Dmitry Orlov: 5 Stages of Post-Collapse Society

Dmitry Orlov: 5 Stages of Post-Collapse Society

Cover of Reinventing Collapse

This video is worth listening to more than once.  It doesn’t claim to be prophetic or even absolutely true.  But it does outline “five stages” of economic and societal collapse as they were observed by Dmitry Orlov after the collapse of the former Soviet Union.

According to Orlov, these five sequential stages or collapse are  1) Financial; 2) Commercial; 3) Political; 4) Social; and finally, 5) Cultural.

I don’t doubt that Orlov’s outline is roughly correct.

We appear to already be in Stage 1 (Financial collapse).  Most survivalists are currently anticipating and preparing for Stages 2 & 3 (Commercial and Political collapses).  Stages 4 (Social) and 5 (Cultural) are probably the most fearful and least understood.

On the one hand, Orlov’s outline is fairly grim.  On the other hand, Russia survived the collapse of the former USSR.  There was hell to pay as the people of Russia struggled to survive all five Stages–but the payment was made, and after a decade or so of considerable pain, the Russian people have restored their society and are prospering.


If I had to guess, I’d say the essential story of the Russian people’s story in the aftermath of the USSR’s collapse was the struggle to learn to 1) abandon reliance on government or other institutions for your support; and 2) realize that each man must actually produce something this is of value to other men and deemed valuable in trade.

In other words, the “Five Stages of Collapse” could last 10 years, or 20 years or 3 years.  It all depends on how long it takes a some significant proportion of the population to regain respect for self-reliance, independence, and genuine productivity rather than the theft of government welfare and subsidies.  If we’re headed into a “collapse,” that collapse will last until most of us again understand and insist that no one is entitle to one dime that he or she didn’t personally and honestly earn.

Video   00:04:49

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCasHOQYYzs&feature=player_embedded#at=20




Here’s another video (00:29:06) of Dmitry Orlov, himself, describing his analysis more extensively–absolutely worth your time:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrz5ucQACo8

Dmitry Orlov: Peak Oil Lessons From The Soviet Union

THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX,LIVE OUTSIDE THE CAGE