GORBACHEV AND LENIN - PSYCHOLOGICAL WALLS OF THE SOVIET GARRISON STATE

This paper explores the psychological-political break between Gorbachev and his predecessors. The conception of a powerful, ruthless, and cunning enemy identified with ''imperialists'' is seen as central to the viability of the Soviet ''garrison state.'' It sanctioned the use of terror as well as more subtle means of coercion and surveillance of the whole society allegedly threatened by the malevolent ''enemy.'' By breaking with the traditional enunciations of this concept by previous leaders, especially Lenin, Stalin, Khrushchev, and Brezhnev, Gorbachev set the psychopolitical foundations for far-reaching changes in the Soviet system, dramatically evident in the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. in December 1991.