The Failed Revolution. The Impact of 1989 on the Former Soviet Republics
The Failed Revolution. The Impact of 1989 on the Former Soviet Republics

Summary/Abstract: Year 1989 marked the collapse of the communist regime in Eastern Europe, and the launch – at least in some of those countries – of resolute programs of coming to terms with the crimes of the former regime, including lustration, access to secret files, and court trials against party officials and secret agents. But the impact of 1989 on the former Soviet Union was rather limited. Only two years later, when the Soviet Union dismantled and the communist regime collapsed in that part of the world, the political changes occasioned reexaminations of the recent part only in the three Baltic states. All other successor republics opted to “forgive and forget,” when not to glorify the gruesome human rights violations perpetrated by successive Soviet regimes.

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