The Great Fall: How Gorbachev's Reforms Led to the Fall of the U.S.S.R.

The competition and increasing awareness on democratic rights did force the Soviets to stand back and make some major policy changes in 1980s. The Soviet Premier of the time Gorbachev tried to set some political and social reforms in the soviet society in order to ease the pressure and help Soviets to continue to survive in the international arena. Moreover, the Soviets did not only make shifts in their internal policies but also in their foreign policy understanding as well. For instance withdrawal from Afghanistan, signing of various nuclear deterrence agreements with multi parties including the US are some of the key changes that occurred in the 1980s. However, the reforms of Gorbachev did not prevent the Soviets to stop its collapse and eventually after a series of events in 1991 the Soviet Union formally announced its dissolution[7].

One can easily admit that the Party had failed to properly economically plan the needs of each state. The Soviet Union economy was complex and massive, it became an impossible task for the state planners to manage, as they did not want to grant and create more managerial levels that would proceed to the local level resulting in failed timely attempts to the constant changes the economy was going through. Since the Soviet economy was based on state planning, it failed in encouraging innovation and motivating productivity. Managers would also alter numbers in order to produce the quotas that they were required to meet. The growth of the Soviet economy had been in a constant decline since the 1950’s and this progressed to the 1980’s. This was a clear sign that the Soviet economy was in need of a complete economic overhaul. Gorbachev succeeded power in March, 1985 and became General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist party of the Soviet Union. His main goal was to revive the Soviet economy, and he strongly believed that success was tied to loosening the governments control and creating a system that included less government intervention and more freedom to allow private initiatives. This new market economy would allow for private enterprise, which what Gorbachev believed would create more innovation. For the first time since 1920’s, individuals were able to own and create businesses.

Gorbachev's policy of Glasnost eliminated the strict censorship practiced for hundreds of years. Glasnost stands for openness, and Soviet citizens were now allowed to speak openly about their country's problems. Perestroika, or

This study will examine Gorbachev's understanding of the Glasnost policy and the role of Glasnost in Gorbachev's larger political reform program with the help of the Gorbachev Factor, by Archie Brown, and Gorbachev's Glasnost, by Joseph Gibbs.

Gorbachev told the Central Committee who elected him that when the people are elected, “the more consciencely they act, the more actively they support the party” (Steven White). With the knowledge of the past- information to define the good and the bad actions of the Soviet Union he believed the people would make a concerted effort in restructuring the economy and participating in reforming their country. Many a critic

Former Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev presided over the disintegration of a country based on an uncompromising ideological dogma, the unlikely inheritor of Marxist/Leninist communist philosophy. The Soviet Union’s unwieldy economic superstructure left it vulnerable to Ronald Reagan’s aggressive economic/military policy, an approach based on the belief that a military build-up would force the Soviets to spend to keep pace, an effective strategy because it pushed the Soviet economy over the edge into ruin. The subsequent implosion ended communist domination in Eastern Europe and opened the way for democratic elements that radically altered the political landscape in Moscow. When the Soviet Union officially came to an end in 1993, it briefly recalled the end of tsarist rule in 1917, with the potential for the kind of chaos and violence that turned the Russian Revolution into a bloodbath. President Boris Yeltsin used the military to disband parliament but his call for new elections moved the country toward a more open, democratic form of government. Lacking any real background in representative government, Russia ultimately proved incapable of fulfilling the promise of democratic government and descended into a form of anarchy riddled by increasingly strong criminal elements. In recent years, the rise of Boris Putin, a new strongman in Moscow, helped restore a sense of order and allowed the resurgence of communist elements. The government that now holds power, and which

President Reagan and the White house began a military buildup that stimulated a new arms race. Subsequently, the Reagan administration adopted the Strategic Defense Initiative to build up a space shield for security and drove the Soviet Union into an arms race. As a result of the competition created by the Cold War between the two superpowers, the USSR challenged by the US, heavy industrialization was introduced to accommodate defensive expenditures and as a result a strain was imposed on the Soviet budget. Economically under pressure with the combination of Mikhail Gobrachev’s radical policies of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (free market economy) the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 and gave rise to 15 different nations.

