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Failures and Successes: Soviet and Chinese State-Socialist Reforms in the Face of Global Capitalism

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30 Years since the Fall of the Berlin Wall

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Economic History ((PEHS))

Abstract

The demise of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1991 when viewed alongside the seeming success of the Peoples Republic of China’s (PRC) reforms since the 1980s is a study in contrasts. This chapter compares the approaches adopted by the Soviet and Chinese Communist Parties to the reform of state socialism and considers why one ended in collapse and the other in resurgence. The chapter considers the specific challenges each state faced, international and domestic, in the context of neoliberal capitalism; the intellectual compasses that guided their respective party leaderships; the roles played by domestic forces in the reforms; and what light all these considerations cast on the role of the state in socialist reform.

This chapter is an expanded version of a paper presented at the AACaPS 14th Biennial Conference, Griffith University, 31 January–1 February 2019. An earlier version was first delivered to the International Workshop on ‘Socialism in Power’, Renmin University of China, Beijing, 23–24 September 2017.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, Australia

    Roger D. Markwick

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  1. Roger D. Markwick
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Correspondence to Roger D. Markwick .

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  1. Department of Accounting, Finance and Economics, Griffith University, Southport, QLD, Australia

    Alexandr Akimov

  2. Department of Economics, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, Australia

    Gennadi Kazakevitch

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Markwick, R.D. (2020). Failures and Successes: Soviet and Chinese State-Socialist Reforms in the Face of Global Capitalism. In: Akimov, A., Kazakevitch, G. (eds) 30 Years since the Fall of the Berlin Wall. Palgrave Studies in Economic History. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0317-7_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0317-7_15

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