Supposing the Soviet Union survived as a unified state with a single government, how could they have restored capitalism without the problems they historically developed? Destroyed economy, rule by oligarchs. In more general terms, how does one go about restoring capitalism
Same way China and Vietnam do it : SEZ, Maintain State Control of critical industries, encouraging Nationalism as alternative ideologies, etc
You would agree however that different elites work differently.
There are several different conditions that change how society and its elites behave :
- availability of free capital : homesteading in US enable even the poorest to go to West and acquire land, making labour expensive and capital cheap
- Nationalism : if elites perceive themselves as part of society that include middle and poor, they more likely to limit themselves
- Democracy and Representation : when government not owned by elites, elites forced to maintain popularity and government less likely to support elites
- presences of middle class strong enough to destroy elites
- presence of cheap military technology that enables untrained militia to be serious threat to trained soldier
- large "commons" : from common lands, national health care, to state factories that limit and balance power of elites