Collapse of the Soviet Union 1985-1991

Question 1

Economic weaknesses of the USSR - Centralisation

Answer 1

Centralised nature of soviet command economy profoundly inefficient - administration in Moscow unable to effectively coordinate economy for such a vast country - fertilisers and pesticides often arrived at the wrong time hampering crop growth - factories recieved wrong grade of produts EG steel and oil - central planners set schedules for plating + harvesting so local farmers couldn’t take local weather conditions into account

Question 2

Economic weaknesses of the USSR - Problems in industry

Answer 2

Soviet economy failed to create incentives for hard work and innovation - Gosplan set targets for production quantity not quality = a lot of useless goods produced

Question 3

Economic weaknesses of the USSR - Problems in agriculture/infrastructure

Answer 3

Lack of sophisticated machinery required more hard labour than the West - inadequate transport system meant transporting food across the country was difficult - lack of modern storage facilities led to a lot of waste - EG 1990 200 million tonnes of grain produced but poor transport meant there were still shortages in the cities

Question 4

Economic weaknesses of the USSR - Military expenditure

Answer 4

1965-1986 in the USSR - GDP spent on defence rose from 12% to 17%
1965-1986 in the USA - GDP spent on defence averaged 6%
USSR was spending too much on defence and negating other areas of the economy such as modern infrastructure

Question 5

Failure of economic reform 1985-1990 - Rationalisation

Answer 5

Rationalisation - 1985-1986 - first set of economic measures did not alter fundamental state of the economy - continued Andropov’s anti-alcohol campaign cutting state production by 50% - this failed as people simply bought alcohol illegally which meant gov made less on alcohol sales (dropped by 67 million roubles (9% of GDP))

Question 6

What was uskroenie and why did it fail?

Answer 6

Uskroenie = acceleration - programme of investment to modernise energy - failed due to too much borrowing - gov debt rose from $18.1 billion in 1981 to $27.2 billion in 1988 - Gorb also invested in energy production and ignored the advice of experts who suggested investment into high technology - this led to little growth and ultimately failed

Question 7

Failure of economic reform 1985-1990 - Reform (law on individual economic activity)

Answer 7

Experiment with market reform 1987-1990 - law on individual economic activity made it illegal to make money from small scale jobs (private teaching, repairs, etc)

Question 8

Failure of economic reform 1985-1990 - Reform (law on state enterprises)

Answer 8

Law on state enterprises during 1987-1990 period of market experimentation devolved central gov power to factories, allowing them to set prices for the good they produced

Question 9

Failure of economic reform 1985-1990 - Reform (law on cooperatives)

Answer 9

Law on cooperatives in the same 1987-1990 period made it illegal to set up large cooperatives which functioned like companies

Question 10

Reasons for the failure of economic reform 1987-1990? (3 + EG)

Answer 10

Market reforms created:
1) Growing economic chaos
2) Undermined central planning
3) Failed to create a market alternative
EG grain shortages in 1990 despite 200 million tonnes produced there were still shortages in the cities

Question 11

Failure of economic reform 1990-1991 - Transformation

Answer 11

Gorb stopped trying to save command economy by 1990 - started to introduce a market economy which led to divisions in the USSR - experts proposed ‘500 day programme’ that proposed widespread privatisation and complete marketisation within two years - Gorb initially supported this but backed down after pressure from senior hardline communists - Gorb still committed to economic transformation but was convinced it should be done at a slower pace

Question 12

Failure of economic reform 1990-1991 - Final reforms

Answer 12

Supreme Soviet introduced private property as an important step towards free market economy - people able to own land and factories for the first time since the 1920s - however economy continued to decline - oil production fell by 9% and steel production fell by 17% - by summer 1991 the USSR was bankrupt

Question 13

Gorb’s reform of the party and gov - Gorb’s goals

Answer 13

1) Committed to the creation of a democracy for working people - single party state of Lenin designed to be temporary and create a highly democratic society later

2) Gorb knew some party members were corrupt and inefficient - he hoped a measure of democracy would help the Soviet people play a role in purging the party

3) Gorb wanted greater freedom of speech and hoped experts would contribute to building socialism in the USSR

4) Gorb was aware of cynicism about communist rule and hoped greater participation would quell this

Question 14

Gorb’s early reforms 1985

Answer 14

1985 reforms were limited - wanted to open up debate within the party and allow intellectuals more freedom of expression and allow the public more access to information - Gorb wanted to purge the party of senior officials under Brezhnev who were not in favour of reform

Question 15

Gorb’s reforms 1986-1988 (Glasnost)

Answer 15

Glasnost - 1986-1988 - policy of more info on Soviet economics and history became available through liberalisation of media
1986 - Gorb gave Alexander Yakolev responsibility of the media
1988 - Soviet press publishes criticisms of Marx and Lenin
1988 onwards - Citizens could listen to foreign radios and read foreign newspapers
1988 onwards - CP revealed the extent of its economic problems

