Gorbachev's Attempted Reforms Of The Party Flashcards
What did Gorbachev seek to separate?
When did he attempt to do this?
The party and the state
Nineteenth Conference of the Communist Party — June 1988
Difficulties that faced Gorbachev in attempting to separate the party and state in June 1988?
Little was done to get individual officials to choose one over the other
Lines between the two had become blurred— largely bc nomenklatura system, promotions/appointment within state relied on loyalty to party
Personnel of one organisation often held an equivalent position in the other
When did Gorbachev become President of the Soviet Union? (As well as General Secretary of the Party)
October 1988
Mirrored the situation lower down the hierarchy (First Secretaries in each republic also held the position of Chairman of the regional Soviet)
First Secretaries in each republic also held the position of
Chairman of the regional Soviet
SHIFTING POWER FROM THE PARTY TO THE SOVIETS
This was attempted by allocating more finance to the Soviets in order to give them the resources to support their role
Deputies of the Soviets were to be elected for five years rather than two, a move that gave them greater security in the post
Deputies of the Soviets were to be elected for _____ years rather than ______, a move that
Five
Two
Gave them greater security in their post
STREAMLINING THE PARTY
The departments of the Central Committee of the Communist were reduced from ______ to _____
And ____ new commissions were created
What accompanied this?
20 to 9
Six
Similar measures to streamline the state
When did Gorbachev create “superministries” to coordinate economic planing?
How many ministries were merged to create one “superministry” for agriculture?
November 1985
5
A CLAMPDOWN ON CORRUPTION
One of the leading casualties was… who was…
Brezhnev son in law, Yuri Churbanov
Sentenced to 12 years imprisonment
Attacks on corrupt party officials were popular with…
But caused a lot of resentment within…
The public
The party
When was the First Secretary of the Party in Kazakhstan removed on the grounds of corruption? Name?
Who replaced him?
What happened?
December 1986
Dinmukhamed Kunayev
Gennady Kolbin (ethnic Russian)
Seeing this as outside interference, Kazakhs rioted in support of Kuyanev. Order was only restored after several hundred protestors were killed.
GORBACHEV WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE SACKING N APPOINTING— much of blame for this incident placed on his shoulders
What did the Kazakhs riots warn?
That reform of the party was fraught with potential dangers
Define democratisation
An attempt by Gorbachev to get more people involved in the communist party and political debate
What did Gorbachev discuss at a meeting of the Central Committee in early 1987?
Secret ballots for multiple candidates
In June 1987, what happened with respect to democratisation?
A limited experiment with multiple candid dates in elections for local Soviets
Small but significant break with the practice of elections involving single candidates proposed by the party
At what event did Gorbachev announce that the principle of multi-candidate elections would be extended to national level with elections for the new________
Nineteenth Party Conference of June 1988
Congress of People’s Deputies
What was the Congress of People’s Deputies set up to do?
Provide an independent, supervisory role over the government
Part of Gorbachev’s attempts to separate the functions of Party from state
Members of the Congress of People’s Deputies were to be allocated to
The party and other organisations, such as trade unions and the Union of Writers
How many candidates did the Communist party nominate to the Congress of People’s Deputies?
What did trade unions and union of writers do differently?
100 candidates for its 100 seats
Gave them members a choice— in some seats, voters could chose from 12 candidates
Congress of People’s Deputies— the communist party was the only
BUT
Legal political party and, as such, could control the nomination process
It was enough to engage the population in the process
The elections for the new congress of People’s Deputies (When) gave the soviet public a taste of democracy
What was this like?
March 1989
VERY DIFFERENT TO THAT OF WESTERN DEMOCRACIES
BUT
A SIGNIFICANT CHANGE IN THE CONTEXT OF THE SOVIET UNION
When were the elections for the new Congress of People’s Deputies?
March 1989
What did the march 1989 elections do to the communist party?
Weakness irretrievably the power of the communist party
Gorbachevs attempted reforms of the party were criticised for being little more than
Tinkering with the system
Some truth in this BUT reforms were certainly a step in the right direction.
