Vladislav Zubok

Published: 12 May 2025

Collapse: The Fall of the Soviet Union

Collapse: The Fall of the Soviet Union book cover

In equal parts comprehensive and exhausting, Zubok documents the fall of the Soviet Union primarily from the perspective of Gorbachev and his hapless reign, setting the stage by beginning in the early 1980s - outlining the issues that an exhausted and stagnant, if still stable, Soviet Union faced post-Breznhev. Mikhail Gorbachev, the first post-war generation leader and proudly “neo-Leninist”, arrives on the scene comparably fresh-faced, energetic and optimistic for the future equipped with grand sweeping plans to reform both the economic and political aspects of the Soviet Union and to usher in “democratic socialism” to the Soviets. In ~6 short, chaotic years the Soviet Union would cease to exist.

After reading the book, following the day-in and day-out of what was going on, the mystery of why the Soviet Union fell apart so quickly is no longer a mystery. Whilst Zubok is keen to point out that there was a myriad of factors that played into its collapse and not just the typical Western claims (e.g. Afghanistan and bloated military spending) - a significant portion lies with Gorbachev (and the surrounding Party elites) and their sheer incompetence and incoherent actions. Gorbachev’s plan was to reform economically via “perestroika”, which if successful would provide a platform for political reform via “glasnost”. After a quick outline on what little idea Gorbachev was doing economically in the front-half of the book, he simply ploughed on with his political reform, channelling Lenin yet refusing to act in any way comparable, and squandering his absolute Party power on idealistic reforms and devolution - essentially undermining his own power and creating a power vacuum in its place, easily occupied by anti-communist populists and nationalists willing to see the Soviet Union fall apart and replaced with their constituent nations.

As the chaos rumbles on, and it becomes more clear that both Gorbachev and the Party are both wholly inept, the book shifts to focus more on Boris Yeltsin, the boorish drunkard who feuds constantly with Gorbachev and eventually gambles it all on becoming “President of Russia” after his (im)famous visit to the USA and a Houston supermarket (who Zubok is far less hard on in comparison) and President George Bush Sr., who befriended Gorbachev on his numerous foreign trips and gave much needed moral support yet was always at arms length when it came to propping up/reforming the Soviet Union financially, ultimately leading to the US washing its hands and declaring the Cold War as a won one.

Zubok conjectures that the fall of the USSR was not inevitable, bringing up China’s successful reforms under Deng Xiaopeng (“This man may look smart but in fact is stupid” - Deng on Gorbachev), where an iron grip was kept on the political side when introducing market reforms, something that Andropov, Gorbachev’s predecessor followed and believed in - as well as referencing other nation’s successful transformation through the “Washington Consensus/shock doctrine” such as Poland. I personal find some sympathy with this conclusion in some fashion, a lot of that is undercut by not just Gorbachev, but the collective lack of conviction, will and self-preservation of the Party - the August coup is a prime example of is. However, there was plenty of missed opportunities to soften the blow and to reduce the total catastrophe, especially frustrating to read given what a disaster post-Soviet Russia would turn out to be.