Russia: The Fire Next Time?

On the Inner Crisis of Communist Society

They’re rioting in Africa, they’re starving in Spain—as the Kingston Trio used to sing—but in Russia they’re “building socialism.” There may be occasional tremors on the fringes of Comrade Brezhnev’s “socialist commonwealth,” requiring the firm hand of the Soviet army, but the Russian heartland stands solid as the Rock of Magnitogorsk. The Soviet Union today appears anything but revolutionary.

A sociological analysis seems to confirm this impression. The Soviets have built up an efficient political and economic machine. The Party controls all public communication, and the Politburo controls the Party. The successfu...