1. Despite of more than 15 years being passed since the fall of the Soviet Empire still the biggest part of the modern Russian population was born in that Empire. This situation slowly changes, more and more boys and girls come of age. They study the history; they listen to parents, grandparents, sisters and brothers who may tell them about our past times.
But the matter is of what may be told!
I also was born inside of the Soviet Superpower, though it was just some of my childish years, imbibed of broken reminiscences of Lenin"s portraits, 1st May parades, subbotniki, octjabrjata, pioneers and the news of (sounded really strange and mysterious for my that ear) "Tse-Ka-Ka-Pe-eS-eS". So, you can hurl me the fact of my almost empty memory. You"ll be right. Never the less the USSR was my Motherland and this, I hope, gives me a justification to work out my own viewpoint on the Soviet History. Just as you have the same excuse for yours views.
2. Well, first of all, I take the Soviet Period as the "Historic Event". Usually events in their sense give rise to associations connected with something transient like rains or queues at shops. I prefer to look at it as the event because in face of hundreds years of Russian History it seems more as an event.
It is clear to me that even taken as the Event the flow of Soviet history was different from something uniquely determined. This Event had various structure. I will lay this structure as the Points of the Spheres.
• Geopolitical sphere. The birthday of the Soviet Regime meant the deadline of the flourishing (in spite of numerous problems) Russian Empire. October (or November) Cataclysm broke down the vast Empire - and it needed Communists to pass the exam of the Civil War in order to establish their control over much less territory than Russia had before. And, moreover, it was no more Russia - it was the prototype of the further United Communist World State. That, particularly, signified the course to globalization - in some sense. Other European States indecisively excluded new Soviet Russia from the Old European Concert. Failed in the realization of it"s utopian ideas Communist elite spent some years in the mortal fight for the power. As soon as it was achieved by Stalin the Soviet Regime, continuing to use the old rhetoric, assumed the much more adequate imperial policy. Some historians guess that Stalin had even greater plan, than he did, but, anyway, at the end of Stalin"s reining the USSR included almost all lost territories, except for Poland, Finland and Alaska, and absorbed the part of Eastern Prussia, which at once was Russian. Also industrialized Soviet Superpower controlled a lot of satellite nations and fought for getting new of them with a Second Superpower - the USA. The peak of the Soviet influence was the period between the End of the WWII and the early years of Brezhnev. Lost the will to concur with the USA in the outer space, having almost unconscious war in Afghanistan, the Soviet Empire was destroyed mainly inside, by the liberal elite.
• Socio-ideological sphere. During all their time the Communists shamed European nations on decadence and waited for a final decay of capitalism. But the thing was that communist experiment had purely European origin and in this case it had brought Russia to very awry done westernization. The inanity of such activity expressed, for example, in existence of GOSPLAN. This organization tried to plan every side of economic life of the USSR - something which was really useful during the WWII, but was only bad at the peace times. The propaganda showed this peace as a very unstable, depending on the evil capitalistic dreams. Though it was very close to the truth but it lead the population to the feel of tiring of battle - especially when all its" weight pressed on the simple people. That"s why almost nobody resisted the perestroika. These things lay on the surface.
• Deeper lay much more interesting ideas. Though all good in the USSR hardly can be found, but in the global sense the Soviet society was properly the Society both of Past and Future times, the Communist experiment had spread Russia along the historical axis from something like 14th to 22nd centuries. The cruel spirit of post-Horde Moscovy mixed together with new Soviet identity of nations (which was to unite all the ethnic groups and grade down their old cultural conflicts) and the strong wish of numerous people to participate in the bringing near the Future (par example - in the field of scientific advance). Taking into account tremendous technologic (and not necessarily in warfare) progress - from plough to rocket, nobody has the right to underestimate the magnitude of the USSR.
Thus, the Soviet Regime in our history was the polysemantic Event. During this period Russia had experienced genuine greatness and pure inner self-murder. But, most of all, Russia showed to the world - and stood on the threshold by herself - the potential of Human Future.
Oh yeah, the Scythes are we with slanting greedy eyes,