Soviet Civil War

In response to “Yeltsin Sees Discontent but No Soviet Coup,” Part I, Sept. 11:

Lately, I have been reading that, because of the general economic dissatisfaction in the Soviet Union, there is a possibility of a civil war. The recently visiting (Communist Party populist) Boris Yeltsin tackled this rumor by indicating that the war scare was simply a “scarecrow” created for the purpose of frightening the republics’ citizens concerned about “growing” nationalism.

It is difficult to conceive of a “civil” war in the Soviet Union. Unlike the United States, the individual republics are not analogous to our individual states. The only way one can have a civil war is within each individual republic. Westerners cannot seem to grasp that the term “Soviet Union” simply indicates the political manner in which these 15 republics, along with Russia, are held. The word “soviet” means council. According to the constitution, every republic is a separate entity with representatives to the supreme council.

Has anyone else noticed that, every time the Russian-dominated empire loosens its grip on the rest of the republics, the first thing we notice is that nationalism raises its head? What does that tell us?

PAUL V. PLEMIANNIKOFF

Tarzana