Francis is right. Those in the NCP and associated with Straight Left refused to countenance any criticism of the Soviet Union before Gorbachov took office, and when he did they welcomed him as the one who would revivify the state. I remember one CPGB member who refused to sell the Morning Star but pointedly stood selling Soviet Weekly not long before Gorbachov took office. If I had the energy or the motivation - both of which I lack - I'd go back and see what Straight Left and the New Worker said about Gorbachov back in the day. Not that the Euros got everything right: they did not generally realise that socialism could collapse in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. But let's just assume that everything Peter and Kim and Guy write in this thread is true. What does it tell us about the Soviet union and its political and social institutions if one man could destroy it - with only an attempted coup by a few army officers protesting (and, incidentally, opening the door to political power to the clown Jeltsin?) Well, it tells us that basically many of the Euro criticisms of the Soviet Union were well-founded.