UNIT 5: HOW SIGNIFICANT WERE THE FAILURES OF GORBACHEV’S POLITICAL REFORMS? Flashcards
What was Glasnost?
Under Brezhnev the party had grown to resemble power blocs of vested interests who competed. This rivalry was wasteful and led to corruption.
Glasnost was a method of re-engaging the population with the Party to get new ideas to revitalise the Communist Party - resulted into an open attack on its corrupt practices.
Under glasnost, what were the key criticisms of the party?
Much of Glasnost criticisms against the Party was directed at Gorbachev for his weakness in pursuing radical reform. Many reformers in positions of power were unwilling to defend the Communist Party and even resigned.
Complaints about poor housing were popular.
Investigations of Soviet history revealed details of Stalin’s mass terror, the famine of the 1930s.
The myth of the Great Patriotic War was undermined by revelations of the loss human lives.
Environmental damage impacted the Aral Sea of government irrigation schemes.
Describe the chernobyl affair.
The Chernobyl affair reflected many of the weaknesses of the Soviet Union:
the nuclear power plant was badly managed, an evacuation of people living in toxic areas was delayed - adding to the human cost of the accident, and its deficiencies were covered up by secrecy and evasion.
This worsened Gorbachev’s international reputation. To Gorbachev, the whole affair seemed to provide an urgent justification for glasnost.
What were Gorbachev’s attempted reforms of the party?
Separating the functions of Party and state - This was not easy as there were no defined roles because of the nomenklatura system. For example, in October Gorbachev became President of the Soviet Union as well as General Secretary of the Party.
Shifting power from the Party to the Soviets - This was attempted by allocating more finance to the Soviets to give them the resources to support their role. Deputies of the Soviets were to be elected for five years rather than two. This gave them greater security in their post.
Streamlining the Party - The departments of the Central Committee of the Communist Party were reduced from 20 to nine, and six new commissions were created.
A clampdown on corruption - Attacks on corrupt Party officials caused a lot of resentment within the Party. In December 1986, Dinmukhamed Kunayev was removed from the position of First Secretary of the Party in Kazakhstan on grounds of corruption. His replacement was Gennady Kolbin, an ethnic Russian. Seeing this as outside interference, Kazakhs rioted in support of Kunayev.
Moves towards democratisation - At the Nineteenth Party Conference of June 1988, Gorbachev introduced national elections for candidates for the new Congress of People’s Deputies - set up to supervise the government and was part of Gorbachev’s attempts to separate the functions of Party from state. It has 100 seats. It had weakened the power of the Communist Party.
What was the impact of Gorbachev’s attempted reforms of the party?
Increasing divisions within the Party - Gorbachev’s failed reforms of the Party alienated both liberals and conservatives. The increasing divisions undermined the authority of Gorbachev, who struggled to find common ground between them.
The development of factions - Arguments between liberals and conservatives had occurred within the Politburo and Central Committee. Informal groupings started to emerge during the elections for the Congress of People’s Deputies. When the Congress met, these groups formed a sort of unofficial opposition to the government.
The abolition of Article 6 - Article 6 of the Soviet Constitution stated that the Communist Party was the leading and guiding force of Soviet Society and the centre of its political system, of all state and public organisations. This therefore became a symbolic target for critics e.g. Andrei Sakharov, who wanted democracy. Gorbachev repealed it in March 1990 and thus ended the Party’s monopoly on power. Other political parties could now be established to contest elections.
