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From: henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer)
Newsgroups: net.followup,net.politics
Subject: Re: Star Wars Defense...
Message-ID: <4313@utzoo.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 12-Sep-84 19:27:37 EDT
Article-I.D.: utzoo.4313
Posted: Wed Sep 12 19:27:37 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 12-Sep-84 19:27:37 EDT
References: <302@ihu1e.UUCP>, <406@oliven.UUCP> <740@flairvax.UUCP>, <429@oliven.UUCP>, <746@flairvax.UUCP>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 20

>  a) the regime is stable and enjoys the support of most of the population;

This is actually somewhat debatable; it depends on exactly what you mean
by "support".  It would be more accurate to say that the government has
the passive support of most of the population, but that dissatisfaction
with specific policies is frequent.  The Soviet government has had to
cope with quite a number of incidents of unrest, industrial action, and
even outright revolt (notably the Novocherkassk [sp?] uprising) in the
last decade or two.  These have all been fairly localized, and the Soviet
government has generally dealt with them quickly and then hushed them up.
(The usual technique for dealing with them, by the way, has been to give
in quickly on material issues and then have the KGB infiltrate to prevent
recurrences.)  "It all depends on whose ox is gored"; the average Soviet
citizen probably supports his government in the abstract until pushed too
far over some concrete issue.  The government remains stable as long as
it can avoid pushing too many people too far simultaneously.  So far it's
proven fairly adept at doing this.
-- 
				Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
				{allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!henry