Soviet Union: ‘The Prospects of the Soviet Union in the 1980s’, FCO Planning Staff Paper

A file containing draft and final versions of a report entitled "The Prospects for the Soviet Union in the 1980s". Subjects covered in the report include the likelihood of a political succession struggle in the Soviet Union; a looming Soviet economic crisis; the necessity of maintaining Soviet military strength; the possibility of greater authoritarianism in the country; the continuing need for Western imports; the view that the Soviet threat to the West was unlikely to diminish; and the possibility of a crisis in the communist system becoming a crisis for the West.