On 6 December 2011, more than sixty people attended a lively Labour History Research Unit event commemorating the twentieth anniversary of the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Dr Jonathan Davis (Anglia Ruskin) spoke about how Mikhail Gorbachev changed Soviet socialism, Dr Edwin Bacon (Birkbeck) discussed why no-one foresaw the collapse of the USSR and Professor Christopher Read (Warwick) questioned whether the USSR could have survived. Opinions on the causes of the USSR's downfall were divided and this led to a fascinating debate which was continued with great interest in the pub.

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