Russia began its reform with political liberalization, and many believe that Russia’s failure was partly due to focusing on political reform first and they should have begun with economic reforms which China had done. This lead to political turmoil so severe that in 1989-1993 workers were politically neutralized and unable to stop Yeltsin’s liberal market reforms. But, a small group of oligarchs helped to

Socialism offered an ‘ideal’ and classless society in which the state controlled everything, yet the people utilized the practice of controlling politics. He formed a highly centralized government, which was furthered to totalitarian goals by his successor, Joseph Stalin. Stalin focused on military and industrial gains which, by his death in 1953, had “crippled the Soviet state” because his successors could not make any reforms without undermining the CPSU—the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (367). A heavy reliance on secret police and a militarized economy was already in place when Mikhail Gorbachev came on the scene. He was elected General Secretary of the CPSU in 1985 when the USSR was in middle of continually diminishing economic productivity; it became stagnant. With his powers as secretary, he saw room for reform to change the USSR drastically. He planned to do this through instituting glastnost, or openness, in society, which he believed would ameliorate levels of corruption. Corruption was a detriment to democratization, which he believed would heal the economy. He brought back the first contested elections in many years. With democratic procedures in place, Gorbachev lost his power to Yeltsin. Notwithstanding the amended constitution, Yeltsin took liberty to control parliament to “cope with the country’s economic problems” (369). Yeltsin’s successor was chosen as Vladimir Putin who has severely radicalized the

The many long-term internal causes of the collapse of the Soviet Union centralized around weaknesses in their economy. They had an inflexible central planning system, the inability to modernize, and the inefficiency in their agriculture production. Sometime around the 1970's the computer and automation revolution had emerged. This revolution took over the West, but practically missed the Soviet Union, except in the military sector (Baylis & Smith, 2001.) Gorbachev's goal in economic restructuring was to create a separation between the economic and the political. The major changes began with the legalization of private farming and business co-operatives, and the allowing of foreign company ownership over Soviet enterprises (Baylis &Smith, 2001) All of Gorbachev's ideas on economic restructuring backfired on him since the price levels were inconsistent, and a sense of social confusion about the future of their state was created.

Khrushchev wanted to reform three central elements that sharply contrasted with Stalin’s preferences. These were aimed at political, economic, and social reforms. First Khrushchev aimed to change the Soviet Union politically. He did this through two major ways: first, through power decentralization, and second was creating the new party program. Khrushchev pursued decentralization by giving more powers to oblasts and local regions. He also reduced military spending during his rule, which made many hardliners angry. (Hosking 261) An example that exemplifies the rollback effect was the recreation of the local ‘comrade courts’ (Hosking 351). These comrade courts had the ability to try minor offenses and fine people. Stalin had banned these courts under his rule to centralize power. Thus, this policy actively challenged Stalin’s vision by limiting Moscow’s power. Another way Khrushchev undermined Stalin politically was through the new party program. This is an example of the rollback effect because this was Khrushchev’s attempt to redefine the problem and the rules of the system. The new party program asserted that socialism had already been achieved, and said that it was time to set the groundwork for communism. Claiming socialism had already been achieved changed the definition of socialism. (Hosking 348) This program also encouraged the ‘… participation of all citizens in

Gorbachev's goal was to revive the Russian economy and elevate the country's standard of living. Gorbachev reduced the size and value of the centralized economic ministries, and by 1990, the Marxist principles abandoned. Gorbachev advocate private ownership of property and liberalization of the economy toward free market mechanisms, and despite their, determination the Soviet economy remained stagnated, and Gorbachev's policies failed.

#1. In the late 1980s, Soviet Union had brought its glasnost (openness) era. Soviet president Mikhail G. introduced the revolutionary idea of Perestroika, which refers to “economic restructuring.” Gradually, Soviet’s culture and business began to grow. The political parties began to spring up, and farmers began to sell their products on the open market. In 1987, the Kremlin passed a new law on the joint ventures, easing restrictions on the importation of foreign capital, technology, and expertise.

In one week, the summer of 1991, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic, became history. The forces of reform unleashed by President Mikhail Gorbachev in the mid 1980’s generated a democratic movement. “Mr. Gorbachev may be revered for the democratic forces he unleashed- his policies of perestroika, or reconstructing, and glasnost, or openness. However, his failure to put food on Soviet tables and his reluctance to move boldly on economic reforms doomed him to be a failure'; (Sieff). His economic policies threw his country into even more turmoil and chaos, as the different nationalities used their new freedoms to move away from the union. “Gorbachev sincerely wanted to reform the communist system, but he did

Under Mikhail Gorbachev the Soviet Union underwent massive social, political and economic reform that drifted away from communist ideology and this ultimately lead to the collapse of the Soviet Union and failure of communism in Eastern Europe. This essay will focus on how the Perestroika reform and Glasnost policy programs as well as other external and internal pressures contributed to the failure of communism under Gorbachev. The aim of the Perestroika and Glasnost reforms was to restructure and strengthen the Soviet political and economic system and provide more freedom and democracy within the Soviet Union while strengthening Communism. However, these changes had achieved exactly what they aimed to prevent when they were first elaborated and led to the failure of communism and collapse of the Soviet Union. While focusing on the policies this essay will also focus on the major increase in nationalism that occurred in the Soviet Republics as a result of the Glasnost. External pressure from the western world was also a factor and the role that the United States and the Ronald Reagan administration played in the downfall of communism under Gorbachev will be examined. The essay will also discuss how the disintegration of Yugoslavia and the 1991 Coup d’état led to the failure of the policies and failure of communism.