The breakdown of communist regimes and the role of the "architectural plan"

No abstractThis study aims to investigate the causes which can be held responsible for the breakdown of communist regimes. To explain communist breakdown, the paper distinguishes between the theory of the ‘historical lineages’ and the theory of the ‘inherent in the system causes’. The latter theory draws on Max Weber’s work, in particular his analysis of bureaucracy as a determining factor of modernization. The paper then proceeds to an examination of the role of nomenclature in the Soviet Union. It approaches the Soviet nomenclature as a constellation of forces which controlled the means of production and the means of coercion. In contemporary literature on communist regimes there is a renewed interest in the work of Marx, Engels and that of Lenin, in an attempt to assess the ideas which at a later stage and under the influence of the structures of asiatic despotism, which the Soviet Union inherited, can be seen as part of the explanation for the adulteration of socialist imperatives in the countries of the ‘existing socialism’. In th:s context it is important to consider the role of Marxian theory in legitimizing some of the choices made by the communist regimes. The study concludes by suggesting that scholarship needs to cover a lot of ground in order to explore fully the links between socialist theory and actual practice in the countries of the ‘existing socialism’