How far were Gorbachev and Yeltsin responsible for the collapse of the USSR in 1991?

Question 1

Gorbachev’s failings: Naivety (2)

Answer 1

• Resistance to his economic reforms from within the Party was more than he expected, but his experience of how the Party worked in different regions of the USSR should have prepared him for this.
• He launched glasnost as an attempt to gain support for his reforms from outside the Party, but it seems he did not consider whether he was opening the floodgates of criticism that would affect the Party and his own position as General Secretary

Question 2

Gorbachev’s failings: Powerbase (3)

Answer 2

• Gorbachev’s measures to reduce the power and role of the Communist Party left him, its leader, exposed.
• He was attacking the base of his own power without ensuring an adequate replacement that would enable his reforms.
• His position as President of the USSR was a poor substitute, especially as he didn’t put the decision to popular vote at a time when he probably would have won. This contrasted to Yeltsin who used popular support and elections to manipulate his ever-growing power against Gorbachev.

Question 3

Gorbachev’s failings: Expectations

Answer 3

Gorbachev’s reforms had the effect of raising people’s expectations, both materially and politically, but not satisfying them.

Question 4

Gorbachev’s failings: Foreign Policy

Answer 4

The decision to end the Brezhnev Doctrine was based on the naive assumption that Eastern European countries would reform and base their governments on popular support. He did not anticipate the widespread collapse of communist rule, nor the effect this would have on nationalist groups within the USSR.

Question 5

Gorbachev’s failings: Insensitive Handling of National Minorities (2)

Answer 5

In the final years of the USSR, Gorbachev made a series of ill-judged mistakes that damaged the relationship between the central power and those within the republics.
E.g.,
- Replacing Kunayev with Kolbin in Kazakhstan in 1986
- The government’s initial reaction to the declaration of independence by the Baltic states, which lead to the death of more than 13 people at Vilnius in January 1991.

Question 6

Gorbachev’s failings: Inconsistency

Answer 6

Initially, Gorbachev can be viewed as making radical reforms that appealed to the liberals within the Party. However, as time progressed and it became evident these reforms weren’t working, he appeared to change his mind, and became far more conservative than he had been when he took power. The consequence of this seemingly ever-changing position made him unpopular on both sides of the Party
The alienation of conservatives no doubt helped aid the instigation of the coup in August 1991 and his disassociation with liberals made it ever-harder to cooperate with reformers such as Yeltsin.

Question 7

Gorbachev’s failings: Indecision (2)

Answer 7

At key moments Gorbachev’s was often indecisive and hesitant:

• Following the Chernobyl accident, he hesitated for several days before alerting the Soviet public and press; this ultimately made things worse
• In May 1990, when Yeltsin stood for Chairman of the Congress of People’s Deputies for the RSFSR, Gorbachev supported Vlasov, a dull and uninspiring choice who clearly contrasted Yeltsin.

Question 8

In defence of Gorbachev? (2)

Answer 8

-Gorbachev avoided the use of force, despite immense pressure to do so, from the Chinese and some of those within the Party. The Chinese solution, as demonstrated in Tiananmen Square in Beijing in June 1989, was not an option for Gorbachev.
-The chances of Gorbachev succeeding were severely limited by unforeseeable international events:
The Soviet War in Afghanistan was not of his doing as it had been Brezhnev who instigated the invasion in 1979, but it was Gorbachev who had to withdraw, which took longer than anticipated
The fall of world oil prices damaged the Soviet economy and meant his economic reforms were taking place at an unfavorable time.
The US Star Wars policy kept an unfavorable amount of pressure on the Soviets to increase military spending.
In 1988, a major earthquake killed 25,000 in Armenia.

Question 9

When was Yeltsin removed from the Politburo?

Answer 9

February 1988

Question 10

How did Yeltsin challenge Gorbachev’s leadership? (6)

Answer 10

• Yeltsin used his time out of the spotlight to establish links with other reformers and critics of Gorbachev
• He was good at publicity and gaining public sympathy and support
• He took advantage of Gorbachev’s decisions to hold elections for the Congress of People’s Deputies
• Once elected, he was able to challenge Gorbachev’s position with authority as leader of Russia, the center of the USSR
• He passed a series of measures that undermined Gorbachev
• He encouraged nationalist movements in the non-Russian republics in order to cause more chaos and deviate further support away from Gorbachev.

Question 11

Give some examples of Yeltsin appealing to the public. (2)

Answer 11

• He attacked Gorbachev at a Plenum of the Central Committee in 1987, a televised event.
• He organised meetings with the Orthodox Russian Church, visited striking miners, and organised mass demonstrations to illustrate support for his role as Chairman of the Russian Congress. In March 1991, 200,000 people gathered to support him.

Question 12

How did Gorbachev’s decision to hold elections for the Congress of People’s Deputies allow Yeltsin to launch a comeback?

Answer 12

• He used his position as Mayor of Moscow to gain support and gained 89% of the vote in the city- this gave him a legitimacy Gorbachev never had
• His election to the Congress of People’s Deputies gave him a platform to attack both Gorbachev and the government.

Question 13

How did Yeltsin use his position in the Congress of People’s Deputies to undermine Gorbachev? (4)

Answer 13

• He was elected Chairman of the Congress in May 1990.
• In July 1990 he resigned from the Communist Party
• The Congress then declared that its sovereignty took precedence over that of the Soviet Union, in effect this placed the Russian Congress above the authority of the Soviet government
• Gorbachev declared this move illegal but it set the path for a continuous battle between the governments of the Soviet Union and Russia.

Question 14

What movement did Yeltsin use to attack the government?

Answer 14

The Democratic Russia movement

Question 15

When did Yeltsin and Gorbachev work together?

Answer 15

In 1991, they joined forces to negotiate the Novo-Ogarevo Agreement, which formed the basis of Gorbachev’s Union Treaty of 1991.

Question 16

Explain the events of the August Coup of 1991.

Answer 16

• While Gorbachev was on holiday in the Crimea, a State Emergency Committee was formed to take over the running of the country.
• Its leaders where Gorbachev’s vice-president, Yanaev, the leader of the KGB, Kryuchkov, and the Defence Minister, Yazov.
• They were supported by some of the leading army officers.
• At a press conference, Yanaev announced that Gorbachev was ill (he was in fact being held hostage) and a state of emergency would rule in his absence)
• A series of repressive measures were quickly installed, including a ban on strikes and demonstrations
• Tanks were deployed in Moscow in an attempt to uphold law and order.

Question 17

Why was the coup useful for Yeltsin to enhance his reputation as a protector of freedom and reform?

Answer 17

Yeltsin’s stand against the plotters and his demand that Gorbachev be released from house arrest and returned to his position as President of the USSR made it seem that he was not using the coup to his own advantage, and was only concerned about the future of Russia.

Question 18

After the coup, what measures did Yeltsin introduce? (3)

Answer 18

• He launched a programme of market reform in the economy.
• By the summer of 1991, the monopoly of power held by the Communist Party had been officially ended which meant Yeltsin and other reformers were free to set up the Democratic Reform Movement as a political party.
• In November he banned the Communist Party of the Soviet Union within Russia.

Question 19

How did Yeltsin undermine the Union Treaty?

Answer 19

Whilst it is doubtful the Treaty would have survived after the coup, it is obvious that Yeltsin took the chance to kill it altogether.
After the Ukrainian leader refused to sign, Yeltsin followed suit and instead proposed a Commonwealth of Independent States, a much looser agreement that did not require a central, Soviet government.
When this was implemented in December 1991, the Soviet Union was no more.