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The Soviet collapse: entirely unnecessary and utterly disastrous
Three decades on from the demise of the USSR, it is clearer than ever that capitalism cannot solve the problems faced by humanity, says CARLOS MARTINEZ
Hammer & Sickle exploding

THIRTY years ago, on August 24 1991, president Mikhail Gorbachev dissolved the central committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) and resigned from his role as general secretary. 

This was the first serious administrative step towards the dissolution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. 

A day later, the Soviet flag outside the Kremlin was replaced with the Russian flag. From that moment, nothing meaningful remained of the Soviet state.

Against the popular will

A coup, not an uprising

A historic setback

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