Theme 5 - Key evidence Flashcards
Political Reform
-1985: Old Brezhnevites sacked. Made Yeltsin head of the Moscow CP in 1985.
-Mar 1986: 27th Part Congress introduced GLASNOST and set new priorities for first time since 1961
-Apr 1986: Chernobyl, first real test of Glasnost but government fails to admit disaster for 2 weeks
-1986: Yakovlev put in charge of liberalisation of the media, he appoints radical editors to news outlets
- 1988: Soviet press published criticisms of Marx and Lenin.
-1988: People can listen to foreign radio legally, but this exposes that quality of life is much better in the west
- 1988: CPSU revealed the scale of economic problems.
-1988: 19th Party Conference announces multi-candidate elections but all candidates must be in CP still. Citizens could choose between more radical or moderate communists.
- March 1989 first multi-candidate election takes place for the congress of People’s deputies. Led to the formation of a faction within CSPU: IDGR (inter-regional deputies group) led by Yeltsin. was the first legal parliamentary opposition in the Soviet Union, a faction formed in 1989 within the 1st Congress of People’s Deputies.
-Nov 1989: Berlin wall falls and Eastern Bloc crumbles, Gorbachev doesn’t invade signifying the end of the Brezhnev doctrine and start of Sinatra Doctrine
-Mar 1990: Gorbachev gets himself appointed president but lacks democratic legitimacy
- 14th March 1990: Article 6 abolished, allowing other political parties to form and contest elections.
Nationalist Resurgence
Gorbachev underestimate nationalism and glasnost gave nationalists greater freedom
-1986: Damash Kunaev replaced by Gannady Kolbin in Kazakhstan causing riots
-1988: Nationalist protests in Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh.
- April-October 1988: popular fronts formed in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania.
-Nov 1988: Estonia declares itself sovereign
-1989: Uzbeks massacre a muslim minority
-1989: 19 Georgians killed by soviet forces in Tbilisi massacre
- August 1989: Sinatra doctrine
-1989: Eastern Bloc falls, fall of the Berlin wall.
-1990: Lithuania declares independence, the first of the republics to do so.
- Jan 1991: G sent troops to Lithuania, killing 14.
- July 1991: draft new union treaty published.
-1991: 9 + 1 agreement angers hardliners resulting in August Coup, Yeltsin saves G but then bans CP in Russia
- 1st december 1991: Ukraine independence referendum voted 92% in favor of independence.
- 8th December 1991: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus declared ‘commonwealth of independent states’, replacing USSR.
Gorbachev and Yeltsin
GORBACHEV
-Hesitant and indecisive
-Yeltsin more powerful and popular by 1990
-Party popularity ratings dropped to 18.8% under G
YELTSIN
-Took advantage of dissilusionment by going against party elite, advocated for Russian independence
-10th Sep 1987: Yeltsin resigns from Politburo, first ever to do this, over allowing of protests in moscow
-1989 elections: Yeltsin won 89% of vote in Moscow
-July 1990: Yeltsin left the CP, 2.7m members left with him
-When G ordered Russian troops in Lithuania in 1990 to prevent independence, Yeltsin refused to send them, proving Yeltsin’s power
Economic Weakness (Short Term)
12th 5-year plan (1986-1990) designed to accelerate growth in the USSR. RATIONALISATION (1985-1986)
-Uskoreinie: attempt to accelerate production and increase economic growth
-Anti-Alcohol Campaign cut alcohol production by 50% to reduce absenteeism but ended up with a 9% drop in GDP
REFORM. PERESTROIKA (restructuring Jan 1987) (1987-Mar 1990).
-Partial Market Reform introduced aspects of capitalism into the command economy
-Law on Individual Economic Activity (1986) allowed small, personal private enterprise like tutoring
- Jan 1987: encouragement of joint ventures allowed foreign firms to set up businesses in the USSR (first Mcdonalds).
-Law on State Enterprise (1987) allowed Factory Managers to set prices but this led to price disparities and economic chaos
- 1988: co-operatives legalised allowing businesses to be established.
- July 1989 state commission on economic reform called for a move to a market economy. The report split the politburo.
TRANSFORMATION (Mar 1990-Aug 1991)
- August 1990: 500 Day Programme was Gorbachev’s last attempt
-Commissioned by Gorbachev and Yeltsin, the plan included widespread privatisation over the course of 2 years. In effect was ‘shock therapy’ shift to a market economy to take place over 500 days.
-Gorbachev was indecisive and under pressure from hard-liners so dropped the plan
- Jan 1991: private property ownership
- April 1991: citizens were allowed to trade in stocks and shares.
- Economy spiralled; output declined 1/5 between 1990-91 and the government was bankrupt by summer 1991.
Economic Weakness (Long Term)
WICAM
-Waste: Gosplan rewarded production so huge numbers of things eg tractors were produced but not always used
-Incentives: 1945-1980 the USSR was increasingly equal so there was little incentive to work hard
-Centralisation: the economy was controlled by government administrators who set targets but has little expertise e.g. Central planners would order fertiliser for farms at the wrong time of year
-Arms Race: from 1965-85 Soviet GDP spent on defence increased from 12 percent to 17 percent compared to six percent in America
-Modernisation: transport and agriculture in particular were old fashioned and a lack of modern storage facilities meant grain often rotted before it could be used or transported
Gorbachev
- 1985: became general secretary
- 1986: introduced Glasnost
- 1987: Introduced Perestroika, arguably not necessary; USSR was in decline not crisis in 1985.
- March 1990: Gorbachev appointed president
- July 1990: 28th party congress Gorbachev renounced use of violence, ‘a civil society of free people is replacing the Stalinist model of socialism’ and said the USSR was moving towards ‘genuine democracy’.
- August 1991: coup further damaged Gorbachev’s legitimacy.
Yeltsin
- 1985: G made Y Moscow party leader
- 1986: denounced privileges of party leaders at 27th party congress.
- 1987: publicly attacked communists who opposed reforms.
- 1987: Yeltsin sacked as Moscow party leader.
- March-April 1989: won 89% of the vote in Moscow
- 1989: after election formed the IDGR
- may 1990: became chair of Russian congress
- june 1990: opinion polls reveal yeltsin to be more popular than gorbachev
- july 1990: resigned from CSPU
- august 1991: defeated the coup
- November 1991: banned the CP in Russia
- December 1991: torpedoed the new union treaty by signing commonwealth of independent states with Ukraine and Belarus.
