Synopsis
An account of the intrigues of Soviet political life in the years when the Communist party was at its apogee describes the re-Stalinization of 1968-1974 and the stagnation period that led to Gorbachev's reforms
Reviews
Arbatov, who has headed the Institute for the Study of the U.S.A. and Canada (a major Moscow think tank) since its founding in 1967, claims that he is as controversial at home as he is in this country. And this account of Soviet governance going back to 1953 provides plenty of fodder for his partisans and foes alike. Although Arbatov acknowledges his own conformity in pre- perestroika Russia, expresses shame "for living according to the rules of the day" and stresses that survival required submission, the book is no apologia. Rather, in it this ingenious unreconstructed Socialist bears witness to the apparat's follies, cronyism, corruption and blatant abuses of power. which quashed undercurrents of liberalist impulse. From his vantage as adviser to every Soviet leader from Khrushchev to Yeltsin, he reviews the conflicts accruing to Khrushchev's exposure of Stalin's criminality at the 20th Party Congress in 1956, the tentative reforms and persecutions, the subsequent attempts at re-Stalinization, the Cold War, then detente and Brezhnev-era stagnation. He condemns military power as an instrument of politics, yet skirts certain sensitive matters, as when he writes, "What was actually going on as far as the so-called Jewish problem was concerned, I do not know." Arbatov is well versed in the language of politics, practiced at saying both more and less than he appears to, and this affects one's reading of his memoir. But read it one must. Author tour.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
A devastating glimpse into life at the top of the Soviet Union--ironically written by the man who, as director of the Institute for the Study of the United States and Canada, was one of the Soviet system's most effective defenders. In grappling with that paradox, Arbatov admits that he wasn't a closet progressive or reformer but was, like the majority of Soviet citizens, a ``rational believer''--though apparently one who courageously shielded colleagues from the wrath of a pervasively corrupt system. Arbatov's own father, he reports, was imprisoned under Stalin as a counterrevolutionary. Khrushchev, who denounced Stalin, was, Arbatov says, too much a product of the system to do away with it, while Brezhnev was a mediocre man who manipulated the system with great skill but who, in his later years, needed to have written down for him even the most elementary information required for a conversation. Under Brezhnev, nothing changed and the system preserved its status quo at any cost. The bureaucracy grew so vast that agriculture alone supported three million bureaucrats--``more than all the farmers in America.'' During the Brezhnev period, Arbatov explains, the Soviet military-industrial complex became increasingly dominant, and, misled by the Marxist takeover in Angola, involved the country in expensive adventures in Ethiopia, Yemen, and, ultimately, Afghanistan. The strain on a system already badly run was so great that, in retrospect, Arbatov finds that reform probably was no option at all. He says that Andropov, though blessed with ``an extraordinary gift for politics,'' was too old and sick when he took over to make a difference; and Gorbachev, though Arbatov was initially ``enchanted'' with him, was marred by his ``strategic ambivalence and lack of political scruples.'' An unusually intimate and honest attempt to portray the last years of the Soviet Union by one who, for all his faults, retained a sense of honor. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
The Kremlin's top specialist on U.S. affairs since the 1960s looks back on his career as an adviser to the Soviet leadership and director of Moscow's respected Institute for the Study of the United States and Canada. Political scientists and highly informed readers will value Arbatov's detailed description of the Soviet decision-making process and of the decision makers themselves--especially Khrushchev, Brezhnev, and Andropov--who emerge here as much more complex figures than is usually assumed. While Arbatov takes pains to distinguish himself from the more courageous dissidents as an "anti-Stalinist insider," his professional struggles are compelling enough and serve to further illuminate the Soviet tragedy. Highly recommended. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 3/15/92.
- Robert Decker, Palo Alto, Cal.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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