Overseas Chinese Democracy Coalition News and Article Release Issue Number: A530-O159

中国民主运动海外联席会议新闻与文章发布号：A530-O159

Release Date: March 19, 2010

发布日：2010年3月19日

Topic: "The Lessons of the Fall of the USSR" -- David Satter

标题: 苏联解体的经验 -- 大卫﹒塞特 (David Satter)

Original Language Version: English (Chinese version at the end)

此号以英文为准（英文在前，中文在后）

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http://www.weijingsheng.org/report/report2010/report2010-03/SatterDonUSSR100319ChinaVietnamA530-O159.htm　which contains identical information.

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"The Lessons of the Fall of the USSR"

-- David Satter, Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute & Former Moscow correspondent, London Financial Times (1976-82)

January 23, 2010, VHN, Vietnam Overseas Television, Fountain Valley, California, USA

There are several lessons that can be learned from the experience of the Soviet Union. I think the first one which is difficult for many Americans to understand is that ideology is important. The Soviet Union was not a real country. The countries that emerged from the wreckage of the Soviet Union - Russia, Ukraine, Georgia - are real countries but the Soviet Union was not a real country. It was an emanation of the ideology. So when the Soviet ideology, Marxism-Leninism was discredited, the Soviet Union could not exist because it was not based on anything else.

It follows from this that an anti-human and immoral ideology needs to be challenged. Many people in the West took the view that because communist ideology appeared ridiculous it was not necessary to criticize it. This was a big mistake. Communist ideology which appeared ridiculous from the outside was very powerful in terms of its psychological effect on people in a communist country. Therefore it was important to challenge communist ideology not just on economic grounds but on fundamental moral grounds because communist ideology implies not just the creation of collective property but also, by depriving human beings of all freedom, changing the nature of man.

Another lesson from the experience of the Soviet Union is that it's important to support those people inside communist countries who defend human rights. Many people in the West, including many in the U.S., took the view that the Soviet dissidents were not important. They said the dissidents were very few in number that they had no support in the country and that they represented no one but themselves. It's true they were few in number but they represented the idea of universal morality and therefore had great importance. As long as there were persons inside the Soviet Union who were ready to speak up for universal values, they remained a factor in the life of the country. And the example of the dissidents had an effect on many who were afraid to defend universal values themselves. As a result, when the regime began to weaken, there were people who were ready to challenge it on the basis of values that had been preserved and respected even during the long years of totalitarian domination. Ideas discussed by small groups of dissidents in their kitchens emerged to become the dominant view of millions of people. As a result, the collapse of the Soviet Union became unstoppable.

One final point is that once the regime collapsed, it was not possible to build a democratic society on the basis of economic reforms without an accompanying moral reform. In Russia, many of the reformers who took over after the fall of the Soviet Union thought it was enough just to change the economy and that everything else would take care of itself. But in fact the economy was not capable of dictating values for society. It was in need of values in order to restrain it and guide it. Because the moral aspect of change was neglected, communism in the former Soviet Union was replaced with rampant criminalization. The moral values that were responsible for the destruction of the Soviet system needed to be the basis for the construction of a new society for the transition to democracy to be complete. The Soviet Union is now part of history but these lessons from the fall of the Soviet Union and the experience of post-Soviet Russia can help the peoples of China and Vietnam today.

Related photos:

1. David Satter at VHN TV global broadcasting station with Vietnamese and Chinese human rights leaders:

http://www.weijingsheng.org/pic/newsletters/newsletters2010/newsletters2010-1/VietnamVHN100123TVbroadcasting-c2-2.jpg

2. David Satter in southern California:

http://www.weijingsheng.org/pic/newsletters/newsletters2010/newsletters2010-1/SatterD100122photo.jpg

3. David Satter with Vietnamese democracy leader Dr. Ma, and Chinese democracy leader Wei Jingsheng:

http://www.weijingsheng.org/pic/newsletters/newsletters2010/newsletters2010-1/SatterD100123MaWei-c-3.jpg

(We express our gratitude for Mr. David Satter's offer of his original speech in English.)

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中文版

Overseas Chinese Democracy Coalition News and Article Release Issue Number: A530-O159

中国民主运动海外联席会议新闻与文章发布号：A530-O159

Release Date: March 19, 2010

发布日：2010年3月19日

Topic: "The Lessons of the Fall of the USSR" -- David Satter

标题: 苏联解体的经验 -- 大卫﹒塞特 (David Satter)

Original Language Version: English (Chinese version at the end)

此号以英文为准（英文在前，中文在后）

如有中文乱码问题，请与我们联系或访问:

http://www.weijingsheng.org/report/report2010/report2010-03/SatterDonUSSR100319ChinaVietnamA530-O159.htm

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中国与越南可以借鉴的苏联解体的经验

-- 大卫﹒塞特 (David Satter)，哈森学院资深研究员，原伦敦金融时报1976-1982驻莫斯科记者

2010年1月23日，于VHN越南海外电台（加州泉谷）

人们可以从苏联解体中吸取许多经验。我认为第一个经验是意识形态的重要性，这条经验对于许多美国人来说难以理解。苏联不是一个真正的国家。许多从苏联的残骸里出现的，如俄国、乌克兰、格鲁齐亚，是真正的国家，但苏联本身不是。它是来自于那个意识形态的整体。因此当苏维埃的意识形态，也就是马克思列宁主义被搞臭时，苏联也就失去了其根基，难以再存在下去。

接下来，那种反人性的、不道德的意识形态应该被挑战。许多西方人认为，共产主义意识形态很荒谬，用不着加以批评。这是个极大的误区。共产主义意识形态外表上看来很荒谬，但实际上对共产国家人们的心理影响十分强大。因此，不仅仅在经济领域，而且更重要的是在道德领域里与共产主义意识形态针锋相对，尤为重要。因为共产主义意识形态不仅仅创造“集体财产”，而且还剥夺了人们的所有自由，改变了人性。

从苏联解体我们可以得到的另一个经验是，一定要支持共产国家里维护人权的人们。许多西方人，包括美国人，都认为苏联的持不同政见者不重要。他们说这些持不同政见者数量微小，势单力薄，在他们的国家不受到支持，只代表他们自己。固然，这些持不同政见者人数很少，但他们代表了普世道德，因此举足轻重。只要这些人留在苏联境内，随时准备说出普世价值，那他们就是这个国家生命的一部分。这些持不同政见者的榜样会影响许多不敢自己来捍卫普世价值的人。其结果是，当那个政权开始削弱时，有许多人已经准备好用在极权统治期间被尊重且被保存下来的基本价值观去挑战共产意识形态。在这个时候，人数不多的持不同政见者们在他们的厨房里讨论的心路，成为百万大众的主导观点。结果是，苏联的崩溃便不可停止了。

最后一点是，那个政权一旦崩溃，如果经济改革不和道德改革同行并进，就不可能建立一个民主社会。在俄国，许多苏联解体后上台的改革者都认为只要搞好经济就行了，其它事情自然迎刃而解。可事实上经济并不能代表社会价值。人们需要一个价值系统来指导和约束其社会行为。由于道德方面的改变被忽略了，前苏联的共产主义被猖獗的犯罪所代替。引起苏联解体的道德价值，应成为建设新社会的基础，而使得民主转型得以完成。苏联虽已成为历史的一部分，但苏联解体以及解体后俄国的经验教训将有助于今天的中国和越南人民。