Gorbachev: 1985-91 Flashcards
1985:
Perestroika part 1: ‘tinkering’ - more incentives, more power to managers,
1986
Chernobyl reactor explodes. Glasnost off to a bad start
1987:
INF treaty with Reagan (destroy stocks of intermediate range nuclear weapons)
1988
Law on state enterprises
Law on State Enterprises key points
1988, workers collectives and elections of managers, 60% industries become self managed, can trade with each other, party interference reduced.
1989 (politics)
Reforms: separation of law/party, introduction of Congress of People’s Deputies, role of President
1989
Withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, Poland - solidarity reappears as political group and throws off communism. Brezhnev doctrine abandoned, fall of the Berlin Wall.
1990
Elections. Yeltsin as president of Russian Federation. Law on Press Freedom.
1991
Lithuanian freedom uprising, quelled but then secedes union alongside other Baltic States. Warsaw Pact dissolved, August Coup, end of Soviet Union, formation of CIS
Coup ‘91
Carried out by conservative communists, ‘emergency state committee’ try and force Gorbachev to either resign or decree a state of emergency whilst on holiday in Crimea (house arrest). Yeltsin calls for general strike and people rise to block more tanks entering major cities such as Moscow/Leningrad. Coup collapses and power is transferred to Yeltsin, who acknowledges the sovereignty of the Baltic States.
Key policies of Gorbachev
Glasnost/perestroika
Glasnost:
‘Openness’ freedom of the press, 400,000 religious institutions opened, movement allowed.
Perestroika
‘Restructuring’ of economy. Initially just a bid to save traditional structure, then major overhaul ending with the abandonment of state Central control.
Problems Gorbachev faced coming to power
Stagnation of the economy, elderly politicians that were out of touch and conservative, black economy and social unrest, expensive war and arms race, cost of maintaining communist govs in Europe
Industrial production..
Fell by 6% in 1987
