USSR, 1917-1991: intepretations of the collapse of the USSR

Question 1

Perestroika and its 3 stages

Answer 1

• rationalisation (‘85-86): uskorenie - increase economic modernisation + growth
• reform (‘87-1990): intro’d both econ + polit reform
• transformation (1990-91): abandon command economy + fundamentals of the Party

Question 2

Law on Individual Economic Activity

Answer 2

• November 1986
• legal for families/individuals to make money from small-scale work e.g. private teaching, repair

Question 3

Law on State Enterprise

Answer 3

• 1987
• devolved power from central gov to factory management e.g. factory managers allowed to ser the prices for their production
• gov had to pay more for goods
• little power was devolved as Gosplan found new ways to maintain central control

Question 4

Law on Co-operatives

Answer 4

• 1988
• legalised setting up large-scale private companies. by 1990, 200k were set up. turnover increased from 29.2 mil to 1.04 bil roubles

Question 5

500 Day Programme

Answer 5

• Gorby + Yeltsin commissioned 2 economists - Shatalin + Iavlinskii to devise for economic transition = 500 Day Programme in Aug 1990 -> proposed widepspread privatisation + marketisation
• Gorby supported but faced backlash from hardliners so backed down - said that transition should go slow
• no overall plan

Question 6

Why was Glastnost implemented?

Answer 6

• 1986
• Gorby faced opposition within the CP for his reforms so looked for support in intellectuals to criticise hardliners. natural allies.
• Glastnost = openness, linked to democratisation. a neutral Russian word.

Question 7

Yakovlev and the media

Answer 7

• Yakovlev was responisble for Soviet media + appointed radical editors for Ogonek + Moscow News -> liberalised.
• newspapers published Stalin’s atrocities + econ problems.
• Yakovlev permitted the publication of banned books, plays + films by anti-commies.

Question 8

Gorby released dissidents from prison

Answer 8

in 1986, Andrei Sakharov from Gorky exile

Question 9

19th Party Conference

Answer 9

• 1988
• senior officials admitted inadequacies in healthcare + edu + rural poverty. contrast meetings that claimed CP improved all areas of life. shook ppl’s faith.

Question 10

Election of 1989

Answer 10

• candidates forced to engage in public debate to win votes. commies won 80% but sevral high-ranking commies defeated e.g. 5 of the Central Committee.
• Yeltsin won w 89% in Moscow. soon, IRDG was formed which embraced private property + autonomy for republics, inc Yeltsin + Sakharov.

Question 11

Republic elections of 1990

Answer 11

anti-commie trends obvious e.g. Democratic Russia won 85% of seats. Gorby assumed that democratisation would strengthen radicals within CP but it weakened the Party. radical.

Question 12

Gorbachev was appointed as President of the USSR

Answer 12

• March 1990
• appointed by the Congress of People’s Deputies (majority of support)
• lacked democratic legitimacy unlike Yeltsin

Question 13

Sinatra Doctrine from ‘My Way’

Answer 13

• 1989
• Gorby argued that all diff countries could all follow their own path to Communism - greater freedom.

Question 14

Fall of the Berlin Wall

Answer 14

9 November 1989

Question 15

Tblisi Massacre

Answer 15

• 9 April 1989
  – Georgian nationalists protested against rights of Abkhazian minority. Soviet troops attempted to restore order by force -> killed 199 Georgian protestors + wounded more = outraged nationalists
• concern among nationalists across republics that gov would use lethal force
• gov refused to take responsibility + blamed military leaders
• commanders became increasingly unwilling to use force against protestors - ‘Tblisi syndrome’. weakened the gov’s posiiton bc no military support

Question 16

State Committee for Environmental Protection

Answer 16

• 1989
• published a report which acknowledged serious levels of pollution in 16% of the USSR’s land -> admitted that the Aral Sea was ‘ecological calamity’ due to pollution from biological + chemical weapons testing + from oil + gas extraction.
• industrial pollution affected water + air quality, fertilisers also poisoning USSR great lakes.

Question 17

Yeltsin was elected as president

Answer 17

• June 1991
• won w 57% of the vote > commies’ candidate 16%. weakened Gorby. Yeltsin had democratic, popular legitimacy

Question 18

Union of Sovereign States

Answer 18

• agreed upon by leaders of 8 of the Soviet republics
• treaty signed on 21 August 1991

Question 19

The coup of 1991

Answer 19

• 18 August 1991
• 8 senior Commies announced establishment of Emergency Committee to replace Gorby’s. led by his deputy, head of army + KGB.
• launched the coup while Gorby was on holiday + said he resigned bc of ill health
• plotters stated their goal was to stop the breakup of the USSR + restore law + order.
• Yeltsin headed resistance to the coup - army was sent to arrest him at the White House but soldiers refused to obey orders + Yeltsin demanded Gorby’s return to power
• Emergency Committee could not continue + coup collapsed on 21 August 1991

Question 20

Consequences of the coup of 1991

Answer 20

• The Party, the army + KGB were discredited for being behind the coup
• Yeltsin’s authority grew
• end of CP. 23 Aug Yeltsin suspended the CP in Russia. later, banned the Party in 6 Nov.
• breakup of the USSR. fear that the Emergency Committee would re-establish commie dictatorship led to Ukraine, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Armenia Kyrgyzstan to declare their indepdence. Gorbachev also forced to recognise independence of Baltics. treaty could not be revived.

Question 21

Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)

Answer 21

• created after the coup
• Yeltsin + leaders of Belorussia + Ukraine signed the Minsk Agreement = USSR replaced by the CIS.
• 11/15 republics joined CIS on 21 December 1991

Question 22

Gorbachev resigned as President of the USSR

Answer 22

25 Dec 1991

Question 23

The dissolution of the USSR

Answer 23

24 December 1991