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The sudden collapse of the Soviet regime is one of the most enigmatic historical events explored in the social sciences. In this paper, we propose a macrodynamic theory of the Soviet economy that provides theoretical foundations for understanding its collapse. Our model features three actors: workers (the people) who can revolt, natchalnik (the supervisor of firms) who controls a defense-industry firm, and the apparatchik (a member of the communist party and administration) who both extracts production for personal uses and acts as a central planner. We analyze the conditions for the Soviet regime’s sustainability or collapse. Our theory identifies three channels leading to the collapse: internal contradictions within the elite, conflicts between the workforce and the administrative-command structure, and corruption among the elite.