ntries to support their colonial masters, even to the point of joining their armed forces, in order to defeat fascism.2 This Stalinist policy strengthened the colonial position in Sub Saharan Africa, and created significant problems for the proletarian parties subsequent to the end of the Second World War. The policy did, however, serve Soviet self interest just prior to and during the war. The policy also caused problems for the Soviet Union during the post Stalin era, when the sup port of independence movements in Sub Saharan Africa became Soviet policy.
2D. Fogel, Africa in Struggle: National Liberation and Proletarian Revolution, 2nd ed. (San Francisco: Ism Press, 1986), 52. 3
SOVIET POLICY BETWEEN STALIN AND GORBACHEV
In the aftermath of the Second World War, the United States (US) and the Soviet Union emerged as the two super powers of the world. The behavior of states in the interna tional system is
. . . largely determined by the power relations and differentials among them. Order within the system is continually threatened by the possibility that some states will resort to force or war in order to improve their relative positions. Because states frequently do coerce one another or threaten to do so it is impor tant to analyze their respective capacities to protect, maintain, or further their national interests.3
The most typically used classification system categorizes states according to five gradations super powers, great powers, middle powers, small states, and mini states.4 One widely applied criterion for the great power classification isthe possession of nuclear weapons.5 In this context, the super powers classification becomes a segment of the great powers classification.
The super powers, as a consequence of the combination of the extent of their nuclear development, their control of essential natural resources, and the strength of their economic development are able to pr...