Articles by Markar Melkonian

The most complete and plausible explanation of the demise of the Soviet Union would combine the best insights of prevailing non-Marxist accounts within a more comprehensive Marxist account that gives prominence to the rise of the nomenklatura, a capitalist class-in-formation that would eventually do much of the shovelling to bury the Soviet order. Long before Yeltsin hauled the red flag down, this class-in-formation had already occupied positions of control over major productive assets; however, legally sanctioned property relations constrained it, and thus it could not systematically appropriate the surplus product. Convinced that Soviet relations of ownership stood in the way of economic development, leaders of the nomenklatura and their allies overwhelmed the demoralised and disorganised remnants of workers' power.