Political Intolerance in the USSR

Political tolerance is a democratic value that has often been studied by those interested in the relationship between mass public opinion and democracy. Yet most research efforts have been mounted in relatively democratic regimes. Little is known about political tolerance in relatively totalitarian regimes. The authors' purpose in this article is to explore intolerance within the mass public of the Soviet Union. Focusing on two surveys of public opinion conducted in the USSR in 1990, the authors demonstrate that political intolerance is fairly widespread in the Soviet Union. Moreover, the objects of intolerance are focused, not dispersed pluralistically. Many of the predictors of intolerance found useful in the West (e.g., perceptions of threat, closed-mindedness) are also good predictors in the Soviet Union. Level of education plays an especially interesting role, contributing to support for more general democratic values, but not directly to political tolerance. The authors conclude this article by speculating about the future of the democratization process in the USSR in light of regnant intolerance in that country.