alternatehistory.com

What if the reforms that Beria tried to implement before his downfall were actually enacted? It doesn't have to be by Beria himself, he can still die. Those reforms mainly being:
Increased autonomy for the constituent Soviet republics and possibly independence for the Baltic states
Greatly reduced defense spending
Withdrawal from the Eastern European satellite states
The establishment of a unified, independent and democratic Germany
The improvement of relations with the United States with the goal of receiving massive economic aid

I used to think these ideas were great and that they could have saved the Soviet Union, but I've become to strongly doubt that they could have even been achieved regardless of the willingness of the Soviet leadership to implement them.

In regards to the reunification of Germany, the western powers would be extremely reluctant to go along with it. Even as late as 1989 the British and French feared renewed German aggression if it was reunified, so in 1953 they would be even more afraid of that prospect, while the West German leadership didn't want a neutral Germany and preferred it to be integrated with the rest of Western Europe.

In regards to abandoning Eastern Europe, granting independence to the Baltic states and autonomy to the rest of the union republics I am becoming convinced that it would most likely result in the complete dissolution of the Soviet Union exactly like it did decades later. Still if it did happen it wouldn't be that terrible so long as it was as peaceful as the 1991 dissolution was.

Khrushchev actually tried to reduce defence spending but that was ultimately reversed under Brezhnev, if that was at least continued that certainly would have helped the Soviet Union's economic situation.

Finally, even if all these things were achieved and relations with the United States improved, I am almost certain that there would be no massive economic and like Beria hoped. There was no aid in 1991, and in 1953 during the height of McCarthyism there certainly would be no desire to help the Soviet Union no matter how submissive they became.

So am I correct in these suspicions or was there some way they could have been workable?
Top