiere, ruling body etc. into continuing the prior political system. Whether it was to keep the status quo and prevent peasants from a revolution, or maintain a huge military infrastructure to countermand the west. Essentially what would happen would be the problems of the previous administration, no matter the attempts at correction or reform, would carry over to the next man/regime.

Although the major problems of the Soviet system, that would eventually lead to its downfall, don’t become readily noticeable until the Brezhnev era. 1964-82 We can see their beginnings during the Stalin era which I’ll touch on somewhat.

With Lenin’s death in 1924, Joseph Stalin assumed the head of the Soviet Communist Party. The reforms initiated by Len

In my opinion the democratization of Russia occurred to quickly. State assets were distributed disproportionately to insiders, to people willing to circumvent the law, and in some cases to criminals. Official corruption and the lack of clearly enforced laws and clearly defined property laws have lead to public dissension. One of Yeltsin's greatest mistakes was moving economic reform ahead so quickly while not addressing the need for immense political reform at the same time.

The old style of Communist government and even that of the Tsars before them had left behind a legacy of corruption, inefficient agricultural practices, inefficient public education, poorly structured industrial focuses, and financial instability. The Russian people today are trying to right the wrongs of the past one thousand years. They have a long way to go and I plan to watch with interest on where Russia will go in the future.

Although politics and the corruption within them played a large role in the problems that would emerge after 1991, things like the economy, and agriculture also played a major role in the dysfunctional atmosphere of the Brezhnev Era and subsequent problems later. A good example of the problems of the economy would be that it was so dysfunctional, and geared toward military and heavy industry for so long that as soon as an attempt to shift toward consumer goods the economy had begun as Kenez puts it “run out of steam”, from labor shortages and technological backwardness. Also for example collective farming which had been around since the time of the Tsars had yet to be abolished or changed to a more effective manner, and with the Soviet economy so ingrained and dependant on government subsidized collective farming any change would seriously change the entire system.

Russia in 2010 – Well as I write this paper 2010 isn’t really all the far off. I don’t think Russia will change all that vastly but it may run into some serious problems. I think the economy will sort of plug along like it is now, but maybe with a prospect of becoming stronger due to the fact that at this point Russia has recognized the vast energy resources it controls and exploits them accordingly. Capitalism in Russia I think at this point is still in the trial and error phase, perhaps there has been a significant move towards private property ownership and strong private business, and the Russians are making a good attempt at working out the kinks. I do believe though that we will see some serious problems with dissent especially more republics wishing to break away from Russia proper and threats from ethnic groups deep within Russia. This span of 10 years is probably the most critical on making a free market capitalist system work. Any major failure will give plenty of ammo to those who are still nostalgic and wishing to return to the good ol days of Communism.

Russia in 2050 – This is probably the hardest to predict due to how far in the future it. Communism if it hasn’t for some reason come back to Russia is effectively dead now. The elderly are the only ones who remember any form of communism. I think Russia at this point is a strong capitalist county especially within Europe. Not on the level of the U.S. but not a giant foreign consumer good producer like China. Advances in technology and access to them, economic stability, and a burning desire of the Russian people to be looked at in awe as people did during the Cold War have probably helped boost Russia back into the position of a world leader it hasn’t enjoyed since the 60’s and 70’s. As for foreign relations this

Some topics in this essay:
Soviet Union, Russia Gorbachev, East Russia, Russia China, Tsar Premiere, Russia Khrushchev, Capitalism Russia, Brezhnev Era, Gentry Boyar, Communism Russia, soviet union, russian people, soviet system, brezhnev era, top leadership, corruption prevalent, eventually lead, resources siberia, step towards, private business,