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USSR Complete > RUSSIA Fall of the USSR 1985-91- ECONOMICS > Flashcards

RUSSIA Fall of the USSR 1985-91- ECONOMICS Flashcards

1
Q

When was Gorbachev elected General Secretary of the Communist Party?

A

1985

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2
Q

What did Gorbachev’s appointment seem to offer the communist regime?

A

A chance of revival and renewed strength

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3
Q

When was there an attempted coup by the conservatives in the Party?

A

August 1991

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4
Q

How did the attempted coup affect Gorbachev?

A

Seriously undermined his position as Soviet leader

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5
Q

When was the Soviet Union dissolved by the republics as a sovereign state?

A

December 1991

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6
Q

When did Gorbachev give a message about the fall of the USSR and leave the Kremlin for good?

A

25 December 1991

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7
Q

What had highlighted the weaknesses in the Soviet economy?

A

Novosibirsk Report of 1983

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8
Q

Who compiled the Novosibirsk Report?

A

Leading economic sociologist, Tatyana Zaslavskaya

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9
Q

Who was the Novosibirsk Report distributed to?

A

Politburo

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10
Q

How did the Politburo react to the Novosibirsk Report?

A

Most of its ageing members did not understand its conclusions or simply chose to ignore them

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11
Q

Who was the only person who realised that the Novosibirsk Report meant that reform was needed?

A

Gorbachev

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12
Q

What did the Novosibirsk Report state?

A

Drew attention to the growing crisis in agriculture caused by state inefficiency and inflexibility

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13
Q

What were Gorbachev’s initial cautious steps in economic reform?

A

Put like-minded reformers in key positions

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14
Q

Who did Gorbachev bring into the committee to help him carry out economic reform?

A

Yegor Ligachev; Nikolai Ryzhkov

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15
Q

Who did Gorbachev promote to the Central Committee in 1986 to help him carry out economic reform?

A

Boris Yeltsin; Alexander Yakovlev

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16
Q

How did Gorbachev’s initial approach to economic reform echo that of his mentor, Andropov?

A

Launched a campaign to attack problem of rampant alcoholism

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17
Q

Why did Gorbachev try to tackle the problem of alcoholism straight away?

A

To improve health and productivity of the population

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18
Q

How did Gorbachev try to curb drinking?

A

Raised drinking age to 21; reduced number of retail outlets where alcohol could be bought; destroyed vineyards; closed distilleries

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19
Q

How was the price of vodka affected by Gorbachev’s reforms?

A

Tripled

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20
Q

Why did Gorbachev’s attempts to enforce prohibition backfire?

A

Tax revenues that the government gained from alcohol fell markedly and caused a serious shortfall in the budget; drinking levels rose again as illegal moonshine was produced in large quantities

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21
Q

What was the focus of the investment of the 12FYP intended to be?

A

Science and research, especially in engineering

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22
Q

What were the key weaknesses of the 12FYP?

A

Heavy investment in construction projects; old equipment; agricultural sector was swallowing vast sums of investment with little success; focus remained on quantity over quality

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23
Q

Why was Gorbachev’s policy of economic acceleration so problematic?

A

Did little to address fundamental weaknesses of the Soviet economy; opposition to real change from Party and state economic planning apparatus

24
Q

When was the 12FYP?

A

1986-90

25
Q

What did Gorbachev set up under the 12FYP to achieve better co-ordination of economic activity and reduce waste?

A

‘Superministries’

26
Q

What also opposed Gorbachev’s changes to investment priorities?

A

Military

27
Q

How did the deficit of the Soviet Union increase between 1985-86?

A

Rose from 2.4% of GDP to 6.2%

28
Q

What was also draining a lot of the Soviet Union’s resources in the 1980s?

A

Afghanistan War; increased defence spending in response to USA’s Strategic Defence Initiative programme

29
Q

When did Gorbachev decide that more fundamental restructuring of the Soviet economy was needed?

A

1987

30
Q

Perestroika

A

Restructuring

31
Q

When did Gorbachev launch his proposal for economic perestroika?

A

January 1987 Plenum of the Central Committee

32
Q

What were Gorbachev’s different policies of economic perestroika?

A

Encouragement of joint ventures, January 1987; Law on State Enterprises, June 1987; Co-operatives were legalised in 1988

33
Q

When did Moscow get its first McDonalds?

A

1990

34
Q

What did Gorbachev hope that joint ventures with foreign businesses would do?

A

Open the USSR to more modern technology

35
Q

What did the Law on State Enterprises do?

A

Allowed a loosening of state controls over wages and prices; weakened the authority of Gosplan; allowed an element of election in the choice of managers

36
Q

How was Gorbachev able to partly disguise the move to a more market-based economy?

A

Legalising ‘co-operatives’

37
Q

How did perestroika affect food production?

A

It showed a small increase in its growth rate from 1-2% during the period 1986-87- still inadequate

38
Q

What were the impacts of perestroika?

A

Enterprises were still subject to state interference; co-operatives produced inflation and denied poorer cities food; profit of co-operatives attracted corrupt government officials; panic hoarding; steep rise in wages; reforms undermined by officials; foreign companies put off investment by endless bureaucracy

39
Q

Where was meat rationed in 1988?

A

26/55 regions of Russia

40
Q

How did urban wages rise in 1989?

A

By 13%

41
Q

How many joint foreign ventures were there in the USSR by the end of 1990?

A

Nearly 3,000

42
Q

What is an example of a city that suffered especially with sabotage of economic reforms by officials?

A

Leningrad

43
Q

What made the Soviet economic situation much worse during Gorbachev’s attempts to enforce perestroika?

A

Fall in the price of oil

44
Q

When was the Soviet economy massively in debt and approaching crisis point?

A

By the end of 1989

45
Q

How did the government respond to the increase of strikes?

A

Quickly increased wages- only a short-term measure

46
Q

What issued the report that concluded a more radical solution was needed after the failures of perestroika?

A

State Commission on Economic Reform, July 1989

47
Q

What did the State Commission on Economic Reform’s report call for?

A

A move to a market-led economy

48
Q

What did one of Gorbachev’s economic advisers put forward in October 1989?

A

500 Days Programme- recommended a rapid move to a market economy

49
Q

How did Soviet output change between 1990-91?

A

Declined by 1/5

50
Q

How did the Soviet leadership respond to the 500 Days Programme?

A

Rejected by the Soviet government but accepted by the Russian Parliament

51
Q

How did the Politburo react to the State Commission on Economic Reform’s report?

A

Split- reformers wanted to implement the recommendations quickly; others called for a more gradual transition

52
Q

Why did Gorbachev hesitate about the State Commission on Economic Reform’s report?

A

He was trying to maintain unity in the Party leadership

53
Q

Who put forward the 500 Days Programme?

A

Stanislav Shatalin

54
Q

What were co-operatives?

A

Small-scale private businesses

55
Q

Why did the co-operatives make impressive profits?

A

More productive than the state sector

56
Q

Which workers went on strike about unpaid wages and food shortages?

A

Miners in the Don Basin

USSR Complete (14 decks)

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