By Dr. Sawraj Singh
The collapse of the Soviet Union is one of the most important historical events of our time. Not only did the people of the Soviet Union pay a very heavy price, but the people of the whole world had to pay a tremendous price as well. The balance of power in the world was disturbed. The bipolar world changed into a unipolar world. The western countries, under the leadership of the USA, established complete domination and hegemony over the world. America became the only superpower and the Policeman of the world. America and the western countries could do whatever they pleased. There was no one to challenge them or stop them.
There are many causes of the collapse of the Soviet Union such as ignoring the national question, Russian chauvinism, over-centralized bureaucracy, and a weak economy. However, the single most important cause, I feel, is the illusion the Soviet leaders had about western capitalist countries. They did not understand that the real purpose of the western countries is to maintain their control over the resources of the third world countries because the economies of western imperialist countries have become mostly parasitic. They have mostly lost their manufacturing base and are maintaining their higher standards of living at the expense of very cheap resources of third world countries and because of the uneven exchange.
Although the western countries project themselves as champions of democracy and human rights, yet that is not their real agenda. Their real agenda is to remove any obstacle that comes in the way of their control and exploitation of the third world. The Soviet Union was perceived as that obstacle. Therefore, it had to be removed. However, Gorbachov’s Perestroika was based upon an unrealistic assessment of the western system and its intentions. Gorbachov and other leaders like him fell into the western trap.
Now, the west sees China as the main obstacle in their plan to control the resources of the third world. The Chinese leaders are different than the Soviet leaders. Their understanding of the west is much deeper and much more realistic than that of the Soviet leaders. However, they do not want to ignore the experience of the Soviet leaders in terms of the collapse of the Soviet Union. They feel that the present and future Chinese leaders can still learn many useful lessons from the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Chinese Communist party has instructed them to study the causes of the Soviet Union’s collapse. It looks very unlikely that China will meet the same fate as the Soviet Union. By avoiding the mistakes of the Soviet leaders, the Chinese leaders can help China and also help to restore the balance of power in the world and transform the present unipolar world into a multipolar world.
While China is trying to learn the right lessons from the Soviet Union’s collapse, India has taken the wrong approach after the Soviet Union’s collapse. India, for all practical purposes, joined the western camp. This opportunist stand can be compared to jumping into a sinking ship. India should have strengthened its position in Asia and the third world. India should have tried to revive the non-alignment movement.
At present, two forces are opposing western hegemony and domination. China is opposing economic domination and Islam is opposing the cultural domination of the west. India should lead the third force of countries which are neither Islamic nor leaning toward China. At present, these countries are, for all practical puroses, aligned with the west. These countries should become neutral and start a new nonaligned movement.
Dr. Sawraj Singh, MD F.I.C.S. is the Chairman of the Washington State Network for Human Rights and Chairman of the Central Washington Coalition for Social Justice. He can be reached at [email protected].