Question 16

Failure of Gorb’s Political Reforms - Multi-candidate elections

Answer 16

From 1988 Gorb began a process of democratisation and authorised multi-candidate elections - first multi-candidate election in March 1989 - Yeltsin wins 89% of the vote and several high ranking communists lose their seats - elsewhere in Moscow ‘Democratic Russia’ won 85% of the vote and in Leningrad ‘Democratic Elections’ wom 80% of the vote - Gorb assumed democratisation would strengthen reform supporters within the CP but it weakened the whole Party

Question 17

Constitutional reform and Gorb’s legitimacy

Answer 17

Because of the weak nature of gov, Gorb introduced reform to give himself more power - created the position of president of the USSR appointed by the Congress of People’s Deputies - also given emergency powers for 18 months to deal with the economic crisis - hoped this would give him more authority - however this position was unelected and therefore Gorb didn’t have the legitimacy that elected politicians could claim which undermined his leadership

Question 18

Gorb’s actions that weakened the USSR - Purges

Answer 18

Purges – Gorb purged the party of Brezhnev supporters and Communist members he believed were corrupt – Brehznev encouraged CP to recruit local people in each republic – Gorb appointed his supporters to these posts who were mostly Russian – Russians dominated the Politburo (only 1 non-Russian) – this led to resentment in the Republics

Question 19

Gorb’s actions that weakened the USSR - Economic decline

Answer 19

Economic decline – Gorb’s economic policies caused problems in the Republics – Acceleration led to economic decline, especially effected standards of living at the same time as Russian leaders took over – people blamed them and nationalism began to grow

Question 20

Gorb’s actions that weakened the USSR - Impact of Glasnost

Answer 20

Impact of Glasnost – Glasnost exposed the ways in which Stalin’s government had persecuted the USSR’s ethnic minorities and allowed Soviet people to see Western living standards and allowed nationalist groups to publish material that demanded greater autonomy

Question 21

Nationalist resurgence in the late 1980s - Growing unrest in Azerbaijan. Uzbekistan, Tiblisi/Georgia, Russia

Answer 21

a) Karabakh Azerbaijan – 1988 – Armenian nationalists vs Azerbaijan nationalists led to riots
b) 1989 – Uzbeks massacred the Muslim minority of Meskhetians – Soviet authorities unable to help or restore peace – led to a loss of faith
c) 1989 – Tiblisi massacre – Georgian nationalists protested against the rights of the Abkhazian minority – Soviet troops attempt to restore order by force killing 19 and wounding thousands of Georgian protesters
d) Nationalism also grew in Russia as the Chernobyl explosion promoted the growth of Russian environmental groups – by 1988 large ‘popular fronts’ had emerged in the Baltic states that were dedicated to gaining independence

Question 22

What is Peristroika?

Answer 22

The Soviet policy of restructuring or reforming the economic and political system

Question 23

Gorb’s failures and the fall of the USSR - Gorb’s fundamental mistakes

Answer 23

Gorb believed reform could save the USSR – failed to anticipate the impact of glasnost and the extent to which revelations about the past would undermine the CP and failed to see the fragility of commitment to the USSR – believed the people wanted to be communist over nationalist

Question 24

Gorb’s failures and the fall of the USSR - Gorb’s policy mistakes

Answer 24

Uskorenie was designed to restructure the economy and increase output – competing objectives didn’t help the policy – continued with reforms without giving previous policies the chance to succeed – attempting political and economic reform at the same time weakened the Soviet system and his own power and the CP’s authority

Question 25

Gorb’s failures and the fall of the USSR - Gorb’s tactical mistakes

Answer 25

Gorb failed to win over the CP – the Party was the only institution strong enough to introduce reform and therefore hampered Gorb’s progress – despite enhancing democracy he refused to stand for election which weakened his legitimacy, authority, and lost him public support

Question 26

Yeltsin and the fall of the USSR - Popular radical

Answer 26

Yeltsin grew popular while Gorbachev grew unpopular – had a reputation for attacking corruption and privilege in the CP and publicly attacked communists who opposed reform – in the 1989 elections he won 89% of the vote in Moscow – this democratic mandate allowed him to keep criticising the CP

Question 27

Yeltsin and the fall of the USSR - Yeltsin and the Party

Answer 27

Yeltsin resigned from the CP in 1990 which weakened the party’s popularity – membership fell from 19.2 million to 16.5 million – Yeltsin presented himself as a rival leader to Gorb who could lead a non-communist gov with democratic legitimacy

Question 28

Yeltsin and the fall of the USSR - Yeltsin and nationalism

Answer 28

Yeltsin became the centre of opposition to the coup – used it as a context to ban the CP – seized CP assets undermining its ability to govern and overall emerged from the coup as a hero whilst Gorb’s reputation was damaged further

Question 29

Yeltsin and the fall of the USSR - Yeltsin and the Union

Answer 29

After the coup Yeltsin organised a secret meeting with Belarus and Ukraine to established the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) – following the meeting he persuaded leaders of the Soviet military to abandon the USSR and form a new Russian army – this left Gorb with no way of holding the Union together