At the end of 1991, one of the geopolitical tragedies of the 20th century occurred - the great power - the Soviet Union - disappeared from the world map. The well-known publicist A. Radzikhovsky called everything that happened in Russia "a democratic capitalist revolution." In his opinion, the domestic intelligentsia played an outstanding role in this "revolution," since it has always been one of the main carriers of Western liberal ideology in Russia. But for us, says the author of the book V. Drozhzhin, it is obvious that the interests of the international backstage and the Russian people do not coincide in everything. He proves his point of view on the example of the collapse of the Soviet Union, as well as with the help of numerous facts from the history of the USSR.