u/Thakal - originally from r/GenZhou
Khrushchev and co. were merely symptoms of something larger.

For example the power vacuum left by Stalin must have certainly been a huge pressure for those that came after him, somehow they have to now step into his boots. Perhaps some people did never go ahead and run for the position due to this, although I believe that the biggest issue regarding the position was simply that the USSR had two people just die while in power, that is horrible and just strengthens opportunists.

Secondly the USSR was overextending, they had certainly underestimated just how much the west would resist against their efforts by supporting opposition groups. What ended up happening is that all these proxies just drained the USSR, economically, slowly, it is exactly for this reason that China reviewed their policy on this and stopped exporting the revolution.

As for the people on GenZedong, a lot of them probably didn’t read anything, it’s the internet everybody can claim stuff. However this does not mean that their claims are wrong, the Union was dismantled against the will of the people living there and when in 1996 the communists would have won, the capitalists resisted violently against it, thus putting the final nail into the coffin.

We should, at all times, try to understand why the Union failed, we can compare its conditions to China and learn what they are doing differently. Especially regarding foreign policy, China is playing it extremely safe and tries not to endanger the revolution.

If you would prefer to watch a Video or just listen to one, I can recommend Yugopniks latest video. He did it in collaboration with someone and, while it’s topic is not straight up the USSR, it touches the dissolution and reasons to it, perhaps giving you more insight as to how a revolution can be prone to dismantling/attacks.