In 1991, after 74 years of idealism, ideology, periods ruthless and unparalleled despotism, and a series of tortured steps towards modernization, The Community Party of the Soviet Union collapsed, ceased its activities, and finally dissolved. In the midst of The Satanic Verses controversy and the fatwa placed on author Salman Rushdie, Japanese translator and scholar Hitoshi Igarashi was stabbed to death outside of his office at Tsukuba University. The perpetrator was never caught