Collapse of the Soviet Union 1985-1991 Flashcards
Economic weaknesses of the USSR - Centralisation
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
Economic weaknesses of the USSR - Problems in industry
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
Economic weaknesses of the USSR - Problems in agriculture/infrastructure
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
Economic weaknesses of the USSR - Military expenditure
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
Failure of economic reform 1985-1990 - Rationalisation
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))
What was uskroenie and why did it fail?
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
Failure of economic reform 1985-1990 - Reform (law on individual economic activity)
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)
Failure of economic reform 1985-1990 - Reform (law on state enterprises)
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
Failure of economic reform 1985-1990 - Reform (law on cooperatives)
Law on cooperatives in the same 1987-1990 period made it illegal to set up large cooperatives which functioned like companies
Reasons for the failure of economic reform 1987-1990? (3 + EG)
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
Failure of economic reform 1990-1991 - Transformation
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
Failure of economic reform 1990-1991 - Final reforms
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
Gorb’s reform of the party and gov - Gorb’s goals
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
Gorb’s early reforms 1985
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
Gorb’s reforms 1986-1988 (Glasnost)
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
Failure of Gorb’s Political Reforms - Multi-candidate elections
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
Constitutional reform and Gorb’s legitimacy
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
Gorb’s actions that weakened the USSR - Purges
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
Gorb’s actions that weakened the USSR - Economic decline
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
Gorb’s actions that weakened the USSR - Impact of Glasnost
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
Nationalist resurgence in the late 1980s - Growing unrest in Azerbaijan. Uzbekistan, Tiblisi/Georgia, Russia
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
What is Peristroika?
The Soviet policy of restructuring or reforming the economic and political system
Gorb’s failures and the fall of the USSR - Gorb’s fundamental mistakes
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
Gorb’s failures and the fall of the USSR - Gorb’s policy mistakes
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
Gorb’s failures and the fall of the USSR - Gorb’s tactical mistakes
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
Yeltsin and the fall of the USSR - Popular radical
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
Yeltsin and the fall of the USSR - Yeltsin and the Party
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
Yeltsin and the fall of the USSR - Yeltsin and nationalism
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
Yeltsin and the fall of the USSR - Yeltsin and the Union
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
