Amateur cycling in Moscow

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Were communist intellectuals duped by Soviet propaganda?

Viewpoint: Yes. Taken in by Soviet propaganda, Western intellectuals believed in communism because they were generally ignorant of its true costs and personally alienated from their own governments and societies.

Viewpoint: No. Western intellectuals were throughly convinced that in theory communism offered the best and most promising solutions for humanity's problems and that Soviet failures would be overcome.

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Was the collapse of the Soviet Union inevitable?

Viewpoint: Yes. The Soviet system had inherent political and economic flaws that made it unsustainable.

Viewpoint: No. The Soviet Union had the potential to remain stable; it was brought down by foreign pressures and bad leadership decisions.

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Did the Soviets support gender equity and women's rights?

Viewpoint: Yes. The Soviets viewed women as critical to the success of the state, and they ensured the fulfillment of women's rights and aspirations.

Viewpoint: No. The Soviets failed to establish meaningful equality for women, and many state directives contained fundamental gender biases.

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Was the Soviet nationalities policy instituted by Vladimir Lenin fair and balanced?

Viewpoint: Yes. The Soviets largely fulfilled Lenin's promises of national autonomy and nondiscrimination.

Viewpoint: No. The Soviets essentially reconstructed the tsarist empire and imposed de facto Great Russian rule.

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Did the Bolsheviks accelerate achievements in literacy and primary education in the Soviet Union? Viewpoint: Yes. Soviet mass literacy and education programs were swift and impressive agents of modernization. Viewpoint: No. Soviet accomplishments in education and literacy were neither more impressive than similar developments in Western Europe nor dramatic improvements over what the tsarist government had achieved.

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Was Vladimir Lenin committed to maintaining the New Economic Policy (NEP)?

Viewpoint: Yes. Vladimir Lenin was firmly committed to NEP and would have pursued it over the long term.

Viewpoint: No. Vladimir Lenin never saw NEP as more than a compromise to remain in power, and he would have eliminated it as soon as circumstances permitted.

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Vexed by Russia's expansion into the Liaodong Peninsula after the humiliating Triple Intervention of 1895, challenged by Russian troops in Manchuria even after suppression of the Boxers in China, and denied recognition of its claim to exclusive rights in Korea, Japan spent a decade on countermeasures: application of its Chinese war indemnity to ground and naval buildup, consummation of a defensive alliance with England, and direct negotiations with Russia. When diplomacy foundered in early 1904 Japanese hard-liners prevailed and Tokyo opted for hostilities. Control of the sea lanes to the continent was prerequisite. Japan broke off its diplomatic relations with Russia on 6 February and then struck by surprise on 8 February, when Japanese destroyers mauled the Russian squadron at Port Arthur (Chinese, Lüshun; Japanese, Ryojun). Both parties declared war on 10 February...

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Law, Russian (Muscovite), 1300-1500. The centuries during which the principality of Muscovy extended its hegemony over most of northeast Russia witnessed an extraordinary growth in law and legal institutions. Not only did the main pre-Muscovite codes continue to be copied, but new law was created in many of the areas that came under Muscovy's domination by the early sixteenth century. Finally, Muscovy itself produced major codes that attempted to unify judicial practice throughout the principality...

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Open Skies refers to a proposal that allows participating countries to fly over each other's territory in order to build confidence that no untoward or threatening activities are going on below. It was first put forward by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1955 and was intended to allow the United States and the Soviet Union to overfly each other, but the negotiations went nowhere. In 1989, President George Bush revived the idea, expanding it to include all members of NATO and the Warsaw Pact. On 24 March 1992, after three years of negotiation during which the political relations of the parties were completely transformed and the Warsaw Pact disappeared, the Open Skies Treaty was signed...

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